The candidates often revealed themselves unintentionally.
John McCain talked about his Christianity saying he was saved and forgiven. His claims of Christianity rang hollow later when he defined evil as radical Islam and promised to pursue Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell.
McCain had ready answers for questions when he knew what the audience, members of a Baptist church, wanted to hear. Sounding like a child reciting his catechism, he pandered to single-issue voters. He knew the right answers to questions about when human life began and what a marriage was, and he gave them without hesitation. While tiptoeing through the tulips, however, McCain declined define wealthy by amount of income, although he did mention that some of the unhappiest people he knew were rich. He also told the audience that everyone should pay less in taxes. Presumably lower taxes will ease the unhappiness of the wealthy.
What McCain showed most was an ability to recite his lines. Whether he avoids deep thought or thinks Americans are incapable of it is unclear. To a question about stem cell research, he replied that he hoped that new developments would make the issue go away.
McCain also wants to improve American education through competition, preaching the free-market gospel of his other religion. If elected, his promise to carry out the legacy of George Bush will prevail: more breaks for the wealthy and more broke Americans.
Obama talked about his Christianity, noting that his beliefs saved and supported him. He also said that his beliefs obligated him to work for a just, merciful, and inclusive society. He underscored the need for humility in making him willing to admit to failures and correct them.
Obama, who did not play as well with the audience, showed an integrity and a willingness to reason through issues that McCain lacked. He told the truth about the connection between public services and taxes: one pays for the other. He pledged to prevent federal money from funding discrimination and refused to pander to the definition of evil used by McCain, noting that besides the evil of terrorism, there is plenty of evil to deal with here at home. He also cautioned those eager to defeat evil that much evil has been done in the name of defeating evil.
In answer to questions about abortion, Obama admitted his pro-choice position. He then promised to advance his belief in the sacredness of life by lessening the need for abortions, rather than making them illegal. Single-issue voters were not pleased with his answers, but people who think about issues saw a man who carefully considers different sides of the issue before arriving at a position.
Obama, unlike McCain, shrank from rosy pictures of the wonderful life all would have when he became president. He chose instead to discuss the next administration as a time for Americans to work together to meet challenges. He named the challenges, and rather than promising everything for nothing, he gave a realistic view of the costs, both in work and money. While his opponent's canned responses received a better reception, Obama's thoughtful, reasoned answers revealed an intelligence that the office of president has lacked for nearly a decade.
The question remains whether American addiction to the pat answer will let McCain convince them to vote against their own best interest. In short, those who want unwavering confidence that never flinches in the face of hard evidence will find their candidate in McCain. Those who want a better life for all Americans will look to Obama.
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Comments: 136
I notice you, yoursel,f did not post any link to the, so-called, fact that the abortion rate has actually gone down during, much less due, to the Bush.
Then too, all he knew was military, and that is an image we need to get away from because the world is perceiving us as warmongers right now. The world is rooting for Obama. I hope the American people are smart enough to deliver. Or do the Baptists actually want to see Armeggdon in their lifetime?
I watched this and thought it was a sham. Rick Warren's favor for McCain showed. Still, Obama did get some whistles from the audience.
McCain revealed himself to be well- rehearsed, and completely willing to say whatever his evangelical crowd wanted to hear, in order to get their vote.
Your analysis is very spot on! Thanks!!!
I have not had the time to view this whole thing, but snippets
on the web. One thing that was very noticeable to me without
even taking much time to listen was that while McCain sat upright
and looked directly at the interviewer and audience and camera,
Obama slumped, he looked slow witted, tired, still thoughful,
but the main thing is that he had his head slung to the right.
What on Earth was this man thinking? Far from appearing
thoughtful, he looked like he did not want to be there, and
was unclear about what he was doing, he seemed to just
talk like he was in a conversation, only he did not seem
energetic or proud of his beliefs.
This is a quick impression, but this thing with Obama ducking
or runing away or not meeting face on is something that really
concerns me. I am about ready to start calling for Obama to
step down, his numbers are dropping and he looks at sea,
like he got this far by dealing with far left Democrats and he
never gave any thought to winning the election with the
American people - far from Presidential in his look or message.
or get enough sleep.
He slumped, and he had his head cocked over the to side while
McCain sat upright and looked proud and engaged.
I am really starting to get pissed at Obama, this is not a game
for his ego, this is a job interview, and if he cannot do it he
better take his name out of it right damn now.
What you saw as "pat answers" I saw as a man confident in his beliefs.
On the other hand, what some think as "thoughtful answers" by Obama, seemed more like stammering and stuttering as he tried to get the "right answer" to feed the group of evangelicals, while still appeasing the "other" Americans who might be watching. He failed mightily.
We should all be afraid of Obama's tax plan. McCain, on the other hand wants everyone to succeed. He wants businesses to grow and thrive here...instead of taxing them so much that they want to find other countries where they can do business.
Isn't it amazing how the lenses we wear determine what we see...when it's staring us in the face?
Ann, Obama is a good guy but his lack of experience, his inability to give definitive answers to what changes he'll make mark him as someone who just needs a bit more maturity and time in the arenas of politics.
He claims his hardest decision was voting against the war. He wasn't in Congress when the vote came for that action. He has so many memory lapses but it's not because he wants to deceive, he just has no idea which direction he's supposed to take until his advisers guide him.
Have mercy and try just a wee bit to be fair. If you read my article,
I'm Not a Fan of McCain
you'll see I'm not really biased. I hope I am informed.
Article is well written unfortunately too biased.
What an astoundingly disturbing and twisted view of the events of this Forum. Sadness has replaced humour, here. You wouldn't understand who showed better character and leadership if they had held the event in your own living room.
McCain simply knows what he thinks (though I disagree with him). Obama stammered like a schoolboy, and hasn't a clue as to what he thinks.
Actually Obama was trying to explain that he agrees with BOTH sides without looking as idiot as John Kerry when he tried to attempt this feat.. He is way over his head and proven that he is not ready to lead this nation. The presidency is way over his pay grade.
Gather Broadcasting: Have it your way
This takes you in the back door. If you’ve already been, don’t click again.
Libramoon, you are right on the money - McCain isn't for the people, he is for welth and power. God help us if he gets elected. You folks will get what you bargained for, more war and more economic struggles for the less fortunate.
Great choice of words, Jeff! I agree!
But then followers don't think, they repeat the party line without judging for themselves. I may have been a cop but that does not mean I could not or did not think for myself. I followed the laws that did not mean I was blind to my so called superiors who used them against people for their own gain. Same in politics as in the rest of the world it seems.
I'll vote for whomever I believe will lead this country not follow some party line to the exclusion of good sense. But then most are lead by the nose and do not use their brains for other than fertilizer for their hair.
The above was my own opinions not given to me by some party line...
:O)
His comment about his first marriage seemed very insincere. Here is a man who had an affair while he was married to his first wife, Carol, a woman who had waited patiently for his return from Vietnam; who had had 22 surgeries from a horrendous car accident and who walked with a limp. He left her for the heiris of a beer company.
He said he wants to lead us to THE GATES OF HELL!!! It's right there on tape.
When he says he'll follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell, do you think he means, HE HIMSELF IS GOING TO GO!!! NO! That's where he plans for us, our children, and our country! He's going to be sitting cozy, cushy.
THE GATES OF HELL, GUYS!!! And he's proud of it, too!!!
"At what point does a baby have rights?" Was the word "baby" actually used?
If so, this obvious biased question doesn't deserve an answer. That's like asking "when does a man have rights?".
And McCain's simplified "at inception" answer means there are NO circumstances in which a fetus could be aborted?
If you truly want everyone to read your blogs with an open mind, then I would ask you one question.....
Will FOX air this program with an unbiased approach? If you answer yes, then we cannot honestly understand your position. I am ready to agree with your assessment of Obama's debate experience, but you cannot realistically ask people to get credible information about the candidates from FOX, can you?
Your article is Featured in the Triple Name Club.
http://erlc.com/article/abortion-statistics
Wow Kathryn. You used to think he was a genius when he was a thorn in the republicans side.
""""great report, Ann. And of course we've now heard about the "cone of silence" that didn't exist as McCain wasn't even in the "cone" for the first half of Obama's interview and was most assuredly listening to it on the radio in the car on the way over."""""
These are the kind of quotes I love to hear liberals make. It is an unwittingly stark admission of what a sound butt kicking Obama took in that forum, which explains why his handlers said today that there will be no more of these forums at any level. You see liberals know when they lose. But they can't except it. So they cling to "foul play" and "cheating" as to why the "young, vibrant, uber intelligent, second coming" got shown up by an old delusional Alzheimer patient. The problem??????
1.) The liberal media builds up their hero to a status that NO human can live up to.
2.) They ridicule and impugn the other and create an opportunity to surprise people for being way above and beyond what they expected.
3.) Liberalism is liberalism no matter how you package it. America doesn't like you people.
NO THANK YOU!
NO THANK YOU!"""
Inflation is up no doubt but joblessness? Bush has a lower jobless rate that Clinton did. Wise up fool.
I think Obama's inexperience if beginning to show. He is in over his head. As the man said, He doesn't even know how or why he is sitting on the post.
noun
1. a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties [ant: conservative]
2. a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
Liberalism refers to a broad array of related ideas and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal.[1] Modern liberalism has its roots in the Age of Enlightenment.
Broadly speaking, liberalism emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity. Different forms of liberalism may propose very different policies, but they are generally united by their support for a number of principles, including extensive freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market or mixed economy, and a transparent system of government.[2] All liberals — as well as some adherents of other political ideologies — support some variant of the form of government known as liberal democracy, with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law.[3]
* * *
We can now see why Obama is afraid to deal with McCain in the town hall format. He cannot be natural, he needs a script because he doesn't have core values or principles he believes in, or he is afraid of alienating his base if he reveals them. As the campaign proceeds Obama is going to have to come accross as being "real," the rock star status that wowed Europe is beginning to wear thin on Americans.
Concerning Michelle Obama, now that Obama has said she will be an "advisor," does that make her subject to critique in the campaign? He may have wished that he did not mention her in this official capacity.
First, I just have to come out and say that I'm not very happy with the choices in this election at all as voting for the lessor of two evils isn't really a choice to me. With that said I have to disagree with your assertion that McCain was the more evil one the other night.
I hate to say that I had to force myself to sit through this live event so with that said I can say that I think you may have confused the two parties within your article. Because I know for sure your own opinion didn't have anything to do with the sway of your article at all.
Now in the show I noticed McCain's answers where quick and to the point where as Obama's where anything but!
Now with that said I have for years been using a sure fire way to tell the truth over the spoken word and that is looking at how long it takes a person to come up with the truth. McCain clearly and quickly spoke directly to each question (as if from the heart) where Obama dragging each answer out carefully, thinking and pondering more over its response than the real answer( not passing the smell test in my book).
Now with all that said I did give you high marks for this article if for nothing more than the venue!
I had to come back as the first attempt to submit a response dumped me to the "You must have an account" window and I lost it!
Hears what else I had to say.
Obama no matter how hard it may be to swallow was the clear loser of that night. His so call stardom had very little sway within the church as there wasn't a teleprompter anywhere to tell him what to say. I find that Obama is full of hot air, his word as empty and longing as his deeds.
I've never heard someone try to be everything to everyone so hard as Obama is trying to do in my life. Don't just take my word for it, all one has to do is go back over all his speeches and you'll find him coming from almost ever side of close to ever issue ( the location and who he was speaking to has more to do with it than anything else). I'm afraid the only real change Obama can offer is his own mind!
Is this while the Republican myth crumbles all around them in real time with real people and real wars and real gas prices and real recession.......? just wondering how that continual loop will play our after 8 years of misrule.
are we safer today?
stronger? army/ dollar/economy?
more allies?
are we a better country today?
heck of a job. and why should we continue it with republican mismanagement?
Hi Kay....McCain is real alright...real bad for the country.
In reading the commentary below your article, I am amazed by how some people continuously seek the hypnotic drone of a pied piper to lead them, rather than being personally responsible for making wise and realistic consideration prior to acting, as Senator Barrack Obama exemplified throughout the interview, and within an audience that historically has been rather known for prejudgment.
Coming home from work last night, I was pulled into a front page article in a Copenhagen paper, revealing where a lot of US tax dollars are allocated for the US DoD. It is to develop a whole new type of warfare, where the battlegrounds of tomorrow might get fought within the central nervous system. Drug warfare, which among a host of other sick ideas, can turn enemy combatants into sexually crazed homosexuals, or even worse. Reminded me of how the US DoD did that several decades ago in Canadian psychiatric hospitals, with LSD. I'd discussed this with a colleague at work, who is a psychiatrist, and she laughed. "Mind control weapons!? Won't work for," and she explained why.
It's off-subject, I know, but the point is, this is what McCain stands for- continuing the hapless legacy of GW Bush, sinking us ever deeper into an expensive fog of such magnitude that even more of what Christ stood for will be removed from the word "Christianity."
Will I be disappointed...sure.....will I be less disappointed with Obama.....95% less disappointed than with MacCain.......you say he ' may not help you or I' ...at least he won't HURT us like Bush and Co. have.
Obama on abortion, working with McCain on ethics, etc.
McCain on his tax plan, etc.
By the actions of McCain, including his participation in lives lost and destruction and mayhem on a carrier during the Vietnam War - causing him to not advance in the Navy despite the sure-lock of a 4-star admiral father - his documented, explosive & impulsive behaviors throughout his political career, McCain's experience is a tragedy waiting to become perhaps America's grossest failure, were he to become president in this time of globalized cultural conflicts. He hasn't a clue, especially after his statements at Rick Warren's church.
And this is a perfect description of McCain's presentation: "Sounding like a child reciting his catechism".
that's because he has one.
i've seen a lot of partisan harping along this thread (this is the rule these days, rather than the exception). -what Americans should be considering: a firmly-entrenched, lock-stock "sold" individual cannot expand beyond party politics.
Obama does cater to his audience--we're watching a popularity contest, it only makes sense--but i think we all know that the majority of people are poor; that said majority has to vote for the individual who Likes Them The Most (if they're smart...but are they?); that Obama, in this case, Likes Them The Most.
this means that, nine-ten, he's going to try and make them happy.
his ability to "see all sides of an issue" cannot be denied. he was notorious for this facility BEFORE he was being considered for the Oval.
why is this a bad thing?
would you rather the opposite? -an individual lost to Their Side, in totality?
seriously?!
take it from me--an anarchist who'd rather see Chaos than the Same Old Order, and wouldn't vote unless we were instituting a canny king/queen--take it from me, who has nothing to gain (or lose) that isn't already gone:
you want Obama.
you just don't know it yet.
PRO CHOICE.
As soon as I saw that comment about "pro-choice," I did a double take.
It seems we so often get dizzily lost in a bewildering forest of spinning catch phrases, that we can't see what those trees of words actually mean all too often.
Pro (supportive of) Choice (Free Will).
I love farie stories...they're so comforting. Just like Casper.
Has there ever ever been a fetus in its first trimester who in the least little way has complained? I am not asking lightly here, for I know of a great many people who have cried out over the coming loss of their own life due to man's inhumanity.
It is sadly all too often the very same groups in civil society who decry a woman's choice in this matter, who then callously react instantly with mayhem, butchering entire societies of human beings, simply because they have an argument with someone, far away, who also might be a butcher of another type.
It takes the fetus 4 weeks for the central nervous system to change form from a type of neural tube that goes along the entire dorsal side of the fetus to the differentiation of the brain that cannot yet think. Thinking occurs through experiences that have settled into a complex region of memory. By the 5th week, the beginnings of the brain's synapses begin to form, and the week after that, the fetus begins to fire these synapses such that there are spontaneous movements in some muscles. At about ten weeks, the fingers begin to have movement.
Becoming a human being is a lifelong process. The brain actually never stops developing. How one thinks, especially with repeatable behaviors, actually changes the architecture of the brain. That has been proven with thermal imaging. Who you were ten years ago is not who you are today.
It is a remarkable thing to do all we can to preserve life. If a pregnant mother came to me for counseling, my instinct would be to do all I could to preserve the potential life evolving in her womb. That is very much how Senator Barrack Obama expressed his view on the question of a woman's right to choose.
In a great many cultures in the world, a newborn does not get a name for several weeks, some would suggest because of the high mortality rate is some places.
Those who are so keen on preserving a young human life would do far better to volunteer their space on this planet by going to these people without an iota of self-righteousness - for most societies already have exquisite spiritual belief systems - and simply serve their needs to live more healthy lives, if they wish you to do so, so their already born infants can survive.
If one's faith makes one believe in the infinite soul, then one ought to know that the soul cannot in any way ever be harmed by anything occurring on the physical plane. But a "human spirit" can be crushed whenever a man forces a woman to do what she knows will cause harm to herself and the potential life in her womb.
and look around no one wants to be an adult anymore. Hell I walk around in shorts all the time looking like a kid......can you imagine going back to the 50's -60's?
we don't value life anymore....not the unborn...the born. Look at our priorities. Look at policies...education.....cut funding for everything...no taxes no pay go.....worse than kids at least they don't know any better. Hell some people are walking abortions all hate filled lacking in any human empathy.
Self Loathing....
Now that I've turned into gampa simpson here......let's look at John you can have everything McCain's solutions..........
all done....none there. Have a nice day. ;-)
I'll admit it. I find McCain's faux populist good old boy persona repelling.
One thing about McCain's experience. The highest rank he achieved in the Navy was base commander. That's like being in charge of a warehouse in a private business. Responsible job that demands a competent person but not the kind of job that leads to the board room.
Bent, if you actually believe that the pro-choice movement has anything to do with choices, you are missing the point. "Choice" is a code word for infanticide, and everybody knows this to be true, though few will admit it. Also, no "remarkable" spiritual system involves infanticide. Only a heathen religion would suggest abortion to solve a woman's immature woes. I am also glad to hear that people who cannot decry their murder are therefore worth killing. I'll be sure to go out now and murder every illiterate person in Harlem now...your logic is astoundingly lacking in logic, actually.
louis, are you actually complaining that we are taxed too little? Do you work??
I have a trust fund. As I've said often enough I don't mind paying taxes as long as I feel I get something of value for it. I value art, education, I wouldn't mind paying for space exploration and alternative fuels.....I don't even mind paying for the army as long as they aren't buying $350 toilet seats. I value education in the basics....you know reading etc.....why can't you go kill all the illterates in the Ozarks? you wouldn't last long in Harlem.
good to know about the trust fund. We--the people-- will be taking about 50 % ,or maybe 65% of that for our selfs in the very near Obama future. Can't wait cause I'm always up for getting alittle of someone elses cash!.
I had a good a good session in the toilet, disgorging the putrid thinking stated in the comment somewhere above here...
Regarding today's breaking news (Afghanistan: 10 French troops killed. Georgia Standoff: Russia ignoring the West)
Supreme Commander of NATO, General George A. Joulwan (NATO service: 1993-1997) stated today:
“We have not treated Russia with respect for the past several years... I advised years ago that we need to seek common ground with Russia.. work together...”
“Afghanistan, should have been won 7 years ago. We jumped from Afghanistan to Iraq.. We needed to build an infrastructure in Afghanistan.. its political, economic and social... but shifted all that and sent our forces to Iraq. These are mistakes made by our present elected leaders and generals.”
This is the Bush legacy, which McCain has stated he will not only follow, but reinforce.
Obama's stated policy reflects exactly this general's advice; a general who helped bridge so many gaps in international conflicts before they flared into the types of catastrophes both Bush and McCain have or wish to create(d).
Do you realize how accurate your thinking is here.? I have a sad sense that one of the reasons Saddam was put on the US-fast track to the hangman's noose, prior to some of the other planned trials, and to nix the idea of having the trial at the Hague, was to keep the deeper truth of what you're stating from the US public view.
Lois! You forgot Slick Willie!