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The terraforums Post Presidential debate post

Ok, we've all seen it (hopefully) so what did you think?

Who looked better (if either)?

Did anyone get surprised by one guy or the other?

One thing I found funny was the idea of the forum was to get them to debate themselves and neither one cared much to address each other directly and both spoke to an audience (who was blacked out)
"Say it directly to him"
"Why, don't you think I can hear hm?"

Also the semantic facts (language used) in delivering the "facts" of one guy or the other. Depending upon who was speaking (and whether or not you've read the entire writeups on either fellas websites) took quite a beating. As my dad seems overly fond of saying "Figures don't lie but liars can figure."
 
actually i thought it kinda sucked...............did get a laugh or two as Obama called McCain Tom at one point and Jim at another :D McCain showed his strengths in foreign policy but he didnt have any killer instinct to go for the throat when Obama was wrong so i gotta deduct points for that.....overall i see it as a wash between the two.....granted the debates arent going to change my mind but i didnt see anything in this that should have changed anyones or given the fence sitters a place to jump to
 
it seemed mostly like a tie to me, they both seemed serious and controlled with good responses to everything. no fighting and supposed "humor" from mccain. I don't think either one of them answered the first or the second question in the right way.
 
I didn't see a clear winner, but apparently Obama did well.
 
Objectively, the debate was a tie on a subject in which McCain was supposed to have much more knowledge and experience than Obama. Even Charles Krauthammer said that, considering the difference in expectations, Obama came out the winner.
 
I don't think McCain had much substance in his answers. I found they were 90% "Obama has no experience, did I mention I went to Kyrgystan?" And if you ask me, he had some really bull**** arguments, especially about the war on Iraq. He seemed more content to wrap himself in the flag than adress major issues. And Rattler, Jim was the person hosting the debate, and that's who Obama was adressing then. I didn't hear "Tom" though :). However I think McCain made some decent, clear points about how we need to cut spending, because ultimately that's what we're going to have to do. Obama's talk about corporate loopholes seemed unsupported, and it would've been nice if he gave a few examples. That's my take.
 
I have to agree it didnt seem like anyone said anything new, but McCain just kept saying how Obama didnt understand issue X. It was a bit disappointing from both of them to be honest, but at least Obama had some, not alot but some, substance to his answers. Though I will say both of them seemed to try to avoid actually answering the questions asked and instead answered the question they wish had been asked.
 
He called McCain Tom somewhere in the first 15 minutes...........

bout the only major blow i feel McCain dealt was pointing out Obama's earmarks and pork spending which is substantial, though aways from the highest in Congress but its up there and pointing out Obama has only been preaching cutting ear marks and the like since campaigning and as far as most of the public is concerned actions speak louder than words......add that to the fact McCain pointed out that while he is on Foreign Relations committee but hasnt really done anything as far as spending time abroad and holding committee meetings....both of these Obama didnt deny.....and McCains record shows him consistently against it

i dont hold the fact that neither answered the first two questions well against them cause they were being asked to comment on something that basically doesnt exist yet........its just being talked over.....the moderator was trying to get them to nail an answer to a wall that doesnt exist yet.....

McCain did far better on the economic part of it than i figured he would and i feel he trumped Obama in the foreign policy part cause push comes to shove experience does matter there to me.......and McCain gave plenty of examples as to why he has the experiance.....cant hold it against him cause the fact of the matter is its true.....

but as i said over all it was a tie cause i dont feel either gave enough reasons to make over bout 5% of the fence sitters a place to jump to.........
 
I think it was easily mccains best showing and even then mccain didnt "win"

I think obama still took it home.
 
  • #10
Meh, it was pretty insubstantial from what I watched (the first hour, I have the rest recorded.) Since there was relatively little concrete information, I don't see that debate changing any votes.

What I really look forward to is the VP debates- now that should be something worth watching.
 
  • #11
I only caught the last half of it. I understand that McCain did a good job of knocking down Obama on domestic issues, but by the time I was watching he seemed to just be flailing. The "Barack just doen't understand issue X" stuff was downright embarassing. From what I saw of it, McCain seemed to just be stringing together buzzwords; I found myself wondering if he could even convince hardcore FOX-news-only types with that stuff. I didn't feel like Obama was especially strong, but McCain did come off as especially weak. In particular, the way he kept interrupting and going over the moderator's head seemed very desperate and made me feel like he thought he was losing. Unprepared, frazzled and lacking confidence.
~Joe
 
  • #12
the issue i have is those call Barak the winner cause he "did better than expected" given his inexperience.......dont know bout you but ive never been declared a winner cause i did better then expected......i either won, didnt win or came in, in a dead heat.....i dont think McCain won.....dont think Obama won...........think it was a tie in a debate that was nothing special....they both spent 2 hours shadow boxing looking to give good sound bites for the press not actually debating......hopefully the next one is better cause if it ends like this one i will really believe we should kick both to the curb and start over.......if they cant say anything that will cause the fence sitters to jump down there is no point in debating........

i too am really looking forward to the VP debate......that one should be very interesting
 
  • #13
I had to work ;_; I need to find a vid of it somewhere on the 'nets. The general reaction from Democratic talk radio has always been that Obama is not a good debater, and from what I saw, I can agree. He's a good orator, But he's the kind of guy who would rather take time to think about things than spit out answers on a moment's notice.

Knowing that it's still pretty cool to hear about a tie. I saw the firt few minutes and I can say that McCain is a better debater, but the clips I had heard do point towards the Republican tactic of vague answers. Once again, this is democratic talk radio so it's whatever.

I'm already a solid Democrat but the whole range of dirty pool from this presidential campaign is really starting to wear on me. Also, I just noticed a banner in the sponsored links for an Obama-themed Jones Soda label, lol.

I vote for soda.
 
  • #14
Just found it and watched it. And, well... No real comment. Obama was good and laid out plans, McCain threw around buzzwords. McCain made himself sound really important and knowledgeable, Obama Was stuck on the defensive on a lot of issues the the GoP has dominated for the past 8 years, go figure.

My ultimate decision is based on the fact that it isn't the president who runs the executive branch, it's the party. I'll let it stand there.
 
  • #15
My ultimate decision is based on the fact that it isn't the president who runs the executive branch, it's the party. I'll let it stand there

shows yah dont know much bout McCain and why most Repub's didnt care for his nomination........what i thought was funny was watching Obama's body language while McCain was talking........he was ofte muttering under his breath and looked generally unhappy, far from the calm composed orator i expected......something early on rocked him and i bet it was McCain bring up the fact he has done nearly $800,000,000 in earmarks and pork spending......as much as Obama wants to claim he is against it his actions say other wise and he knew it and that it is going to affect some voters.......Obama wasnt near the great speaker he is made out to be.......every time McCain pointed out a solid fact to prove Obama hasnt done in the past what he says he will in the future it sent Obama reeling a bit and it would take him time to recover......kinda like he wasnt prepared to be questioned on not putting his money where his mouth is so to speak...........this is what yah get when yah put up a candidate that you refuse to question cause your afraid of being called a racist.....Obama met very lil resistance in the primaries when he should have.......the MSM tore into Hilary and everyone else but left Obama alone....now they have done the same to McCain.....Obama aint used to being seriously questioned........
 
  • #16
So you believe that we should cut all spending? I thought there was a great deal of wisdom in his Hatchet vs. Scalpel comment. It's frivolity that we need to cut, not everything. I think it's much better to invest money wisely than it is to throw it blindly at every interest at stake, and I don't believe that cutting any and all spending is the correct answer. And no, I wasn't paying any attention to body language, but I did sense the tension in Obama when McCain would blatantly lie about issues or go over the top in political theatrics. So answer me this, how can McCain claim to want to take care of troops when he votes against an improved GI bill and money going towards troop care? I guess we just need to cut that spending anyway and let them deal with it themselves, they're tough enough.
 
  • #18
Since I was boarding an airplane when it started, I didn't see it but I caught the last half of it late last night and I would have to say it was pretty even. Both candidates displayed characteristics they wanted to display. Although the debate was supposed to focus on foreign affairs, I think it was unfortunate for McCain because it started on economics, which Obama is being seen as better at dealing. I think it is unfortunate because I believe McCain really needed to hit a home run here, but didn't (from what I saw).

I'll be anxious to watch the entire thing when I get home on a stable internet connection with a little more time.

xvart.
 
  • #19
So you believe that we should cut all spending? I thought there was a great deal of wisdom in his Hatchet vs. Scalpel comment. It's frivolity that we need to cut, not everything. I think it's much better to invest money wisely than it is to throw it blindly at every interest at stake, and I don't believe that cutting any and all spending is the correct answer. And no, I wasn't paying any attention to body language, but I did sense the tension in Obama when McCain would blatantly lie about issues or go over the top in political theatrics. So answer me this, how can McCain claim to want to take care of troops when he votes against an improved GI bill and money going towards troop care? I guess we just need to cut that spending anyway and let them deal with it themselves, they're tough enough.

McCain didnt lie any more than Obama did.....why in the hell do you guys take what Obama says as gospel? he says one thing but his record shows otherwise........you do realize half the time McCain votes down on something that it is cause all the earmarks were attached which is what he is against....if the improved GI bill hadnt come with so much freaking luggage and was just the improved GI bill he would have voted it through.......do you know why the $700 Billion bailout failed this week(i dont think it should be done regardless) its cause they tried to attach a offshore drilling ban and siphon 20% of the profits on selling the property they buy to the programs like ACORN which were a major CAUSE of this problem
 
  • #20
Debate wise it was largely a tie. No major blunders from either one, and no home-runs either. It did show that Obama is a more attractive and charismatic person, though. Some of McCain's mugging and grimacing was painful to watch. But as far as content, neither one took a chance nor truly embarrassed themselves.

The polls are showing a moderate Obama victory, which is probably accurate, but it's not the sort of performance that's going to change the race in any way. I certainly hope nobody would change their vote solely on the basis of a debate like that, anyway. I thought the moderation was poor - why do they keep trotting out the strangely embalmed looking Lehrer? Does he have dead, inky black shark eyes? Like you're looking into infinite polls of emptiness? *shudder* Just creeps me out.

The VP debate will hopefully provoke more hilarity.

Capslock
 
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