To me, McCain came off in the debate looking angrier and meaner than ever. Meanwhile, Obama was calm and collected. I seriously doubt McCain helped himself tonight. A few comments.
- McCain couldn't stop talking about Joe the Plumber. So much for the women's vote.
- Free trade with Colombia? Sure, but Colombia is NOT the largest importer of American agricultural products, as McCain bizarrely said. It's the reverse. And that's a big, big problem.
- McCain attacking Obama for having never been "south of the border" is funny. Palin never left the country at all until about a year ago. Obama lived abroad for years.
- I was the only person in America who liked Obama's discussion of abortion, but I did like it.
- Obama didn't seem particularly eloquent to me, no matter how often McCain said it.
- McCain struck me as someone who I would hate to have to have dinner with.
- I really don't get what McCain was going for by sounding like Newt Gingrich.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A No-Brainer
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 7:46 PM
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8 comments:
Yes LTG, when McCain said that about Colombia I yelled at the TV, "What about all the cocaine!?"
I missed this debate--I was in a meeting. It seems I did not miss much. When I emerged from the meeting, I asked a friend (who told me she had seen the debate) how it went. She said, "I think Obama did well." I said, "Oh, thank god. I was just worried he would screw it up!"
Before LTG and RbR attack me, let be clear that Obama has proven himself to be a very good debater and my fears for this debate had nothing to do with Obama... I've just been burned so many times that I, like many Democrats, are afraid to hope anymore. Things are going well for Obama, so the part of my brain that remembers Gore and Kerry keeps fearing the other shoe is about to drop. These next 19 days are going to be nail-biters. (How will the Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory this time, I wonder? They will have to be awfully clever!)
All the polls are saying that most people think Obama won the debate. McCain really needed those polls to be reversed.
I think the worst part of the debate for McCain was when he was talking about abortion and he put the "health" of the mother in air quotes (sometimes called sarcasm quotes). Nothing could telegraph his disrespect for women more clearly. Obama already has a huge lead among women and this will just solidify it. If there were any pro-choice women out there who were still thinking of voting for McCain they will reconsider now, I'm sure.
Obama had a couple of minor miscues but that's about it. Mostly I remember him repeatedly trying to bring the conversation back to substantive issues about the economy while McCain wanted to talk about Ayers or ACORN or some other such non-issue. CNN's poll says that 80% of their group of debate watchers thought that McCain spent more time attacking Obama. So my perception is not unique.
Not only did McCain not reverse the trends but I think this debate will reinforce them in important ways. The perception will be that McCain is a candidate of little substance and no respect for women or "the little guy" (all that talk about Joe the Plumber aside).
I listened to the first 10 minutes and it was already sounding petulant.
And from the clips I have heard since then, it didn't get much better. If you read the Rolling Stone Article that RBR posted, you not be surprised by McCain's conduct or behavior.
He is a little Napoleon who once called Cindy the "c" word in front of people. That's bad in private, and it is very disgusting in public. He is insecure to his core, has a daddy and granddaddy complex, and he still can't keep a top on his temper. That is why he looked so mean last night. He always looks mean. And when he isn't looking mean, he looks like a deer caught in the headlights.
He refused to memorize flight manuals as a pilot, thought he was above the rules, and as a "maverick" sought to break everyone of them, downing 3 planes before getting grounded as a POW. As the Rolling Stone said, to compare McCain to Bush is an insult to Bush. Bush was a better pilot.
The man is as intellectually lazy as Bush if not more so. That is why he has so little substance. He refuses to read the "manual" on the economy. He refuses to read the "manual" on foreign policy. And that is not what we need now, to take a quote from Obama.
One thing: I do wish Obama would learn to get a sentence out without stopping after his first word for a pause then doing it again after like the 4th word. Just a little quirk that has become more pronounced as the campaign has gone on.
It's funny you should mention the word "petulant" because that is exactly the word the people I watched the debate with had for his behavior.
Don't forget that McCain was also at the center of the USS Forrestal fire. It wasn't his plane that malfunctioned (a rocket was accidently fired from an F-4 into his A-4's external fuel tank. But this guy has really bad luck!
Dr.S., I too was afraid that Obama would make a mistake. Since that's about all that can hurt him now - his own error - we were right to be concerned about it. But after two debates, I was not too fearful.
After the Debate, David Gergen was asked what he would do if he were McCain's adviser. He said, "I have no idea." There were broad chuckles about this lifelong adviser having nothing to say. Then he started talking about McCain trying to save "his honor" by running a positive campaign and trying to prevent a rout in the Senate.
Dr.S., your comment "how will Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory this time" really touched a nerve. Such pessimism! This is not just you, Dr.S. I hear it all the time from almost every Democrat I talk to. Hand-wringing, fear of "jinxing" it, etc. Meanwhile, when the GOP is ahead, they relish and enjoy.
Dammit, I say we enjoy it too. If this is the only chance I get to contemplate a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a 400 EV landslide, I'm going to make the most of it. Shout it from the rooftops. Woo-hoo! We're going to change this country and finally close the book on the goddamned "Reagan Revolution" that has brought this country to its knees.
RBR, also notice that in the Forrestal incident (Plane number 4), McCain saved his own skin, then went to the ready room to watch everyone else on deck struggle to contain the fire. He didn't take up a hose to help, he didn't go in and try to pull people out from below, and 48 hours later, he had left the ship and was partying it up in Saigon with NYT reporters.
Plane 1 was a dive into Corpus Christi Bay . Plane 2 was over Norfolk Virginia on his way back from an Army Navy game. He stalled the plane and rather than guide it down safely, he bailed at 1000 ft.
Plane 3 was shot down over Hanoi. But that was due more to arrogance and desperate ambitionthan heroism. He so wanted a medal and there were some promised if the mission was successful. He failed to take evasive maneuvers that could have saved the plane.
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