Actually, the following are questions either I fantasize you asking – hence, giving me a chance to be snarky, silly, and humorous. Or they are questions you should be asking but you aren’t because you’re not as smart, incisive, wise, and experienced as I am.
1. Who won the debate last night?
A simple question so I will give a totally ridiculous, complex, opaque answer; yes, he won.
He said all the right things, didn’t make any mistakes, stayed away from the personal attacks, looked presidential, and never once stuttered or fell asleep.
2. Why didn’t McCain attack Obama and tie the financial crisis to the Dems like all the conservative bloggers are doing?
Never argue with the voter – even when they’re dead wrong. The narrative of this crisis has been “Bush and the GOP have been asleep for 8 years” since the beginning. Voters don’t want to hear the rest – the part about Democratic liberals enabling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make loans to people who even the Mafia might turn down. Or the 1970’s era good liberal government program, The Community Reinvestment Act, which guaranteed that any housing bubble would take those least able to meet their mortgages with it when it burst.
To say that the crisis came about only because of lax regulation and Bushie incompetence is one of the weirdest narratives ever pushed by Democrats. But, thanks to a lazy press that hates complex stories, this is the narrative which has taken hold and that voters believe. Hence, McCain wouldn’t be correcting Obama if he tried to make the case that Democrats were equally at fault. He would have been arguing with what the voters know.
This is an arguement the candidate loses 100% of the time.
3. Did McCain score any points at all?
Yes. By appearing onstage and alive, he quashed rumors that he was already dead and was actually a right wing neocon zombie. McCain also proved that his brain – contrary to what Democrats have been alleging – is not mush and that he has control of all his mental faculties.
I bet the audience was surprised that he didn’t fall asleep, didn’t drool, and could speak in complete sentences since this is the elevating meme being advanced by the left; that McCain is a senile, decriept, irrascible old codger who walks around with a nuke in one hand and a cross in the other.
A clear McCain triumph there.
4. Why didn’t McCain accuse Obama of being a Muslim? Or not an American citizen? Or a secret al-Qaeda “Manchurian Candidate?”
No time. I thought he could have slipped in the “Manchurian Candidate” charge – especially when Obama was so obviously lost in talking about Iran. But frankly, the moderator, Mr. Lehrer, was not very fair and failed to ask Obama if he had taken a loyalty oath to the United States or if he carried around an embossed, notarized, signed copy of his birth certificate.
Not that we’d believe him if he produced such a document. Face it – the guy just doesn’t look American what with those big ears, bushy eyebrows, and evil smile.
When is the press going to get curious about these things?
5. Did Obama make any big gaffes?
Some would say him being in the race at all is gaffe but let’s stick to the particulars of last night, shall we? Obama did not make any big gaffes. How do I know? The press sez so, that’s why. And when it comes to Obama, the press wouldn’t minimize his mistakes or promote the idea he won the debate, now would they?
6. Why didn’t the TV networks show the streaker who ran across the stage right in the middle of the debate?
Obviously, Nike requires streakers to wear their shoes if they wish to appear on TV. Since the streaker was wearing Puma’s, the networks were forbidden to show her or mention the fact that she had a “Palin in 2012” tattoo on the inside of her left thigh.
Come to think of it, judging by this revealing video of Palin in the swimsuit competition at the Miss Alaska pageant a few years ago, the streaker looked a little like Palin herself. But it couldn’t have been, could it? I mean, she’s not that good looking, is she?
Maybe we should ask the Pakistani President .
6. Who was right and who was wrong about Iraq?
Um…could you repeat the question?
7. Did Obama prove he can handle the presidency?
Of course not. I mean, if the president did nothing except try and get citizens angry at their government and organize to pressure lawmakers to do something for them, Obama would be the most prepared man in history to assume the office. Or if a president only had to mark himself “Present” every day. Or if a president only had to run for president, Obama might make the greatest president in history.
But everyone knows a president has to, above all, look good in a tux and folks, that skinny scarecrow of a candidate just won’t cut the proper figure as president when wearing evening attire.
That may be the biggest disqualification of all.
8. Can’t you be serious about the debate? This is the most monumental election in world history, the biggest contest since Samson faced off against the entire Philistine army with nothing but Harry Reid’s jawbone to fight them with. Can’t you for once see how important this election is?
Sorry, don’t buy the fact that if we elect McCain the US will fall into a fascist dictatorship or if we elect Obama, socialism will come to our shores.
Whoever wins, we will lurch a little to the left. And at the end of 4 years, the good ole US of A will still be here, still a free country.
So get used to it. One side or the other is going to lose this election. Trying to paint horns and a tail on your opponent will only reveal you to be a partisan hack.l
2:16 pm
McCain offered oatmeal last night.
As a conservative, I’m now more comfortable with Obama on security, and less comfortable with him on economics. European-style socialism is definitely coming to our shores—Obama promises so himself with all sorts of government spending; our holy Messiah will have the seats in the House and Senate to do it too.
2:40 pm
I found it interesting to read an analysis from the Right Wing… If you’d like to read an account from a different perspective (I won’t just cut-and-paste my thoughts- that’s a bit disrespectful), you can check them out here:
LINK
3:09 pm
Rick, I think you need to take a vacation from this campaign. Perhaps until November 5th?
3:41 pm
Look, I’ve read about the The Community Reinvestment Act. I can find NO correlation between that and a no income/employment verification loans outside of poor urban areas, which is exactly what was happening everywhere else. I just can’t find it.
Blame the CRA all you want because it has its issues, but it was a tiny fraction of the overall problem. Especially in the middle class suburban McMansion areas. I’d love to understand how you can logically draw one from the other. Most banks were under NO obligation whatsoever with the CRA. They made the decision for no income/employment AR mortgages on their own because the COULD. The money was to huge to ignore.
4:24 pm
I agree with the previous 3 comments; don’t make the word ‘NUT’ mean more than ‘right’ or ‘wing’.......
5:18 pm
6.Actually the streaker was the mavericks inside joke used strictly for the audience and which used a Palin look a like. The mavericks will use what the the network pundits will call the latest hail mary pass and sure fire game changer at the he/she debate. Palin will debate Biden wearing that original 80’s swimsuit with her back turned to Biden’s face.
12:17 am
As a conservative, I’m now more comfortable with Obama on security”
WHAT?
Obama got schooled as a complete and utter moron who compounds his errors by being stubborn about them, who falsely used Kissinger as a reference which Kissinger says is wrong, and who had 3 positions on Georgia and basically just ended up coming around to McCain’s first instinct.
Obama is the least qualified candidate for President in a long time and will indeed be dangerous for our long-term national security. it boggles my mind that we’d pick the neophyte who was wrong about the surge over the maverick McCain who was right about the surge, right about Fannie Mae, right about 9/11 commission, and right about many other things..
9:33 am
“Or they are questions you should be asking but you aren’t because you’re not as smart, incisive, wise, and experienced as I am.”
Hey, easy there skippy, your Cubbies haven’t won anything yet, so you might want to hold back on the cockiness, lol. And, I have friends in France that do think Obama has a tail. (yes, I need new friends)
Good luck in the playoffs…...
see you in the Series.
11:20 am
Bringing my family into the debate is a no no.
Low class jerk.
11:56 am
Travis Monitor,
please respect that there are conservatives out here who think imperial neocon policies are not the way to go. In that sense Obama has a more ‘conservative’ approach to foreign policy.
Rick, sometimes humor is the only way to endure a world that appears to getting worse by the hour. But then, maybe it is me that is going crazy and it only appears to get worse.
2:03 pm
As many others have remarked, it is the citizenry that is going to be screwed come November. We will lean much futher to the left either way, with bipartisanship the name of the game—that is, the right gives in to the left.
We get more illegals either way. We get liars and exaggerators either way. We get ignorance and deadly preconceived notions either way. We will have either a tunnel vision olster or a rank, smooth talking neophyte at the helm as we course through the failures of our financial system—one going to sleep, or the other just itching to dump cash onto his followers by any means possible, or to just be “present”. In this time, it may be fortunate that there will not be much free cash floating around!
It is just that each candidate has his flaws in different areas of governance. There must be some sort of spillover of incompetence from the faulty areas to the supposedly correct areas as well. At least McCain has some experience in military affairs. Obama has none.
We are screwed in 08, but less so with McCain. The real problem is going to be the Congress under the left’s creamy, slippery hands, and with too many RINOs and spenders on the right.
Keeping the Presidency in Republican hands seems to be the only brake we csn possibly have on a wild ride for America.
8:28 pm
Rick: you are delusional. A mild turn to the left or a major trend toward socialism is the choice we face in the next election. With socialism you get a move away from capital investment. Capital investment is what creates jobs. With Obama you’ll get an increase in taxes and government expenses and a major reduction in capital expenditures. Job loss will accelerate and the standard of living decreased dramatically. Also, a major risk increase in world instability. Obama is not likely to protect American interests overseas.
5:38 am
Monday morning links…
Why isn’t this a bailout too? How’s this for a wedding invitation?The stench from MissouriWhat’s a POSSLQ?National elections build characters. LA TimesObama in Leftland. Gelernter in Wkly StdGlobal warming has paused. Why not say "stopped,"…
9:49 am
And in the ‘60s, he wrote letter after letter to come to college here in the United States because the notion was that there was no other country on Earth where you could make it if you tried. The ideals and the values of the United States inspired the entire world.
I don’t think any of us can say that our standing in the world now, the way children around the world look at the United States, is the same.
And part of what we need to do, what the next president has to do—and this is part of our judgment, this is part of how we’re going to keep America safe—is to—to send a message to the world that we are going to invest in issues like education, we are going to invest in issues that—that relate to how ordinary people are able to live out their dreams.
And that is something that I’m going to be committed to as president of the United States.
Barack Obama may be the world’s leading expert on Barack Obama, but he managed to misstate a crucial fact in his father’s life story. Obama père came to the U.S. in September 1959.
2:33 am
I have some questions to ask about this last debate, if anyone can answer them.
First, on the question of whether or not the candidates would consider appointing someone to the Supreme Court who disagreed with them on issues, such as Roe v. Wade, did McCain say that in making appointments he would not use a litmus [test] of whether or not they agreed with him, but would instead make appointments based on qualifications, and then after clarification state that no one he feels is qualified would have a different opinion than him on the issue of Roe v. Wade? So, is this not a litmus test for him to measure qualification?
Next, did McCain actually refer to the assassination of JFK as “the intervention?” This really concerns me considering the recent instigations of violence by the republican candidates and the prejudice and hate language that the republican candidates have used toward persons from the Middle East and those of the Muslim (all of which are not fundamentalist) religion. Even though Obama is neither of this origin nor of this religion, their intention is to try and associate him with both, thus inciting violent hatred toward him. Aside from the fact that it is no more acceptable to incite prejudice and hatred toward Muslims and other Middle Eastern individuals than it would be toward African Americans, they are doing this and attempting to get radicals to believe that Obama is one or the other, or both, but they are really putting many people who are of this origin and religion in extreme danger. Are they perhaps suggesting to the radicals who attend their rallies that an assassination would be an “intervention”?
Next, did McCain say that his solution for the problem of education is to give Washington D.C. residents an advantage over the rest of the nation by increasing the number of them who receive vouchers, while leaving some Washington residents who can’t afford the difference in tuition cost even with a voucher to suffer through public schools along with all the other states in the country, schools that he then intends to fill with uncertified, and thus possibly unqualified pseudo teachers?
Finally, is Joe the plumber the same Joe Wurzelbacher from Ohio who already owns a plumbing business, and a construction business, and JCC Investments (the company listed at the same address as the plumbing and construction businesses that has an income of 2.5 million dollars a year?)
These are the questions that are keeping me up tonight, I think that I surely must have misheard some of this, because these crazy dystopian ideals could not possibly be coming from a candidate for president of the country that leads the free world.