Post by Tzalaran on Sept 13, 2008 1:39:26 GMT -6
Well, i watched the national service forum on 9/11. i thought Obama spoke well, and was able to articulate some of his policies in the context of the questions, which was good.
i was surprised by McCain. i liked the tone he took, with one exception, and thought he backed up his arguments well. i thought it was not in character for the rest of the night to put all the negative campaigning at Obama's feet. you could have continued a rational debate over issues without going nasty. If McCain wants to rebuild his maverick image, he needs to get rid of all the swiftboat squad and go back to policy debates.
The only issue i had with McCain's arguments was the foregone conclusion that we needed to raise the numbers in the military by a huge amount. Obama stated for troop increase to allow a break between tours of duty, and wants to pull troops out of Iraq to assist with this and afghanistan. with McCain and his tone with Russia, i am led to believe that he wishes to pick a fight with Russia and/or Iran. many republican strategists and pundits were scared of a McCain presidency because of his overly aggressive worldview.
from what i've seen of Palin's first interview, there are some questionable answers, and it seemed that Gibson was rather annoyed at parts of it. she wasn't horrible, but there were a few times where her lack of knowledge created large questions for me in how she would approach foreign affairs. overly aggressive, and very open handed with military support for anywhere they are needed. scary. it is almost like they think we are just now starting the war on terror, instead of ending the war in Iraq...
Both things brought the vast divide that our leadership has led us into over the past 6 years. confidence in the president and congress is at all time lows, and that is a direct result of partisan politics and a legislate from the executive branch as much as possible by vetoing any bill that isn't a republican initiative. They have tried to blame the deadlock for the past 2 years as a result of the democrats majority not doing anything, but the truth is that all of the bills they pushed through with their majority wouldn't get signed into law because they couldn't override the veto. I'd prefer to see a president allow congress to do their job for a while, and both McCain and Palin are extremely Pro- veto...
Can McCain deliver on his promise to end the problems in washington? probably. he should know the game well enough by now, only lacking experience to Biden and a few others...
Can i trust McCain to return to the maverick after the campaign is over? no. all the lobbyists and rove disciples who are working for him are going to maintain their grip on the executive branch, and as a result of him fulfilling his ambition to be president, he will have to act like they want him to, or they have his successor hand picked from obscurity. that is the situation i see most likely, i wouldn't put it past the Rovian crowd to blame an assassination of President McCain on Islamic terrorists (or Russian extremists, or North Vietnamese (wait, i mean Korea) fundamentalists...).
McCain is taking absolutely no responsibility for how dirty his campaign is being run, and he brushes it off as a tough business. i just don't think that he is the same man from the 2000 campaign.
i was surprised by McCain. i liked the tone he took, with one exception, and thought he backed up his arguments well. i thought it was not in character for the rest of the night to put all the negative campaigning at Obama's feet. you could have continued a rational debate over issues without going nasty. If McCain wants to rebuild his maverick image, he needs to get rid of all the swiftboat squad and go back to policy debates.
The only issue i had with McCain's arguments was the foregone conclusion that we needed to raise the numbers in the military by a huge amount. Obama stated for troop increase to allow a break between tours of duty, and wants to pull troops out of Iraq to assist with this and afghanistan. with McCain and his tone with Russia, i am led to believe that he wishes to pick a fight with Russia and/or Iran. many republican strategists and pundits were scared of a McCain presidency because of his overly aggressive worldview.
from what i've seen of Palin's first interview, there are some questionable answers, and it seemed that Gibson was rather annoyed at parts of it. she wasn't horrible, but there were a few times where her lack of knowledge created large questions for me in how she would approach foreign affairs. overly aggressive, and very open handed with military support for anywhere they are needed. scary. it is almost like they think we are just now starting the war on terror, instead of ending the war in Iraq...
Both things brought the vast divide that our leadership has led us into over the past 6 years. confidence in the president and congress is at all time lows, and that is a direct result of partisan politics and a legislate from the executive branch as much as possible by vetoing any bill that isn't a republican initiative. They have tried to blame the deadlock for the past 2 years as a result of the democrats majority not doing anything, but the truth is that all of the bills they pushed through with their majority wouldn't get signed into law because they couldn't override the veto. I'd prefer to see a president allow congress to do their job for a while, and both McCain and Palin are extremely Pro- veto...
Can McCain deliver on his promise to end the problems in washington? probably. he should know the game well enough by now, only lacking experience to Biden and a few others...
Can i trust McCain to return to the maverick after the campaign is over? no. all the lobbyists and rove disciples who are working for him are going to maintain their grip on the executive branch, and as a result of him fulfilling his ambition to be president, he will have to act like they want him to, or they have his successor hand picked from obscurity. that is the situation i see most likely, i wouldn't put it past the Rovian crowd to blame an assassination of President McCain on Islamic terrorists (or Russian extremists, or North Vietnamese (wait, i mean Korea) fundamentalists...).
McCain is taking absolutely no responsibility for how dirty his campaign is being run, and he brushes it off as a tough business. i just don't think that he is the same man from the 2000 campaign.
