The Final Debate - Yes, John, A Matter of Character
I wasn’t going to watch the debate. We were primed for a night of Big Bang Theory and DVR TV goodness. My fifteen-year-old son knocked a big chip out of our plan when he said he wanted to watch the debate because he could get extra-credit at school. I resigned myself to the fact I was going to get angry, and settled in.
Let me be up front about my political views. I find party politics idiotic. I find the notion of voting for a candidate on anything but their own words and actions dangerous and indicative of what is wrong with our country. I don’t believe the candidates should be allowed to buy TV time for advertisements - it’s not a Pay-per-View event, it’s the future of our nation at stake, and it’s not the future of two men in question - it’s all of us who have our future on the line…about time politicians began to grasp that.
Here’s some thoughts about the debate.
Senator McCain seemed to nearly tear up when he suggested how hurt he was by comparisons to George Wallace and his cronies. He demanded repudiation of those comments (which in fact had already been delivered and ignored). Then, within moments of this, he refused to repudiate the skinheaded idiots at Sarah Palin’s rallies screaming KILL HIM about Senator Obama, and all but called them patriotic Americans because they stood next to all the veterans…huh? If it gets out of hand at YOUR RALLY - it’s your chance to assert your real feelings, assuming they differ from those expressed by your followers. No such effort was made by Sarah Palin, and no real apology was forthcoming from John McCain.
Now, I remember the launching of Senator Obama’s campaign, and I think the footage of the big party in the Ayers living room that McCain insists happened must have been lost? I don’t remember seeing it. He brought up Ayers, he brought up Acorn, and Obama commented on both issues. Repeatedly McCain tried to say (in essence) Senator Obama is too slick and eloquent for all you folks, let me show you he’s lying because probably you won’t figure out what he’s saying on your own.
Here’s a clue, John - we may have made bad choices as a nation - your predecessor among them - but we’re not idiots. You can’t make up facts and make them true by repeating them. Where is the McCain who would have put Joe Lieberman in front of the GOP as his running mate? Where is the man who actually stood for something and had a coherent message? The twitchy, blinking, rictus-smiling jerk I saw last night was not that man.
The answers from McCain were scatter shot at best. One moment he called out for a complete spending freeze, and then, without taking a breath, proposed major reform of programs which would entail committees, studies, and - you got it - spending. He ignored the comment from Bob Scheiffer explaining that the experts had looked at BOTH PLANS and found them about equally over-reaching in spending in the face of economic crisis. According to John McCain he will give all the money back to Joe the Plumber and let him make his own decisions what to do with it…and of course, at the same time he was full of spending ideas and new plans.
He played the Sarah Palin has an autistic child card at least three times…making this an issue? In the face of war and economic crisis, while I applaud Governor Palin’s efforts on behalf of special needs children, I hardly think it’s a criteria for choosing our next leader. In fact, there’s no evidence she did anything for special needs children before she became immersed in those needs by personal contact.
Finally, the terrorist thing. Oh…My…God.
Here’s a thought to chew on. The Republicans are heavily invested in Big Oil. Big Oil is heavily invested in (and dependent on) Saudi Arabia. Guess what folks? It’s pretty widely understood that a lot of the terrorist activity in the past couple of decades was (indirectly, of course) bankrolled by Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing Arab nations. No one has accused John McCain of taking money from terrorists, but it doesn’t make it any less true. To believe Senator McCain’s message of last night you’d have to picture Senator Obama, Ayers, and all their “cronies” from Acorn gathered together around a big boiling witch’s cauldron laughing maniacally as they plot the end of the free world.
In any case…Barack Obama kept his head, he tried to keep to the issues. He was well-spoken and inteligent, he spoke to the camera and not to Bob Scheiffer - something McCain never managed to do. He didn’t smirk at his opponent or interrupt him rudely.
McCain refused to repudiate righ-wing radical supporters, grinned and blinked through the whole thing, was pointedly rude and accusatory to his opponent and ignored about half the questions in favor of pumping his few remaining power points. He repeatedly called for spending and a freeze in the same sentence.
Clear win, in my mind, for Barack Obama. Clear choice, as well. Sorry John, but you should have had those people quieted, or removed from your rally…the message seems to be that if they are vocal about violence toward a US Senator, and an opponent you claim to respect, that’s fine - but if they are vocal about Civil Rights or anything anti-republican, it’s “Don’t Taze Me Bro!” How does that work, exactly? I hope Joe the Plumber was really listening last night, because he will be much better off under Obama’s economic and tax plan, unless your repeated invocation of his name raises him to a new tax bracket.
Enough. Nineteen days cannot pass fast enough.
DNW
