Uh Blah

With just under 3 weeks to go before election day here's where we stand:


Here's a closer look at those "swing states"

In regards to last night's debate...

It was easily my favorite of the 4. I liked that it was focused on domestic/"kitchen table" issues. There was no discussion on the war & that really made for a more informative debate on the issues that most Americans care about right now.

I thought McCain started out very strong on the issue of taxes. He had Obama on the defensive for the first 30 minutes. As an effective counter I felt Obama should have mentioned how you can see just how his tax plan affects you right on his website.

When the topic of Ayers was brought up, as I predicted by the moderator, you could see McCain try to dance around it by mentioning Lewis' comments instead. So Obama chose to lay it out all on the line & said exactly who he associates with & I thought Obama really turned the debate over in his favor at that point.

When they discussed healthcare it wasn't even close! Obama had a clear plan & McCain still doesn't get it. The abortion topic also made McCain look out of touch when he was arguing about the health of the mother. Way to lose your female independents on that one!

I don't hate McCain. I think he's actually a good guy. I do however think he's erratic & obviously his 180 on Bush policies makes it impossible for me to even consider voting for him, but these attacks on his personality aren't justified IMO. He did afterall admit to not caring about Ayers. He's also made an effort to stop the name calling at his rallies.

All that said, I couldn't help but laugh after the debate was over & McCain looked like he was on speed. Did anyone see him attempt to shake hands with Michelle Obama before Barack even had a chance to hug her? And then he could barely bring himself to kiss his own wife cuz he was in such a rush to greet Michelle? What was that about? Very odd, but again has nothing to do with his ability to run the country IMO.

ceilirose

McCain isn't going to talk about Ayers anymore because it's not working. Two weeks he cared about the issue of Ayers because he thought it might bring Obama down.

Joe the Plumber is registered after all and as a Republican. Wow..what a shock.

You know I think most Americans would love to be in a position where their income would be $250,000. Once you get into that tax bracket and you own your business there are plenty of deductions out there to help bring your tax burden down. Personally I don't think "Joe" isn't that worried about the taxes he'd be paying but the philosophical ideas between Republicans and Democrats.

And yeah..my guess is that he's voting for McCain and his mind was made up before last night.

Uh Blah

Ah yes Joe the plumber! I love how Obama schooled McCain on his healthcare policy. Noting that he exempts small businesses like Joe the plumber from having to pay a fine if they don't supply healthcare to it's employees.

UnsilentMajorty

I think McCain is the victim of unfortunate circumstances. Yes, his campaign has done some irresponsible and dangerous things regarding the whole "palling around with terrorists" accusations... But I put forth this question on another thread:

If the economy had not crashed during the election, do you think Barack Obama would be this far ahead, or ahead at all?

I don't know the definitive answer, but I feel the economy has been a huge factor (obviously) that is trumping race, race being the biggest obstacle for Obama in what should have been a normal election year.

People want change, but if the economy had held strong for at least a few months (until Janurary), I wonder if people would be as motivated as they are now to vote for a Democrat (regardless of race)?

The only other major obstacle that stands in Barack Obama's way and that is completely out of his control (even more so than race) is voter suppression efforts by Republicans.

I am not going to mince words. The Republicans new strategy is to target local election laws and officials and try and manipulate them and the voting populations, so they have less voter turnout. The way they do this is through basic misinformation and intimidation tactics.

For example, there are reports from college campuses across the U.S. of students receving pamplets and e-mails that state if they vote on Nov. 4th, they will lose their tax-exempt student status, lose their scholarship, or lose their grant money, etc. For older voters there are reports of individuals going door-to-door and telling people they can't vote because they didn't register "properly" even though they are registered legitimately via a motor-voter bill, or other means. It also extends to the polling place where election officials (in an effort to try and prevent voter supression) are now being forced to penalize voters for minor discrepencies between a voters identification and the registar. An example of this is a newlywed woman who is still registered under her maiden name from the last time she voted. As a result, election officials being forced to mandate 100% accuracy to try and stop voter suppression end up becoming the very thing they are trying to prevent... And the Republians know this.

This is the Republicans new strategy because A) It is not illegal, and B) They let the local election officials do the "dirty work" for them via the example I gave above.

collide

About Joe the plumber....

Joe the Plumber is not registered to vote
He is not a registered plumber in the state of OH

Joe the Plumber, the star of tonight's debate, may have a very interesting connection to John McCain. In fact, Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher) of Cincinnati, Ohio may be related to one Robert Wurzelbacher of Cincinnati, Ohio, who happens to be Charles Keating's son-in-law.

Robert Wurzelbacher was implicated in the Keating 5 scandal, and sentenced to 40 months in prison in 1993.

Wurzelbacher is also a huge Republican donor.

How is voter suppression not illegal?

ZacFanOnWheels

My mind as to who I was voting for was made up long before the debate last night, but last night certainly cemented my decision without a doubt.

I have to say the thing that bothered me the most was when McCain used Sarah Palin's experience as a mother of a child with special needs as a reason she'd make a good Vice President. I have special needs as do millions of other people in this country but that does not make my parents or anyone else's more qualified to be Vice President or possibly President. Same goes for Sarah Palin.

And by the way, Senator McCain, Senator Palin's son has Downs Syndrome, not Autism, as you seemed to be suggesting last night.

ceilirose

I think Palin has an autistic nephew. Not sure how that makes her an expert but she would be familiar with it.

Uh Blah

In Alaska she has increased funding and signed a bill that will triple per pupil funding over three years for special needs students with high cost requirements.

UnsilentMajorty

There is a fundamental difference between illegal and immoral, or unethical.

The methods the Repuclicans are using fall within the legal limits of law. They aren't committing voter fraud... Having the same person(s) vote more than once; Having people use the identities of deceased people to vote; etc. They are simply supressing the number of potential voters by persuading, or preventing people from voting. People not voting based on their own choice, coherced or not, is not illegal. Hence, they are not in violation of any election laws.

Pacey'sgirl

I dont think he would be ahead if not for the economy. I think its the number one issue on folks minds.....and that is calling for them to want something different. IMO. Its like when Bush ran the number one issue was terrorist attacks since that was fresh on everyone's mind we were all scared. So folks wanted to vote for the person who seemed to be the one to protect us best. That was Bush and he did that but the economy suffered and bad. Same with the economy now....folks think Obama will be able to help the economy more than Mcain again just my opinion! Have a great thrusday all!

ceilirose

It would be a tighter race if the economy wasn't the main concern for most people. The pick of Palin put McCain ahead but her appeal is just to the base. Once that convention bounce leveled I think Obama still would have led but at a smaller percentage.

A little under 3 weeks is still a lifetime in politics so anything can happen.

There's a rumor that Colin Powell will endorse Obama - that would be interesting if it happened and it would dominate the news cycle pushing Joe the Plumber off.

collide

I don't know if Barack would be in the lead or not. 87 percent of the people in the country are unsatisfied with the direction of America. A lot of people think McCain represents more of the same. Especially, since he stated he voted with Bush more than 90 percent of the time.

Cristofle

I don't agree with this. Mind you, I rarely think politicians are upstanding people, it's kind of an oxymoron to me. But this is the man who makes rape jokes. Who called a teenage girl ugly at a public event. Who called his wife a ****. Who has not put up nearly ENOUGH of a protest of the things said at his rallies, and who stayed silent on it for far too long (and as an aside, it's pretty strongly rumored that the only reason he protested it at all is because the Secret Service ordered him to, not because he actually cared). I think there is more than enough evidence that this is not a good man we're dealing with.

ceilirose

For some reason I didn't notice all the faces McCain was making. They were bad but someone needs to tell him not to laugh at his own jokes. That to me was the most awkward part for him. Sarcastic humor has to have the right audience and since the people there were told to keep quiet the whole night it just fell flat.

Cristofle

I think it's fairly obvious he is EXTREMELY antagonistic to Obama. There's no love lost there, lol. Half the time, that debate was like watching a mental bar fight.