The Prez Debate was by far the most boring, comparatively speaking. There were three things that came out of it for each candidate;
McCain:
- I’m not George Bush
- the surge (i.e. Iraq War) is successful
- I was a prisoner
Obama:
- McCain supported the Bush administration in voting 96%, therefore, McCain = Bush
- I will do things differently to the Bush administration
- I am CHANGE!
Obama usually referred to McCain was “John,” but McCain always referred to Obama as “Senator Obama.”
The VP debate was far more interesting. This debate asked tough questions, such as Palin’s experience and Biden’s lack of discipline being their Achilles heel, and how they would run their administration differently should the worst happen to their counterparts in office (both said they would follow in their co-candidates’ policies, and proceeded to illustrate them).
This debate was also more light-hearted; though they both took it seriously, there were smiles, laughter and - god forbid - jokes. They both acknowledged the good work the others had done and the respect they had for each other, which was nice to see.
The best call was when Biden called McCain’s policy on health care and taxes “a bridge to nowhere” (when, finally, the audience “ooohed”!)
In short -
Palin: I’m a soccer mom, middle class, Governor and we at McPalin are mavericks! We will do what is best for the people. Did I mention that we’re mavericks?
Biden: I’m fair, patriotic, a people’s man and I may have voted against Obama in the past and said he was not ready to be Commander-in-Chief, but gosh darn it I support him now!
Palin deftly avoided saying she didn’t believe that humans caused climate change by saying “what matters is what we’re going to do about it.” Biden rightfully pointed out that without knowing the cause, you can’t properly fix the problem.
Gwen (moderator) had to keep steering the debate back towards the question as both candidates seemed determined to show both what their colleague proposed and the “fundamental difference” between what their opposing ticket supported. She also tried to steer the candidates towards actually answering the questions; the first (and just about only) direct answer was half an hour in; Palin said “yes” (when pressed) as to whether she would have supported (as McCain did) last year’s bankruptcy bill.
I was glad to hear same-sex rights brought up; Governor Palin clearly said that she would not support the extension of same-sex rights from Alaska throughout the country if it meant changing the “traditional definition of marriage” (no surprises there.) I was disappointed, however, to hear that Biden also agreed that he does not support same-sex marriage, though he supports same-sex civil rights. I don’t know how you can support one and not the other, but apparently he and Obama do (I love the way Word tells me I misspelled Obama, and it should be Osama).
The ultimate irony was Palin accusing Obama of “naïveté” in saying he would sit down to talks with world leaders without preconditions, calling it “bad judgement and dangerous.”
Biden – as Obama did – again accused McCain’s policies of being the same as George Bush’s several times, finally coming outright to say that John McCain is not the maverick Palin proclaimed him to be at least five times throughout the debate.
I thought it was most touching when Biden looked like he was about to cry as he talked about raising his children as a single parent.
A very accurate and very, very funny spoof from SNL.
More SNL/
An Alaskan hockey mom becomes Vice President in the wackiest family comedy of the year! Sound familiar?
Because I’m insanely curious bordering on mostly nosy, who of my largely American readers is going to vote in this election (which Biden calls the most important election of our lives)? You don’t have to tell me who you’re going to vote for, but you know I’d love to know…
x
JAG
3 comments:
mccain, to me, sometimes seems like that guy at a party who repeats himself. he tells the same story everytime you see him but you dont tell him cause you feel bad.
except this time, he brought a date. shes a hoot in a half but thats pretty much it.
i was fine with mccain. i wasn't for him, but i wouldn't be distraught if he won.
but palin?? really? it makes me question him most of all, and his choices and the motivations behind them.
i think its really cool youre keeping up with the election even though you dont live in the us. do many of your friends do that?
and yes yes yes yes im going to vote. it would be so foolish not to! i turned 18 over the summer, and i'm registered and excited to vote for obama.
if youre a us citizen and are 18 years old, vote.
cordie xx
I hate hate hate HATE Sarah Palin.
Cordie:
I don't mind McCain too much either, although he's a bit too Republican for my liking, but my worry is if he got into office and then died - we'd be stuck with Palin for President!
The US elections are actually a pretty big deal Down Under. Most people have a fair bit of interest in it, reading about it in the paper or watching SNL skits. It's almost a bigger deal than our own election, because that was kind of a foregone conclusion. Yours is waaaay more exciting! =)
Glad to hear you're voting! I couldn't agree more that if you're a citizen and over 18, you should vote. But I get the impression that not many Americans feel that way? i.e. they don't care/can't be bothered/don't want to vote? In Australia it's mandatory, which I support.
Your(aforementioned) statement (about voting) made me think. I'm a US citizen, but I thought I wasn't able to vote because I don't live there, and haven't lived there. But I looked into just now (through Wikipedia - where else?!) and found that, apparently, "a citizen who has never resided in the United States can vote if a parent is eligible to vote in certain states." I'm fairly certain my dad's still eligible to vote, (even though he doesn't) because in order to become an Australian permanent resident he has to renounce his US status (as far as I'm aware) which he doesn't want to do.
So I dug a little deeper, hit a federal site, and found that "U.S. citizens who have never resided in the U.S. but have a parent who is eligible to vote in Hawaii are eligible to vote at the same voting residence claimed by their parent (for local, state and Federal office ballots)."
So I may actually be able to vote! I'm going to have to look into this.
So thanks for inspiring me!
(But what's the bet my dad says "just because you can vote, doesn't mean you should." That's where I beg to differ.)
Arielle:
I don't hate Sarah Palin per se, although I strongly disagree with her over just about everything. She seems to be a nice person, and a good mother; I'm just not sure she's a good politician (after everything that's coming to air about her corruption etc), let alone VP. My mum loves her though, which I find both kind of funny and hard to believe, although I suppose it figures - my mum's fairly conservative, politically speaking, I guess - and she thinks she's a great example of a woman making it in politics; not only a woman, but a working mother from a small town who has made a difference in Alaska.
Whereas I just see a narrow-minded, ultra-conserative hick in Tina Fey glasses who should stay at home. Or at least out of politics.
;-)
x
JAG
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