After the Debate
I almost never watch TV - but made an important exception last night.
I was surprised how well McCain handled himself in the first Democratic debate - how prepared he seemed - and how strong. That said, he only left me more convinced that he's the wrong choice for America and the world. He repeated the same "points" over and over and over. Kept emphasizing his "experience" - like this gives him the edge in the realm of good judgment. Ummm... didn't he have all this "experience" when he supported Bush's ill-conceived invasion of Iraq? Didn't he have all this experience when he claimed the war would be quick and easy, when he said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were, and when he said we'd be greeted as liberators? Does McCain have more experience than either Nixon or Cheney had when they took office? Did their "experience" make them pillars of good judgment?
And I'm offended that McCain pulled his POW stint out of the bag at the end. How being imprisoned - unjustly or not, in service of your country or not - makes you qualified to be President, I'm not sure. I spent more years unjustly incarcerated than McCain did and I'm not qualified to be President. Maybe when McCain figures out that tax cuts for the rich aren't an economic panacea (except, perhaps, for the richest), figures out that invading Iraq didn't do a goddamned thing to protect anyone from terrorism or WMD, and figures out how many houses he owns ... maybe then I'll believe he's the best choice to resolve our foreign policy and economic nightmares.
McCain claims to be bold. But Bush has been bold, too. Combine boldness and bad judgment and you can fuck up a whole lot in a very short time. We've had eight years of that already.
And don't forget McCain is the guy who less than two weeks ago said that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." He's also the guy who told the Wall Street Journal less than a year ago that "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated." McCain: wrong about Iraq from the start, admittedly weak on the economy, and likely to tilt the Supreme Court (which gave Bush victory over Gore) further to the right. Yet folks will still vote for him. I just don't get it.
Here's a piece of last night's debate, in case you missed it. You can find more at You Tube.
If you don't vote for Obama, don't vote at all, or end up voting for a third-party candidate, you'll make it that much easier for McCain to win. That half of America seems content letting (or helping) that happen scares me to death.
For a CNN analysis of the debate, follow this link:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/27/debate.poll/index.html
Great blog... with many good points... this echos some of the same points Steve Smith made in his blog today too.
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Thanks, Chris! Just read Smith's blog after posting this one.... He makes a stronger case than I do.
It's at www.walkingthinice.com, if anyone else wants to check it out.
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You were certainly watching the same thing that I was. I was also surprised by McCain's presence and ability to articulate his message. I thought his speech accepting the nomination stunk. I could not pick a winner in the end. I had to call it a tie. Of all the Republicans, McCain would be one of the few that I never really had anything bad to say about. But I think he's all wrong abou the war. I've wondered if he were President in 2003 if he would have led us into war with Iraq. I tended to think that he would not have invaded Iraq. Rather he would have concentrated on Afganistan. For the purpose of the mission to capture Bin Laden this would have been the obvious strategy. I also thought that he might be more questioning of the intelligence. Here's what I don't like about McCain. I think he got caught up in the politics of "either you're with us or against us." I have to ask myself, did he let his political aspirations get in the way of his better judgment? Either way, he's not prepared to be the President of the United States.
McCain really did hammer home the point that he's bold. He's the Maverick. Could that have been a political misstep? I have to agree that every time he paints himself as the rebel, I am reminded of George W. Bush, who I believe ran amok of most of his party, sealing himself up with Cheney and Rumsfeld and refusing to hear any other opinion. So that does not comfort me at all.
What most impressed me about Obama was his discussions about diplomacy. Aside from the cost of war which is immesurable, it does not create allies, which is what I think we really need to be doing. The world is turning against us, largely for their own protection, which is putting us in a very dangerous position.
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Thanks, Tara!
And I encourage folks to check out your blog about the debates as well.
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Thank you! Nobody's ever done that for me before.
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A minor correction, Tara. They are going to use $700,000,000,000 (billion) not 700 million. We cannot imagine how much money that is, can we? Can you imagine what good could be done with this money other than bail out the greedy bankers? I find it indecent. I think every American should be following the activities of the congress right now in the bailout. It affects every one of us or will sooner or later.
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Did anyone count how many times McCain mentioned Reagan's name during the debate? I only caught the last 40 minutes, but it seemed like an awful lot!
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From what I recall, he waited till about halfway through to bring up Reagan - It's like he was saving his best bullets (like Reagan and the POW business) for the end. But maybe that's because the first part of the debate focused on the financial crisis. I suppose the ghost of Reaganomics Ronnie isn't as effective politically as the ghost of Cold War Ronnie. But I wonder how much Reagan really had to do with the end of the Cold War. Perhaps he gets more credit than is due. Perhaps a lot of it was that he was fortunate enough to be President at a time when the Soviet Union was on the verge of dissolving anyway. Maybe....
Anyway, thanks for stopping by, Mark. I'm pleased to meet you.
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If he's all about the war, fuck his presence. With so many house he can't even count 'em ~ if we were that rich we'd have all day everyday to think about the perfect articulation or to have our speech writer writer it for us. This one going on my page. Election time is very close.
Hey all of you guys who read this blog - go to itunes to get the opposite of our daily diet of propaganda from Michael Moore - the anti steady diet Michael. Damn did I mention his slacker tour movie is free to download~ Hey I speak the truth.
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Thanks a lot, Joy! Good points.... And I appreciate the free Michael Moore tip - didn't have time to check it out last night, but will do so ASAP.
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Hello John, you made concise points, John McCain revealed as usual he flip flops on every issue, lies and will do anything to hoodwink the American Public! I think the debate showed his true colors, he is only another repeat play of Bush! A War monger and liar, set to complete Bush's mission, to finish raping our Great Nation and the hardworking American People! He only fools no one with his contemptous attitude for the bulk of the American People. He fools no one!
Great Article! Have a great day!
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As I write this the congress is trying to figure out a way to bailout toxic debt impeding our bank's ability to lend money for business pay rolls, middle class car and home loans, etc. The stock market was on the verge of tanking and it began to look like the beginning of the Great Depression.
Neither McCain nor Obama are totally responsible for the sub prime bad loans nor the wall street greed. I cannot bring up all the points here but one is very outstanding in my mind. CEO's who caused this crisis have been parachuted out already to the tune of about $300 billion dollars. They didn't pay taxes on most of this. Yet we are using our hard earned tax money to bail out the banks that are failing or going to fail.
Trickle down economy has been the whole mantra of the Republican party but the trickle has been almost at a halt. Today Obama was talking to a rally in North Carolina and he made the point that McCain never once mentioned the Middle Class Americans who are hurting.
We pay taxes but how many times making out your taxes have you realized that the millionaires have loopholes coming out of their asses and lawyers so that many of them get by without paying even a fair portion of income taxes. Let them all make as much money as they need to keep their companies going but tax them at 50% or so of their profits and perhaps the bailout at $700 billion won't look like such a huge amount of money. Are they helping to pay for the war in Iraq? No. Tax the rich and give the poor and middle class a tax break and regulate the mortgage business and we might get the economy back running smoothly with liberty and justice for all. Amen.
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Great points, Elena. I totally agree. What bothers me the most about this particular crisis is that I do not believe that it was morally or fiscally responsible for these lenders to be handing out money to people they knew darn well could not afford to pay it back. Their unbridled greed made them look rich on paper, but those loans are not worth the paper they are written on when they default. The core conservatives now do not want to pay for the bank bailout. They want the market to correct itself. That sounds just dandy, except when you consider regular, working class people like me and my family, who are trying to purchase our first home and have two financed cars, none of which would be possible without the banks. I don't want a government that tells me what books I can read or what words I can say, but I would have really appreciated some governmental oversight over these unconscionable loans. Now we are faced with the choice of either bailing these banks out and stabilizing the economy, or letting market forces make the correction and entering the second Great Depression.
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I propose we go with Bill Clinton's solution which is to "loan" the lenders the $700 million, with the strings of government oversight attached and in return force them to declare a moratorium on home foreclosures, pay the money back, with interest, and pass the interest back to the taxpayers who forked over the money in the first place.
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Thank you very much, Sharon, Elena and Tara!
McCain certainly doesn't fool us, but I'm afraid there are many people he does fool.
I hadn't heard of that Clinton plan; but from what you've shared, it sounds excellent.
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Bill Clinton laid out his plan on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last Tuesday. He was absolutely brilliant. I watch CNN, The NBC Nightly News and The Daily Show, and I get some of my most relevant info from The Daily Show. It's true that the Court Jester is the only one who can tell the King the Truth! You can check it out by going to www.thedailyshow.com.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=185197&title=bill-clinton-pt.-1
Clinton's reference to pie is the number of McDonalds pies you could buy with 700 billion dollars. I think that he comments that after about three hundred pies you wouldn't care that you had no home anymore.
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Haha... cool! Thanks!
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We're with ya, dude. People have got to wake up.
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Thanks, Lady! You've reminded me of Bob Dylan song:
"Adulterers in churches and pornography in the schools,
You got gangsters in power and lawbreakers making rules.
When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?"
Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music
He's alluding to a verse from the book of Revelation in that song.
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well said. wish i'd remembered some of your bad mccain points for my blog today. excellent.
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Thanks, Smith! Your "i voted" blog and the one you posted before it were excellent as well. Folks should check 'em out at www.walkingthinice.com.
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http://townhall.com/blog
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/gradingthefirstpresidentialdebate
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4835590.ece
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Cool... Thank you, CharlaxObama! I appreciate the links! Going to read them now....
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Obama Shine
Will you be voting in the barracks for Obama.
When you shine them boots again.
Look at your reflection in your spit shine.
Then go out and vote again.
Put some water from the tap into the lid.
Do not waste your spit on them.
Save it for the day they kill you dead.
And fling it at the executionars head.
Tell them God Jesus has now sent you
to save the living not the dead.
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Cool... thanks for sharing your poetry, my friend!
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The Link to the Obama Shine poem with picture and banner and pretty background too @T.M. ed.note
http://storypen.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?poemnumber=382069&sitename=charlax777&password=&poemoffset=0&displaypoem=t&item=story
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Congrats on being in The City Zine!!!
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Thank you, c.m.brooks! I didn't know it was published yet till I saw your comment. Congratulations to you on being in it also. Well deserved!
If folks want to check out what we're talking about, it's an excellent poetry and art zine published by Kathy Ireland Smith - now available for your perusal at www.thecitypoetry.com.
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Yes! yes yes
I've been diggin' the site for the first time and was very pleased/relieved to find this post (tho' I expected it or something with the same similar beat to be here somewhere all along). I will be pingin' and pongin' this site on the frequency of ultra-high frequently! Yes!
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Thank you very much, I. Cant. And what a fantastic name that is! Peace and poetry to you....
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