Friday, September 26, 2008
McCain Was On His Game Tonight
Sen. John McCain has had a lot of experience grappling with foreign policy issues and it really showed tonight. Obama looked like a shrinking violet trying to stand toe-to-toe to McCain. I watched the debate on Fox News, which used the split screen. Obama's facial expressions and demeanor while McCain was speaking did him no favors tonight. He acted like a spoiled brat who couldn't wait his turn to speak. He appeared to be scowling at McCain whenever he spoke, while McCain always had a pleasant smile on his face when Obama spoke. As for the age thing, McCain spoke clearly and deliberately at all times. Obama continuously stammered and stuttered to piece together his thoughts. McCain didn't have to look down at his wrist to know the name of the fallen Iraqi War soldier he was honoring with a bracelet. Obama's "I've got one too and his name is . . . uuh . . . looks down . . . what is it? . . . oh, yeah." I fell out of my chair laughing watching him read the soldier's name on his bracelet. How could you wear a bracelet on your wrist every day in honor of a fallen soldier and not recall his name? I guess if you're only wearing it for show and not as a sincere tribute to the son of the mother of the fallen soldier who gave it to you.
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12 comments:
Were we watching the same debate? McCain's facial expressions were far from pleasant...I thought his head was going to explode.
Did we watch the same debate tonight??? The focus groups and instant polls showed that Obama clearly won this debate, even though the content favored McCain. McCain needed Obama to appear scary, but Obama more than held his own tonight.
I think at the very best for McCain, this could have been a draw, which is far less than what he needed.
I find it interesting that when Obama attacked McCain, it was on the issues, while McCain threw personal attacks and insults at Obama (naive, etc).
Are those the same focus groups that had "undecided voters" during the GOP convention who were secretly Code Pinkos?
You've got to be kidding, legaldiva. Every time McCain was speaking, Obama had that look of Damien from the Omen. He behaved rudely, constantly looking for help from Jim Lehrer. The candidates were permitted a certain amount of time to talk. Obama constantly raised his hand and attempted to interrupt McCain soon after he would begin his responses to Lehrer's questions. He kept shaking his head and saying "that's not true." Obama's behavior was far from presidential. Quite childish if you ask me, but I understand, legaldiva, that you like that style of being rude and crass. Your type wears it like a badge of honor. Perhaps that's the future of America, sadly. Vox, the Drudge Report online poll shows McCain winning by a better than two-to-one margin. The CBS and CNN polls are frauds. Their outcomes were scripted before a single call was made.
You hit the nail on the head, Nick. Frank Luntz's group was asked who was for McCain and who was for Obama. About half the crowd held up their hand for either candidate, but Luntz announced the group was overwhelmingly for Obama. He talked to three women in a row, who said unbelievable things like, "McCain was too mean", "McCain kept stuttering", and "McCain seemed too old." Luntz finally got to one white guy who shook his head at the women's responses and said he thought McCain's performance was brilliant. They were clearly not undecided voters but extremely partisan in their support of one candidate. I don't know how the group was picked, but their comments proved it to be a meaningless exercise.
The Drudge Report polls shows McCain is stomping Obama
AI, if you're relying on an online poll of a conservative website to tell you who "won" the debate, and if you truly believe it went 65% for McCain, I've got a bridge in Alaska to sell you...
We'll see in the next two days who "won" based on tracking poll numbers. I wrote on Blue Indiana that I was only able to listen to the first half of the debate and McCain sounded very old and cranky. When he started talking about Eisenhower's letters, I thought he was going to say something like "I knew Dwight Eisenhower."
Obama treated this event like a conversation. McCain almost pretended Obama wasn't there.
I look very forward to next week's VP debate, especially following her appearances with Charlie Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric. Unless of course she was just playing down expectations during those events.
All I wanted from this debate was to see if the two candidates could hold their own.
They could, and they did.
It was OBVIOUS that both parties were going to trumpet their candidate as the winner. "CLEARLY the winner", they'd say. "FAR-AND-AWAY the winner," they'd say. That's politics! And politics are never the reality.
The truth was definitely less overt.
The candidates each did well. Maybe McCain did a little better. I'm thinking B+ to B. They both were so-so on the economy. McCain showed more comfort with the foreign relations. It was about what you would expect. Neither candidate really stumbled or blundered.
What was the goal going in? Obama wanted to show he could be presidential. McCain wanted to show he understood the economics. And they did it.
What's left? To review their body language? Who cares.
I will say it irks me that Obama referred to McCain as John, but that's not even in the same class as bashing on Bill Clinton because he cheated on his wife and got a BJ. It's even more irrelevant.
OK, OK. Obama looked down. McCain refused to look at Obama. McCain looked at the moderator. Obama looked at the crowd. Some people say McCain was smirking. Some say he was smiling.
*yawn*
I don't care as much about that stuff. I don't want Obama or McCain to be my best friend. I want them to use their brains to run the country.
I found it interesting only some stations were split-screening the debate. A lot of communication was going on 'off camera' and viewers not getting that aspect were really being shortchanged - dare I say mislead.
Via VP this time, we again are instructed that anyone with the gumption to point out Obama's flaws is engaging in 'personal attacks.' Man, that's a tired old song.
And lastly, having watched several post-debate interviews with voters, it's clear a lot of people are being hypnotized by Obama's rockstar stage presence and just don't pay attention to what he says. The bracelet moment was important because the rehearsed and manufactured Obama broke character for a few seconds, during which time the real and unprepared Obama came out.
//if you're relying on an online poll of a conservative website to tell you who "won" the debate, and if you truly believe it went 65% for McCain, I've got a bridge in Alaska to sell you...//
I wouldn't say that Drudge is a conservative website. Matt may be conservative, but the journalism world visits Drudge with much regularity. Liberals are free to vote on his poll, as long as they have computers and an internet connection.
As for the focus groups, most people could care less what a focus group says about anything. They carry all of the excitement of an insurance seminar. People are tired of these groups telling them what they should be thinking based on some skewed opinion poll or some abstract research done with obvious biases intact.
I heard the debate on the radio. I did not see it. I must say that McCain could be heard breathing heavily...chuckling sarcasticly, and sounding like an automaton. When I got home and watched some of it, I thought McCain looked foolish by REFUSING TO LOOK AT OBAMA. That was flat out disrespectful to Senator Obama. It was a poor decision by McCain that will likely rev up Senator Obama's base even more. It was just odd and rude.
My type AI???? I wasn't aware that we are acquainted. However, if you would like to make judgments on "my type", I'm more than happy to introduce myself in person so that your assinine assumptions regarding my character are at least rooted in some form of reality.
Both candidates attempted to talk over the other at times--it wasn't unique to Obama. McCain acted with contempt and disrespect throughout the debate--Obama wasn't making faces and making personal jabs. McCain attempted to imply that Obama isn't intelligent--which is far from the truth. Even if we all disagree on who is better equipped to deal with the many problems this country has, we can all agree that Obama is intelligent--arguably more intelligent than McCain. McCain held his own, there's no disputing that, but to say that he acted presidential is a stretch.
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