Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged debate
QotD: Pros vs Cons
Oct 16th 2008
Did you watch the baseball game or the debate last night?
Considering I'd rather get my eyes dug out with with rusty spoons than watch an entire baseball game (It takes so long for them to do anything!!!) I watched the debate.
I went in not expecting it to change my mind. I was going to vote for Obama before he even announced he was running for president, so not much is going to change my viewpoints on this. So, needless to say, I thought the debate was a big win for Obama. McCain looked like he was a grumpy old man getting increasingly frustrated with Obama's corrections of McCain's misinformation. A couple times it even looked like his eyes were going to fall out of his head because Obama had owned him so hard.
Joe the Plumber is a name I hope I never have to hear again after hearing about him so much last night. But it was worth it for when McCain brought up the misinformation about Joe's business saying that under Obama's health plan he would be fined for not offering health benefits.
McCain: Now, my old buddy, Joe, Joe the plumber, is out there. Now, Joe, Sen. Obama's plan, if you're a small business and you are able — and your — the guy that sells to you will not have his capital gains tax increase, which Sen. Obama wants, if you're out there, my friend, and you've got employees, and you've got kids, if you don't get — adopt the health care plan that Sen. Obama mandates, he's going to fine you.
Now, Sen. Obama, I'd like — still like to know what that fine is going to be, and I don't think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America's economy.
((Some stuff edited out here))
Obama: I just described what my plan is. And I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there. Here's your fine — zero. You won't pay a fine, because…
McCain: Zero? ((McCain's eyes were bugging out of his head at this point and it looked like he was staring at the headlights of an oncoming train))
Obama: Zero, because as I said in our last debate and I'll repeat, John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees, but are not doing it.
That was worth it. They also brought up Ayres and I think that Obama directly addressing the topic and explaining his relationship with Ayres should pretty much lay the issue to rest with most rational Americans.
All in all, I thought this debate was the best. The moderator was awesome and he let the topics go on if there was a good discussion going down between the candidates, but he wasn't afraid to step in and try to direct the discussion if necessary.
Now the three week wasteland wait begins…
Chicken And Politics
Sep 28th 2008
As per usual on weekends, my friends and I gathered to hang out a bit. No major "lets go out" type activities this time. This was purely hanging out and watching some TV/anime/mst3k and having a good time.
Wassy also showed me how to make her Chicken Cacciatore which is excellent (part of the reason why I wanted to learn how to make it). She took me shopping for the ingredients so I could see what she got and then explained what she was doing as she was cooking which is the best way for me to pick something like this up. Since I'm a cooking noob, I don't know a lot of the techniques and don't have a feel for when stuff will be done, so seeing somebody do it (while I take notes) is a very helpful thing. Now I need to go out and buy a big skillet.
Conversation inevitably turned to politics because of the presidential debate Friday night. Personally I think Obama did well and responded to McCain just making crap up multiple times. I'm a little biased though since I'm a very strong Obama supporter. I found it interesting how different people are seeing the debate. It sometimes sounds like they weren't even watching the same thing I was. A lot of people have commented about Obama's suposed disrespectful looks at McCain, but I saw it the other way around. You could tell that McCain just can't stand having to stand up next to Obama. He barely kept control of his temper. And he also tried a bunch of rehersed jokes that just fell totally flat.
I just think Obama handled himself better. He agreed with McCain a couple times which I think showed class and a willingness to listen to the other side's ideas. He followed up by explaining where he differed with McCains positions which, unfortunetly, a lot of people seem not to have heard..they stopped listening at "I agree with my opponet". Dah. I also liked how at the very end Obama passed up a chance to keep fending off a McCain attack and told the moderator (who was trying to gain control of the conversation to move on) that he should just move on. A very classy move.
I'm looking forward to the expected bloodbath that will be the Biden vs Palin Vice-Presidental debates coming up this week. I'm going to pop some popcorn for this one. It should be good.
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