McCain Drowning and Flailing
By David Swanson

Tonight's moderator, Bob Schieffer lived up to his reputation. This debate was another awful one, and intentionally so. Dumb questions on dumb topics, enlivened only by the signs of desperation coming from John McCain.

McCain got the first question in the debate: Why is his economic plan better than Obama's? He didn't even try to answer the question, just rambled on, almost put me to sleep already, looks drugged with red eyes. Did he just scream at somebody before the debate?

Obama explained his plan and compared it to McCain's: jobs, tax cuts, renogotiating mortgages (not giving money to banks, as McCain would), energy, health, education.

McCain claimed to have met a business owner who would pay more taxes under Obama. McCain claimed he would provide health care and everything under the sun. Vince Bugliosi, sitting next to me, laughed and said McCain belongs in Hollywood for saying his lines with a straight face.

Obama explained his tax plan for the umpteenth time. Bugliosi said Obama won't mention the poor because he thinks it's smarter to always talk about the middle class.

Ilene Proctor, another friend watching the debate here, says McCain is deaf, dumb, and blind and has the nerve to talk about class welfare while engaging in it.

McCain claims US companies pay 35% in taxes. The horror! But imagine it that were really true.

Bob Schieffer demands that both candidates commit to cutting programs. Obama claims we'll get our $700 billion back if he's president, not that Schieffer even asked. Obama says he'll cut Medicare subsidies to health insurance companies. Good, but what about the military? Will McCain be the one to say that again?

Schieffer: Cut, cut, cut! What programs will you cut?

McCain would cut foreign aid.

McCain would cut "defense" spending. That's three debates in which he says that and Obama doesn't. Plus earmarks and the overhead projector from the last debate, of course.

Obama again on the earmarks being 0.5% of the federal budget.

It's 9:20 and there are people in the room watching this with me who have literally, and wisely, fallen asleep.

McCain says he can "bring us in a new direction by eliminating spending" and he says it pretty desperately. Why don't we understand this? Isn't what we want eliminating spending? Won't that solve everything?

Obama says that "even Fox News" disputes McCain's claims about Obama's tax plans.

Obama just praised McCain for opposing torture. Ilene and I both screamed that McCain has supported torture! Schieffer didn't say a word to correct this of course.

Schieffer asked McCain and Obama to tell each other to their faces the BS that's in their ads and the mouths of people like Sarah Palin. McCain rambled about his proposal for town hall meetings. McCain claims he has always repudiated nasty comments by Republicans, but he doesn't actually repudiate any comments.

Obama says that NBC's poll found that 2/3 of Americans think McCain is running a negative campaign vs 1/3 for Obama. Obama addresses topic and then asks to talk about serious topics like the economy... he lists topics but doesn't include war.

McCain says Obama is spending unprecedented money on attack ads. But he names only ads that supposedly get his positions on health care and immigration wrong. McCain mentions a guy names "Joe the Plumber" for about the fifth time. Ilene says he must be "Joe Plumber Sixpack."

Obama rejects, again, what Rep. John Lewis said about McCain's nastiness.

Anna Swanson and Ilene both remark on McCain's weird snears and funny faces while Obama is talking. Everybody groans as McCain claims that his supporters are the most patriotic.

McCain demands answers from Obama on Ayers and ACORN. He says ACORN may be engaging in the greatest fraud in American history! Obama replies quite well on Ayers. On ACORN, Obama replies distancing himself without saying anything positive about ACORN. Obama then claims to be friends with Warren Buffet, Paul Volker, Dick Lugar, and Jim Jones. Much better crowd that ACORN is what we're supposed to think. Obama thnks he can bite the hand that feeds him, and he's probably right.

McCain claims that Obama launched his campaign in Ayer's living room, and Obama says that's not true.

McCain asks for all the details on Ayers and Obama, even though Obama just gave them. McCain claims he's against Obama raising taxes, etc. Ilene notes that McCain is hard of listening.

Schieffer extended that question period to allow this BS from McCain.

Schieffer then asks Obama why Biden is better than Palin. Obama just talks up Biden and tries to answer some of the serious questions on policy positions that these stupid debates never ask about.

McCain then talked up Palin and everybody around me guffawed. He claims Palin has relieved the energy needs of the lower 48 states. Also she's for special-needs kids. (Except for government funding to aid them in any way.)

Schieffer asks if Palin is qualified, and Obama says you can't fund special needs with an across the board spending block.

McCain denounced Joe Biden for voting against the first Gulf War, without which, McCain says, oil supplies would have been disrupted. McCain just admitted that the Gulf War (and presumably the Second Gulf War) was for oil and nobody blinked - except him, he keeps blinking and stuttering. He rambled on, lying about Obama's spending plans. Obama asked to reply and
Schieffer would not let him.

McCain: safe nukes, clean coal, and no more need for oil from the Middle East or Venezuela.

Obama: more or less agrees, and pushes domestic drilling, even while pointing out how absurd that is. Supports solar, wind, geothermal, fuel efficient cars built in the USA.

McCain criticized Obama on NAFTA, and Obama defended himself as being for "free trade" but insists he wants to include labor and environmental protections in NAFTA. Let's hold him to that. Mend it or end it, Senator.

McCain pushes offshore drilling harder than Obama, says he's more of a free trader than Obama, etc.

McCain just seemed to claim that Colombia is the biggest importer of U.S. agriculture. "Free trade with Colombia is a no brainer."

Somebody here is a no brainer.

Obama, to his surprising credit, points out the assassinations of Colombian labor leaders.

Obama talked up green jobs for a while. OK, it seemed like about an hour, but was probably 3 minutes.

McCain now says Obama doesn't want an agreement with our best ally in the region (that, too, is Colombia apparently) but wants to sit down with Iran, wants to raise taxes, resembles Herbert Hoover.

Again Schieffer moves on and leaves McCain's accusations out there.

Health care question goes first to Obama. Schieffer again wants him to Cut, Cut, Cut.

Bugliosi who's supporting Obama says he would be embarassed to say the incomprehensible complicated nonsense Obama says about health care.

McCain dragged out Joe Plumber Sixpack again, plus fines and tax increases and bureaucracies. McCain accused Obama of having a single-payer plan. If that were true I'd be working 24-7 for Obama. Obama of course denied he'd ever backed a single-payer system, and instead explained the first three subsections of part A of the initial stage of his health plan, but nobody knows what the hell he said, except that McCain will tax people's health care benefits and strip away state laws on health insurance.

10:00 p.m. McCain has now resorted to talking directly to "Joe."

McCain says the average health insurance plan costs $5,800 and Obama says $12,000.

Schieffer lets Obama reply for once. He threw in a comment to "Joe."

Schieffer now turned to the important topic of abortion. Isn't there a war or two? Is there? I'm so confused.

McCain is getting more time or is much more boring or both.

On and on and on about abortion. Lies from McCain, corrections from Obama. Some people where I am have wisely left to go to sleep.

Schieffer, having dealt with the important things, turns to education.

Then come the closing remarks.

McCain claims he's for health care and education and "stopping the spending", as if these things go together, as if they can go together, as if he actually gives a damn about the first two.

Obama says the biggest risk would be to adopt the same "failed politics" and "failed policies" of the past eight years. He says we need "fundamental change," which is of course true. We'll have to settle for the tweaks he's planning until we can compel him to satisfy his own rhetoric.

Bugliosi: McCain has nothing to argue but does a reasonably good job of arguing it. Obama has quite a lot to argue but doesn't know how to argue it.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Be first to comment this article

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.4