Scorecard so far: Barack Obama is winning if you measure by substantiveness of answers. John McCain is winning if you count number of years spent in a Vietnamese jail.posted by Sonny Jim at 6:43 PM on September 26, 2008 [3 favorites]
Nice, so because Obama can recognize that McCain isn't always constantly wrong in all things, he is not fit to lead? What is their logic?I believe the logic is IF OBAMA LOVES MCCAIN SO MUCH WHY DON'T HE MARRY HIM
McCain did not strongly make a case for his main selling point "I'm a Maverick"Oh please. You're making it sound like the only reasons he gives for why we should vote for him are completely trivial, meaningless, and surface-deep.
It's not just Time that thinks Obama won this debate. People, too. Not People Magazine, but, um, people. Every focus group/poll that I've seen -- and I've seen several -- has had Obama winning this debate handily, including among self-described independents and uncommitted voters.For what it's worth, Time believes Obama won.Time has been covering this campaign with a somewhat pro-Obama slant
It was "course not, course not" -- with his sibilant "s" it sounds like "coursh not, coursh not" -- I heard it live, wearing an ear plug, and I have a pretty good ear.It sounded like "horseshit" to me (I noticed it live in real time and was surprised by it), but I'm not going to pretend I'm anywhere near certain.
As president of the United States, I want to assure you, I've got a pen.
Why did Obama keep saying "When I'm President"? Very confident of him, I guess, to assume he will win...Virtually every presidential candidate has done this, for as long as I can remember.
I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere.posted by kirkaracha at 5:24 PM on September 27, 2008
...
But I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman Senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness. Again, I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interest isn't always a priority for every one of us.
Kaffee: I think he wants to say it. I think he's pissed off that he has to hide behind all this. I think he wants to say that he made a command decision and that should be then end of it.posted by kirkaracha at 6:36 PM on September 27, 2008
[Starts imitating Jessup]
Kaffee: He eats breakfast 300 yards away from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill him. And nobody's going to tell him how to run his unit least of all the Harvard mouth in his faggoty white uniform. I need to shake him, put him on the defensive and lead him right where he's dying to go.
"Angry John McCain showed up at the debate last night. It didn't sit well with undecided voters:posted by ericb at 6:46 PM on September 27, 2008'McCain was seen as the more negative of the two—by 7 points before the debate and by 26 points after. The audience did not like it when he went after Obama for being 'naïve' or used his oft-repeated 'what Senator Obama doesn't understand' line. When the two clashed directly in the second half of the debate, with Obama repeatedly protesting McCain's characterization of his statements or positions, the voter dials went down. Voters appear to have judged McCain too negative in those encounters and Obama more favorably."*
"It was a debate, mostly civil though occasionally cranky, between a tough old man and a polished young one. McCain revealed more of himself in that arena, wincing and grimacing during the split-screen shots while Obama was speaking.posted by ericb at 6:47 PM on September 27, 2008
That dynamic threaded its way through the emotional highlights of the event. Time and again, McCain, who is 72 and would be the oldest man ever elected to a first term, condescended to Obama, who is 47 and one of the youngest ever to win his party's nomination. 'He doesn't understand,' McCain said repeatedly. Discussing Obama's willingness to engage in talks with Iran without preconditions, McCain said: 'It isn't just naive. It's dangerous.'
Obama declined to be belittled. Although McCain refused to address him directly -- despite encouragement from moderator Jim Lehrer -- Obama looked at and spoke to McCain. Obama often credited McCain on issues -- a grace that was not reciprocated -- but he did not accept the role of junior candidate."
Second, you don't say things like that in public if you're a politician with any kind of ambitionI am not claiming the story you're talking about is true. However, I frankly don't see any reason to believe that McCain is not the kind of man who says things like that in public. On the contrary, he's exactly the kind of man who says things like that in public, political ambition or no.
The joke is super tasteless, but I could imagine someone thinking it's funny. Calling your wife a cunt is awful, but it's the kind of thing some people do when they lose their temper. Calling one of your children "that black thing" and saying you hate her to some stranger you've just met on vacation? That'd make him a moron and a sociopath.First, I don't see where the article claims that he said he hates her.
For years and years, Democrats have wondered how their candidates could "win" the debates on logical points -- that is, tactics -- but lose the larger struggle because these seemed too aggressive, supercilious, cold-blooded, or whatever. To put it in tactical/strategic terms, Democrats have gotten used to winning battles and losing wars. Last night, the Democratic candidate showed a far keener grasp of this distinction than did the Republican who accused him of not understanding it.posted by languagehat at 7:40 AM on September 28, 2008 [1 favorite]
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posted by bjork24 at 1:17 PM on September 26, 2008 [1 favorite]