Official Presidential Debate #2 thread

[Farang]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I would like to see unscripted questions being asked by the audience and have each be allowed a follow up question if the candidate gives some known to be debunked talking point answer.

But I know that that is never going to be allowed. We can't allow "Gotchya" questions even if they are coming from the voting population.

I was watching the 92 townhall debates and some lady asked a question about how the national debt affects the candidates in their everyday lives. Bush had trouble with it until it got clarified that she didn't know what the hell she was talking about. Then Clinton got up there with the clarified question and looked a lot better than Bush.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: OrByte
The rules for this debate suck.

I want to see some actual debating.

Agreed. This is an insult to our intelligence, and a waste of our time. No questions will get answered and nothing will be learned about the candidates. I doubt i'll be tuning in to this one.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
This is McCain almost last chance, and with the McCain polls now sinking as fast as the stock market, McCain really needs something that will change the campaign back into his favor.

A lot of people like McCain, McCain's problem is that more people think that Obama is doing the straight talking.

Other than going negative, McCain has yet to find anything to hurt Obama with, and with only four weeks to go, its desperation time for McCain.

This is exactly what I was telling my wife today. It's Hail Mary time for McCain, and I don't see it happening.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
It's Hail Mary time for McCain, and I don't see it happening.

are you saying McCain doesn't......have a prayer?

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: jonks

Originally posted by: jbourne77
It's Hail Mary time for McCain, and I don't see it happening.

are you saying McCain doesn't......have a prayer?

Can't visit the link, but yeah, that's pretty much what "I don't see it happening" means. Like others have said, what new developments are we expecting? All the cards are on the table, and if the polls are accurate, I have no reason to believe the final outcome will go to McCain.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: Lemon law
This is McCain almost last chance, and with the McCain polls now sinking as fast as the stock market, McCain really needs something that will change the campaign back into his favor.

A lot of people like McCain, McCain's problem is that more people think that Obama is doing the straight talking.

Other than going negative, McCain has yet to find anything to hurt Obama with, and with only four weeks to go, its desperation time for McCain.

This is exactly what I was telling my wife today. It's Hail Mary time for McCain, and I don't see it happening.

Yup. That Hail Mary needs to have no defense trying to intercept it either. Even if Obama comes up with something in response that isn't quite as strong as his usual, I seriously doubt that he will come up with anything so god awful that it will be enough for McCain to recover at this point. At best, it might be something that makes fence sitters fidget for a day or two but I doubt it will be much longer than that.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Obama's going Kyra Sedgwick tonight...

Obama's going to be an annoying-ass bitch who needs to get falcon punched in the face?

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I would like to see unscripted questions being asked by the audience and have each be allowed a follow up question if the candidate gives some known to be debunked talking point answer.

But I know that that is never going to be allowed. We can't allow "Gotchya" questions even if they are coming from the voting population.

There's a really good reason they review the questions beforehand and don't allow followup questions. How long would it be into the debate that Obama would be asked why he was a secret muslim, with a followup about some crazy unsourced report showing how he really was a 'seekret muslim!'? Same with equally insane questions for McCain. Followup questions would be very difficult to go over beforehand, which is one of the big reasons why they're out too I'd wager.

Unfortunately the questions have to be screened to keep the crazies out.

 

[Fern]

I wish that we would just call things what they are - a "Q&A" for the candidates. Looking at the rules, I don't see how this can reasonably be called a "debate".

Of course McCain has to go negative. When you're behind in the polls it's standard "campaign playbook" to go negative. He'd be a fool not to follow the playbook.

BTW: I've noticed the 527's are kicking in with the negative campaign ads. I'm in NC and we usually get almost no campaign ads. This time my state is "in play" so I'm finally seeing some on TV.

Fern

 

[jpeyton]

FiveThirtyEight is reporting another "best" polling day for Obama. He's now almost at a 90 point win percentage. Two Indiana polls show the race there is tied or within the margin of error. PA is almost solid blue, with another double-digit poll lead. Unless McCain unearths footage for tonight's debate of Obama planning 9/11, this race is essentially over. Obama has a dominating lead in the polls, but unlike Kerry he also has a dominating lead in the ground game.

Party November 5th, my house, free beer.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
FiveThirtyEight is reporting another "best" polling day for Obama. He's now almost at a 90 point win percentage. Two Indiana polls show the race there is tied or within the margin of error. PA is almost solid blue, with another double-digit poll lead. Unless McCain unearths footage for tonight's debate of Obama planning 9/11, this race is essentially over. Obama has a dominating lead in the polls, but unlike Kerry he also has a dominating lead in the ground game.

Party November 5th, my house, free beer.

And unlike Kerry, he's not a [f/t]ool.

 

[Capitalizt]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Unless McCain unearths footage for tonight's debate of Obama planning 9/11, this race is essentially over.

lol, quote of the day.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Fern
Of course McCain has to go negative. When you're behind in the polls it's standard "campaign playbook" to go negative. He'd be a fool not to follow the playbook.

But Obama didn't go negative when losing big to Hillary, which was part of his change message, and part of the message McCain claimed he was in favor of, i.e. "respectful campaigning" which he's since betrayed a dozen times. Even when I was ardently supporting Hillary you'll see my posts recognized that she was running a far dirtier campaign than Obama.

McCain is going negative because he selected to run his campaign the same scumbag sons of bitches who buried him in dirt in the 2000 primaries. He figured winning is more important that being respectful. He's not a sweet guy and he's desperate. But don't absolve him of this cesspool he's now swimming in. He had a choice how to run his campaign and he decided to put himself first. He could have been a part of an elevated dialogue, but sunk to the lowest common denominator. I'm curious if he loses how much respect he'll have going back to the Senate.

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: jonks

Originally posted by: Fern
Of course McCain has to go negative. When you're behind in the polls it's standard "campaign playbook" to go negative. He'd be a fool not to follow the playbook.

But Obama didn't go negative when losing big to Hillary, which was part of his change message, and part of the message McCain claimed he was in favor of, i.e. "respectful campaigning" which he's since betrayed a dozen times. Even when I was ardently supporting Hillary you'll see my posts recognized that she was running a far dirtier campaign than Obama.

McCain is going negative because he selected to run his campaign the same scumbag sons of bitches who buried him in dirt in the 2000 primaries. He figured winning is more important that being respectful. He's not a sweet guy and he's desperate. But don't absolve him of this cesspool he's now swimming in. He had a choice how to run his campaign and he decided to put himself first. He could have been a part of an elevated dialogue, but sunk to the lowest common denominator. I'm curious if he loses how much respect he'll have going back to the Senate.

I don't know about that. While it is true that Obama didn't run as dirty a campaign as Hillary was or McCain is, he was certainly quite negative while he was behind. When Hillary was the front runner all the other candidates were trying to tear her down. Obama I believe originally didn't believe that he had much of a chance to win until the surprise in Iowa, at which point he was catapulted into front runner status, etc. When Obama started to get behind for a bit in the beginning of September he was running a higher percentage of negative ads than McCain was.

That being said, McCain did make the conscious choice to put some of the dirtiest people in politics as the main managers of his campaign. I think every politician goes negative when behind (at least if they want to win), but how low they go is often a personal choice. McCain's gone awfully low.

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
FiveThirtyEight is reporting another "best" polling day for Obama. He's now almost at a 90 point win percentage. Two Indiana polls show the race there is tied or within the margin of error. PA is almost solid blue, with another double-digit poll lead. Unless McCain unearths footage for tonight's debate of Obama planning 9/11, this race is essentially over. Obama has a dominating lead in the polls, but unlike Kerry he also has a dominating lead in the ground game.

Party November 5th, my house, free beer.

I'm excited too man, but don't count your chickens quite yet. A lot can happen in 4 weeks. I agree that Obama is very likely to win, but this race is not over.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
FiveThirtyEight is reporting another "best" polling day for Obama. He's now almost at a 90 point win percentage. Two Indiana polls show the race there is tied or within the margin of error. PA is almost solid blue, with another double-digit poll lead. Unless McCain unearths footage for tonight's debate of Obama planning 9/11, this race is essentially over. Obama has a dominating lead in the polls, but unlike Kerry he also has a dominating lead in the ground game.

Party November 5th, my house, free beer.

correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't that just mean he is 90% to win if the election were held today with current polling? I don't think McCain can win, but it is not quite over yet.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: eskimospy

Originally posted by: jonks

Originally posted by: Fern
Of course McCain has to go negative. When you're behind in the polls it's standard "campaign playbook" to go negative. He'd be a fool not to follow the playbook.

But Obama didn't go negative when losing big to Hillary, which was part of his change message, and part of the message McCain claimed he was in favor of, i.e. "respectful campaigning" which he's since betrayed a dozen times. Even when I was ardently supporting Hillary you'll see my posts recognized that she was running a far dirtier campaign than Obama.

McCain is going negative because he selected to run his campaign the same scumbag sons of bitches who buried him in dirt in the 2000 primaries. He figured winning is more important that being respectful. He's not a sweet guy and he's desperate. But don't absolve him of this cesspool he's now swimming in. He had a choice how to run his campaign and he decided to put himself first. He could have been a part of an elevated dialogue, but sunk to the lowest common denominator. I'm curious if he loses how much respect he'll have going back to the Senate.

I don't know about that. While it is true that Obama didn't run as dirty a campaign as Hillary was or McCain is, he was certainly quite negative while he was behind. When Hillary was the front runner all the other candidates were trying to tear her down. Obama I believe originally didn't believe that he had much of a chance to win until the surprise in Iowa, at which point he was catapulted into front runner status, etc. When Obama started to get behind for a bit in the beginning of September he was running a higher percentage of negative ads than McCain was.

That being said, McCain did make the conscious choice to put some of the dirtiest people in politics as the main managers of his campaign. I think every politician goes negative when behind (at least if they want to win), but how low they go is often a personal choice. McCain's gone awfully low.

I'll clarify, I was using 'negative' and 'dirty' interchangeably. Yes, Obama ran "negative" ads against Hillary, but they were not "dirty" or "smears." An ad that points out your opponent wants to raise taxes or something is 'negative' but not 'dirty.' Hillary released a pic of Obama in traditional Muslim garb "just to put it out there." Now that's what I meant by dirty!

 

[Stunt]

McCain to sew up the Republican nomination spent far too much time pleasing the base and siding with Bush over the last 8 years.
McCain's views and policies are different enough to make that distinction had he contrasted himself with the president. Then there's all the personal attacks that McCain should not have let go; stuck to his guns and maintain the 'maverick' status.

It's almost like the Republicans are admitting their mistake in 2000...too bad McCain is no longer the man from a decade ago. At this point McCain needs to come right out and trash talk Bush knowing the Republican base will never vote Obama. The president has a 24% approval rating...who is McCain afraid of offending? It's not like he'll get another chance in 2012

 

[quest55720]

I still have not decided if I am going to watch or not. The debate is meaningless Obama will not make that major mistake. He is to good at parcing his words. At the end of the day Obama will still be up by 10 points. Now if I knew McCain was going to come out with guns blazing I might watch. If I knew McCain was going to go hard after frank and the democrats who let this crisis happen I might watch.

 

[Lemon law]

I will watch its live, that way I can compare my impressions with the endless biased reruns sure to follow.

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: quest55720
I still have not decided if I am going to watch or not. The debate is meaningless Obama will not make that major mistake. He is to good at parcing his words. At the end of the day Obama will still be up by 10 points. Now if I knew McCain was going to come out with guns blazing I might watch. If I knew McCain was going to go hard after frank and the democrats who let this crisis happen I might watch.

You might want to watch then. I think if there's one thing that's a fairly safe bet is that McCain will come out with guns blazing. It's his only chance.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: eskimospy

Originally posted by: quest55720
I still have not decided if I am going to watch or not. The debate is meaningless Obama will not make that major mistake. He is to good at parcing his words. At the end of the day Obama will still be up by 10 points. Now if I knew McCain was going to come out with guns blazing I might watch. If I knew McCain was going to go hard after frank and the democrats who let this crisis happen I might watch.

You might want to watch then. I think if there's one thing that's a fairly safe bet is that McCain will come out with guns blazing. It's his only chance.

Agreed.

Fern

 

[Farang]

Anyone want to bet it is another "tie"? After seeing Palin/Biden be called a wash I'm convinced nobody in the media has the backbone to state the obvious, they will always call it a tie to avoid seeming biased.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Farang
Anyone want to bet it is another "tie"? After seeing Palin/Biden be called a wash I'm convinced nobody in the media has the backbone to state the obvious, they will always call it a tie to avoid seeming biased.

I have to agree. Biden didn't so much kick ass, as Palin tripped over her tongue.

If I hear "maverick" one more time, I'm going to rupture my eardrums with an olive fork.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Farang
Anyone want to bet it is another "tie"? After seeing Palin/Biden be called a wash I'm convinced nobody in the media has the backbone to state the obvious, they will always call it a tie to avoid seeming biased.

the medias ultimate agenda is rating.

conflict brings ratings.

if they declare the race for Obama now (like they should have done in February during the primaries) where goes the excitement of the election and their ratings along with it.