Chicagoist: He Said, He Said: Presidential Debate Edition

jennyblur

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:10:50 -0600

@Sparky: Or how about there have been 50 debates this election cycle and all the candidates have been totally and completely vetted, with the notable exception of Gov. Palin. Everyone should make up their minds and vote.

sparky

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:02:50 -0600

No, Sean, you are correct. His "qualifications" are based on his ideology, which is exactly what he accused Obama of doing. It didn't make any sense to me. In fact, it insulted my intelligence. But then again my intelligence has been insulted by both candidates throughout this campaign season. What I would love to see is a 24 hour debate. If you are president you will have to stay up late, right? Let's see how the candidates function. Just throw out issues and let them talk. Economy, healthcare, etc. You could have people call in. You could have people give scenarios. I think it would be fun.

Slaphappy

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:59:47 -0600

I may be misunderstanding, but doesn’t that destroy his entire thesis? You aren't misunderstanding. He basically said "no litmus test except for the abortion litmus test."

SeanP

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:20:26 -0600

Someone please correct if I’m wrong about this, but I think I should ask. When the question about abortion and using it as a litmus test was asked, McCain went on this long tirade about how he would only support Supreme Court justices who were qualified, bringing up Obama’s vote against Roberts and Alito (He said Breyer, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he meant Alito) to show that Obama made those decisions based on politics not credentials. However, when pressed by Schieffer as to whether or not he would consider someone who supported abortion rights didn’t McCain say something along the lines of “I would consider anyone who is qualified, but I don’t think supporting Roe V. Wade would be part of those qualifications” (I’m obviously paraphrasing). I may be misunderstanding, but doesn’t that destroy his entire thesis? If he just spent two minutes talking about how he only supports qualified people, but then says that someone who supports abortion right makes them unqualified, isn’t that a litmus test? I’m confused.

Navin

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:40:28 -0600

And Joe the Plumber? What's next, Clifford the Big Red Dog? What stupid fucking bullshit. I hate when so-called leaders treat me as a dumb child. Ha, good one Matilda. I was thinking exactly the same. Are you fucking kidding me!? Just when you think the dialogue in this country couldn't possibly get any more dumbed down......

PhotoshopAbuser

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:03:30 -0600

I was hoping to see McCain get all mavericky last night and while he failed there, he sort of intrigued me with his almost non stop blinking throughout the entire debate. The only time he stopped blinking was when he rolled his eyes or smiled. And that smile....is just plain creepy. He looked like Cosmo Kramer a few times up there. The bottom line is that debates are pretty worthless if you are looking for any substantial answers. At least last nights debate was a little more entertaining than the others. I'm sure that Joe the Plumber loved all the attention...

Spook

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:27:53 -0600

p.s and what about Cain's “America after a long struggle has achieved equal access in education." I guess he also has houses on Mars at which he spends most of his time

Spook

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:16:43 -0600

I like How McCain-Rose-Up, said that Palin is the most knowledgeable person on special needs kids that he knows. This is coming from a 22 year U.S Sen. and two times Presidential candadite! Oh and "Joe the Plumber" to the rescue! Thanks Cain, you drove me to O'Bama! hummmm I guess now I should start spelling his name right.

huffybike

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:46:51 -0600

Here's where Obama won, if you ask me.

vsdaisy4

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:41:04 -0600

@Ingrid. I totally agree. I hate it when people say pro-abortion. It's like, I'm bored...let's have unprotected sex and then kill the baby. Pro-abortion is not pro-choice.

Stealth

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:39:15 -0600

This just proved to me (well, further proved to me) that McCain is NOT his own man. Some yahoo in one of his crowds asks him to "take the gloves off" and he does (or tries to). The hard core conservatives tell him that he's soft and he tries to become a stone-cold conservative. He moves to whatever side he thinks will do him the most good. He's the Jay Mariotti of politics, the human weathervane. I think McCain wants to be elected president more than he wants to BE president. P.S. I think at one point Obama was baiting McCain to bring up Ayers. From the transcript: "OBAMA: But when people suggest that I pal around with terrorists, then we're not talking about issues. What we're talking about..." And then right after than McCain brings up Ayers and Obama had his answer ready. Set up? Course I though he could have hit McCain harder on Ayers, mentioning the number of other people on the board and that the Annenberg Foundation, who funded the board, also gave funds to McCain. Anyway, ...

jennyblur

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:35:51 -0600

I hate that they brought up abortion. FAIL. No one cares about social issues that the republican's have made the centerpiece of their "scare the poor" campaign of the last 25 years. And, checkmate dummies, but the GOP has done very very little to limit abortion, legistlatively, while they had ALL THREE BRANCHES of government. What a waste of everybody's time. Except that it gave everyone five minutes to fuck around with rhetoric. Also: politico.com is reporting that Joe the Plumber isn't even registered to vote. Epic Fail.

matilda

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:28:41 -0600

Albany: I think you nailed it. McCain seem to be wildly trying to land punches. And that special needs pitch was odd, if not pandering. What is McCain anymore: A populist? A conservative? Who the hell knows. And Joe the Plumber? What's next, Clifford the Big Red Dog? What stupid fucking bullshit. I hate when so-called leaders treat me as a dumb child. And they both did it again when both refused to offer any hard realism about the reality of numbers: There is no way we can get through the next four years without either significant cuts or massive tax hikes on all to pay for all the programs/investments each has proposed. Well, we can do it, I guess, if we all choose to be irresponsible about this country's fundamental financial and budget problems, which go far beyond the current crisis. But sooner or later we will have to pay or cut--or, more likely, pay AND cut. Don't believe me--there are numerous non-partisan and partisan groups on both left and right who say the same thing. You can easily look them up for yourself.

irishman1

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:25:43 -0600

Albanyparkour...great take. I saw the debate the same way. McCain started strong and then fizzled. Obama stayed cool...almost waiting for John to break down, and then Barack finished strong. Obama looks polished and ready to go. By 8:00 pm on election night, I'll be watching reruns of Seinfeld because it will be over.

Albanyparkour

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:16:11 -0600

I don't think of it as win/lose, more who comes out looking more ready for the job. The first half hour or so McCain was strong, clear and made some solid hits. Then he just went to pieces as he fell back on things like the 3 million dollar overhead projects, and Joe the plumber. Obama was cool, calm and kept steady, McCain looked angrier and more irritated as the night wore on. He was railing about big government one minutes, then promising to bailout homeowners the next. Barack Obama's shining moment? Talking about Abortion, as a pro-choice democrat and not sounding like he was pandering to the right. He even called McCain on his "pro-abortion" bull-crap. Speaking of kids, I'm very tired of hearing about Sarah Palin's magical knowledge about special needs kids. My cousin is a special needs educator and a parent of an autistic child. Sarah Palin's infant is, at this point, no different than a non-downs syndrome child. Yes, she's facing a lifetime of care, but that doesn't give her special insight and wisdom on the topic. That plus McCain haivng to mention that Sarah's husband is a heck of a guy was just dead embarrassing for Palin.

Ingrid

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:00:47 -0600

What with all the eye rolling and severe blinking and tongue licking and obvious anger, I thought McCain lost it from the get go. Nothing I can add that hasn't already been said except for a couple of things. One thing that got my hackles up, as it always does, is when pro-life people refer to choice as "pro-abortion". Nobody is pro-abortion. It's just more of their screwing around with semantics and just a down right lie. When asked about their VP choices. I thought Obama was very generous concerning Palin and professional when praising Biden. McCain, however, ick ick and ick...whenever he has to explain his VP pick gets this pervy Aqualung-ish googly eyed grin on his face that just creeps me out to no end, and then starts going on about her expertise in children with Autism. I guess because Autism is the 'cause celeb' these days....and he thinks he's going to score big points with the Jenny McCarthy crowd or something. These debates suck. I'd like to see them sit across from Bill Maher on Real Time

Slaphappy

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:59:25 -0600

Here's what I took away from the debate: 1) Obama was definitely on the ropes at times, especially regarding the economy. 2) McCain really shot himself in the foot with the "health" of the mother line -- it'll be really hard to spin out of that one. 3) You can tell Obama was a constitutional law professor, because he knocked abortion and the Supreme Court out of the park. 4) Kinda surprised that Obama polled as high as he did pretty much across the board -- this was McCain's best performance of the three and Obama's worst.