Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Town Hall Free for All

Debate #2 is in the books, and McCain falls flat while Obama coasts.

Seriously, McCain needed some kind of knockout along with a major flub on Sen Obama's part and neither happened. Obama continued to look presidential and solidified his growing base while moving more independents and common sense Republicans into his camp.

Favorite lines:

McCain: Well, you know, nailing down Sen. Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jell-O to the wall.

and for Obama

Obama: . . . Sen. McCain, I think the "Straight Talk Express" lost a wheel on that one.

AS the evening progressed, McCain become fatigued and agitated, Obama remained calm and cool.

Both sides had their share of misrepresentations in the debate, the key ones;
Both candidates oversimplified the causes of the financial crisis. McCain blamed it on Democrats who resisted tighter regulation of federal mortgage agencies. Obama blamed it on financial deregulation backed by Republicans. We find both are right, with plenty of blame left over for others, from home buyers to the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

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* McCain misstated his own health care plan, saying he’d give a $5,000 tax credit to “every American” His plan actually would provide only $2,500 per individual, or $5,000 for couples and families. He also misstated Obama’s health care plan, claiming it would levy fines on “small businesses” that fail to provide health insurance. Actually, Obama’s plan exempts “small businesses.”

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McCain lamented that the U.S. was forced to “withdraw in humiliation” from Somalia in 1994, but he failed to note that he once proposed to cut off funding for troops to force a faster withdrawal.
In the end, consensus gave this one to Obama,
Fifty-four percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey conducted after the debate ended said that Obama did the best job in the debate, with 30 percent saying Sen. John McCain performed better.
not so much because he out performed, which he did, but because the stakes were so much higher for McCain and he didn't do anything, or at least not enough, to move this race from an Obama juggernaut, to a game changer. He has one more shot, and that is a week from today.

Flash

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