In the News: Presidential debates
Last night in New York, Barack Obama and John McCain participated in the third and final presidential debate of this 2008 election. The focus was on domestic issues, including the economy. The debate transcript can be seen here, at the Web site of the Commission on Presidential Debates, the organization that conducts the debates. For news analysis of the latest McCain-Obama debate, see these links:
Candidates Clash over Character and Policy (New York Times)
Analysis: McCain Comes Out Swinging, but No Game Changer (CNN)
The Final Showdown (Chicago Tribune)
McCain and Obama in Tense Final Debate (BBC)
The best source for past presidential debates is likewise the Commission on Presidential Debates Web site. Here are links to some famous presidential debates:
The Nixon-Kennedy debate of September 26, 1960 (the first televised debate)
The Carter-Reagan debate of October 28, 1980
The Clinton-Bush-Perot debate of October 11, 1992 (part one here, and part two here)
The Gore-Bush debate of October 17, 2000
The Bush-Kerry debate of October 13, 2004
Comment by doctorwascher on 16 October 2008:
Although I seldom watch television, last night’s debate was “reality programming” at its best! Kudos to Bob Schieffer for his adroit handling of the often wandering minds (and mouths) of the two candidates!
http://doctorwascher.com
Comment by thinker on 16 October 2008:
‘Joe the plumber’ + hockey moms are hardly a majority in US today.
McCain preached to his coir described above but failed to address the regular folks like me.
By the way, statistical data shows that the average plumber makes less than 45K/year, well below the 250K tax bracket.
Vote for real change!
Comment by Howard on 16 October 2008:
So far, all the conclusions by all the pundits are
totally based upon POLLS. Not a single actual vote
has been cast yet. Obama supporters gush at how
well their man has done in the debates, which proves
once again that Obama is a good debater and a good
speaker. It doesn’t say anything about his character,
judgement, or what kind of a leader he would be.
I still would rather trust a man who would not sell out
his fellow prisoners, even during 5 years of torture,
than to trust a man who betrayed a 20 year friendship,
for personal ambition. And … regarding this election,
until people actually vote … it ain’t over till it’s over!
Comment by Daniel on 16 October 2008:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think from what I remember…
Batman won the debates against McPenguin.
Comment by Matt on 16 October 2008:
It was McCain’s and Clinton’s campaigns that forced Obama to take the stance he did with Ayers and Wright. Although it is over the top and inflammatory, personally I agree with a few of the things Wright said. Obama’s opponents forced him to do the politically expedient thing to do. You can’t clame him for this. If he hadn’t then the Clinton and McCain campaigns would have continually bashed Obama with these connections. Just look at the connections logically and one can see that these figures would have had nothing to do with Obama’s platform or his campaign. It was a scare tactic by the other two campaigns that didn’t work.
Although McCain said Obama isn’t running against Bush, McCain’s actions over the last 8 years say differently. I didn’t hear anything from McCain last night different from what he has already said, except to bring up personal attacks that have been proven already to have no effect on Obama’s judgement, character, or his ability to lead. Obama’s composure last night showed many of us the type of patience, thoughtfullness and restraint that America needs. McCain’s attacks made me feel the same awkwardness that I feel when I watch Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry David does something particularly rediculous. McCain knew that nothing would come from it, but he had to ask it because he was losing the support of his ’supposedly fringe’ supporters. It is this ‘follow the leader’ type actions that McCain is taking, first from the McCain, and then the GOP and finally yesterday his ‘fringe supporters’ (If they’re so fringe then why bring it up?)that leads me to believe that McCain’s maverick streak has ended and is no more than a puppet of the party. Just like George Bush. A known less than shining student who had a wild streak. In 2000 I thought W would surround himself with intelligent people. I didn’t think his dad was that bad, and would make sure George was on the straight and narrow. We were all severely duped. I will not be making the same mistake this time.
Comment by Matt on 16 October 2008:
Wow I made a lot of mistakes in my post.
“…first from McCain…” change to “…first from Bush…”
rediculous = ridiculous
Pingback by SchlagerBlog » Blog Archive » Obama and Lincoln on 17 October 2008:
[...] Documents Blog, we saw the biggest response in the site’s history to a fairly innocuous post: In the news: Presidential debates. Such is the power of link journalism, I guess. Of course, coming as it did on the heels of [...]