The hearing-aid industry might have received an unintended endorsement tonight, and Cindy McCain prefers Nick Jonas to the other two brothers. Between John McCain’s uninspiring tone and Barack Obama’s indignant responses to McCain, it was fairly obvious that these two just weren’t listening to each other.
On virtually every topic, each candidate only heard half of what the other was saying. And the other half of the time was spent with Obama agreeing too much with McCain, and McCain pining for days gone by. It was like a long-lost child visiting a grandparent in a nursing home, discussing the generation gap they share.
In a surprising revelation (NOT), both campaigns declared victory tonight. Barack Obama, being ahead in most polls, had one thing to do tonight, and that is break-even. Charles Krauthamer, on Fox News said it’s like, “Harvard beats Yale 29-29.” In a debate where Obama is known to have, compared to McCain, a marginal foreign policy knowledge/experience deficit, he held his own. I would score this ten – round match, 6-4 in favor of McCain. Which means Obama won.
The moderator, Jim Lehrer, of PBS’ Newshour, began the night with the current economic crisis. Both seemed relatively comfortable, but couldn’t commit to signing off on any deal, as they haven’t seen the final product. Of course they exchanged digs and traded barbs, but there wasn’t any new information imparted. McCain experience the joy of Teflon regarding his recent suspension of his campaign…Obama missed a good opportunity to slam McCain on his failed Christ-like appearance in Washington over the last day or so. Obama did well, due to his focus on the middle-class tax cuts. Independent voters will like that. CNN’s Gloria Borger stated that McCain’s strong point was when he said, “Barack Obama will raise your taxes; I won’t.” Huh??
All I can say to that is: Remember Bush, Sr.?
When asked who would better manage the economy, Anderson Cooper, CNN genius and future wife of Kathy Griffin, showed poll numbers where Obama leads McCain, 58% – 38%. David Gergen, the Neolithic sage that he is, stated, “This is a pivotal night for John McCain; He needed to take this night.” “And if these polls are consistent, that’s a major deal in this election.”
Some of the most heated exchanges of the night were regarding Iran, Iraq, and Russia. Here’s where the hearing-aid issue comes into play. Obama stated a number of times tonight, that he would NOT just meet Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, without any pre-planning. Obama stated, as simply as possible, that he would not set any “pre-conditions.” There IS a difference – pre-conditions versus pre-planning. Also, in the whole Ahmedinejad/Iran/Kissinger debate, McCain too stated that he would do the whole “Secretary level and lower” thing. That’s what Obama was saying. HELLO???
McCain must have had his “Beltones” turned down, or set to only hear half of what was said. Maybe he had a Star Trek “universal translator” plugged into his ears, set to Klingon, or something. Campbell Brown, of CNN stated, “McCain was excellent on Foreign Policy tonight.” He was “excellent?” I’m not sure what debate she was watching. Perhaps Cindy was debating Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel about which of the Jonas brothers has the cutest tushie.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that there will always be a sort of tit-for-tat discourse during debates. I know each candidate will spin a topic in his/her favor, but to blatantly ignore or tune out what ones opponent is stating is downright fatuous.
Democrat Vice Presidential candidate, Joe Biden said, “I found John lecturing…” ”It was a good try; I think John missed.” Chris Wallace, of Fox News, in an interview with Joe Biden asked about his upcoming debate with Sarah Palin. “I hope she makes the same arguments that John McCain Made,” Biden said. “I’m not going to do what John did” – which is degrade his opponent and act in a condescending manner.
In regards to the War in Iraq/Afghanistan, Biden told Keith Olberman, of MSNBC, “The American people know that Barack has a plan to end this war that even George Bush has essentially embraced” “We spend more money on combat (in Iraq and Afghanistan) than on building up Afghanistan.” Biden commented on McCain’s qualifications and the support (or lack thereof) with Veterans, Biden said, “The DAV rate McCain a 20% on his voting record.” “He just came across as out of touch and angry.” “He looks like he’s lurching”
Christian Amanpour, a CNN diva, said, “American’s are incredibly concerned and desperately hope that their next president will lift Americans reputation up again; will make American’s connections with the rest of the world absolutely strong and admirable again.” I agree, sister!
So, here’s the deal. Advice for Obama: Don’t keep saying, “Not True, Not True” and “I agree with John on….” Limit the times you “agree” with McCain. If you’re going to keep pointing out the areas where you agree, what’s the point? Focus on the differences. Focus on continuing the tie to Bush. You really didn’t get any good sound bytes either.
Advice for McCain: Get new batteries. Sam’s Club usually has good deals on the value packs. Stop saying “My friends.” That’s annoying. You too didn’t get any good sound bytes. Even if you did, I don’t think there was enough Vivarin to keep anyone focused enough to catch them….
I really wanted to see McCain be more passionate (other than when he talks about torture or his Beltone/pre-condition issue), and Obama to provide more specifics. McCain got in his jabs at Obama, while Obama danced around too much. Obama became frustrated, but didn’t really counter-punch. Obama seemed to care about the average person and was very articulate. McCain was antagonistic and too sentimental. McCain in stuck in the Past, while Obama focused on the future.
Hopefully the Vice Presidential debate next week will be more entertaining and substantive. Wait, it’s Biden and Palin, so I guess I can forget about the substantive part. I guess I need to read up on lipstick, field-dressing a moose and Russian geography, as well as who was in Congress in the 1800s (Biden’s freshman century).
sarcasticscribe
2 Comments
September 27, 2008 at 6:34 am
Obama held his own on foreign policy, but I think McCain more than edged it!
September 27, 2008 at 9:54 am
I loved it when Sen. McCain said Sen. Obama doesn’t understand. It’s true he doesn’t! Also did anyone else notice that Sen. Obama kept referring to Sen. McCain as “John”. What’s up with that?