Showing posts with label Debates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Debates. Show all posts
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Joe the Plumber 'Hates' Social Security
Remember John McCain's unseemly man-crush on Joe the Plumber from last night's debate?
Master Joe was interviewed this morning and turned out to be something of an interesting right-winger. Among his pet issues, he says in the below clip that he "hates" Social Security:
McCain Mocks 'Health of the Mother' Abortion Exceptions
One of the most jarring moments of McCain's performance last night was when he mocked "health of the mother" exceptions written into most anti-abortion laws. There goes the female vote...
Final McCain/Obama Debate Reactions
Tonight, we saw a McXplosion. Every single attack that Sen. McCain has ever wanted to make, he took the opportunity tonight to make. Around 30 minutes in, McCain seemed to surrender the debate to his frustrations, making it seem as if he just wanted the free television.
McCain looks angrier and more petulant than any participant in any major debate I've watched. Watching him try to stay seated is like watching a furious kid try and obey a timeout. He can hardly hold himself still.
You just heard why John McCain will lose. He pivoted from an attack on ACORN and Ayers to his campaign getting the economy back on track. Worst segue ever. The two don't line up. Ayers and ACORN don't take you to a larger campaign theme. This isn't "Swiftboating" which took you to the War on Terror. This isn't Willie Horton, which took you to crime. This isn't "States Rights" which takes you to busing and the Voting Rights Act. It's just empty demagoguery. It doesn't say anything about what is foremost in the electorate's minds.
I actually thought McCain's Joe-the-plumber bits were okay in substance, but completely undermined by his grin at the end. What's with that grin? I guess his advisers told him to be less dour and serious, but instead of making him look genuine, it has the total opposite effect.
It seems like we've now seen McCain's Ayers/ACORN primal scream. I'm not sure Obama knocked anything out of the park. But at the end of it, I don't think McCain landed any solid punches either. And McCain was often incoherent and a bit kitchen-sinkish. Basically a draw, though if recent polls are any indication, the draw in debate terms may hurt McCain since people do not like McCain's attacks.
...to have McCain directly address Joe the Plumber by speaking into the camera is a great idea, from a campaign strategist's point of view. It's sort of a theoretical ideal, actually. Were I to run for office I would hire whoever dreamed up that concept. The trouble is, you need a candidate who can speak in complete, linear, coherent sentences. McCain is not that candidate.
...someone from the McCain camp better have Joe’s phone number and arrange a joint appearance pronto.
Neither McCain nor Obama are doing themselves any favors bickering back and forth about who has the nastiest campaign, but McCain, after a strong initial attack pushing Obama to repudiate some especially nasty attacks that didn’t come from the Obama campaign, comes off looking petulant, rambling, and cranky – a spoiled bully nagging the principal to punish another kid who once called him a name.
...the ten minute or twelve minutes that began with Obama looking at McCain and talking about crowds at Palin rallies saying "Kill him" were riveting TV and seemed to reveal purified versions of the persona each candidate has been presenting through the previous sessions. This debate may matter less in the long-term outcome than the others, since that's typically true of final debates. But because the contenders are engaging each other more directly -- being at the same table, being physically so close to each other, having more trouble containing their emotions, being aware that the whole thing is almost over -- in human terms this is actually the most interesting.
John McCain says Sarah Palin knows a lot about having children with autism. Presumably he thinks she knows more about this than anybody in the country. Presumably he also thinks autism is approximately equal to Down Syndrome.
Okay, I wasn't voting for him anyway, but I find McCain's focus on attacking Obama, rather than his own policy, unbelievably grating. His strongest performance of the night has been talking about the benefits of his own health plan, drawing a reasonable distinction between his philosophy and Obama's, and coherently explaining that difference, without resorting to either whining or calumny.
Overall, I don’t see how McCain helped himself tonight, much less hit the home run he needed to put himself back into this thing.
Drum:
I know I'm partisan, but McCain seemed completely out of his depth tonight. He was flitting from point to point all night without ever putting together a coherent argument, and grabbing miscellaneous attacks from the rolodex in his head whenever some bright idea popped into his mind. His energy level was weirdly erratic, tired at times but then suddenly perking up whenever he got annoyed by something and remembered some zinger that he wanted to fire off.
McCain lost the overall message of the debate. The cost of McCain's sharper tone was that he sounded more like a dogmatic Republican. Obama was softer, let many points go, but was much more effective at sounding like a moderate.
OK, that's over. And so is the McCain campaign. He was more aggressive than he's been so far, and he came close to landing some blows on Obama. But he never really connected, and for the most part this debate was as platitudinous as they all have been. McCain came off as sour, agitated and petulant. Obama -- man, nothing rattles that guy. McCain was two tics away from a vein-popping "You can't handle the truth!" Jack Nicholson moment, I felt. At one point, I thought: Which one of these men would I want in the White House when the 3 a.m. phone call comes in?
Verdict: Obama: D.E.F.E.N.S.E. McCain: Hey, I tried.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Quotes of the Day
Here are a few gems I came across today. In case you haven't noticed, I added a handy feature called "Today's Quotes" to the top of the left column of the blog. Enjoy!
"At the end of the debate, Brokaw asked McCain to get out of the way of his Teleprompter. He might as well have been speaking on behalf of the future: Senator McCain can you please get out of the way so we can get on with it?" -- Arianna Huffington
"You guys are nuts ... With due respect, I think tonight was a disaster for our side. I'm dumbfounded that no one else seems to think so. Obama did everything he needed to do, McCain did nothing he needed to do. What am I missing?" -- conservative water carrier Andy McCarthy writing on the ultra-conservative National Review Online about McCain's debate performance.
Obama's Favorability Boosted Dramatically by Debate
This is pretty amazing:
Before the debate, McCain had a 48/46 favorability rating; that improved to 56/36 by the end. But that’s about where Obama started the evening—54/36. After an hour and a half, Obama’s favorability numbers were 80/14. As Joe Biden would say, let me repeat that: 80% of the undecided voters had favorable views of Obama and only 14% saw him negatively for a net rating of +66. Not even Bill Clinton got such a warm response in town hall formats.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
McCain/Obama Second Debate Reactions
I am about to go to bed but here are a few short thoughts. McCain went into the debate behind and needing a big win. It didn't happen. Obama was cool, calm and collected -- as usual. McCain dismissively referred to Obama as 'that one', which did not play well with independents. It came out in the early polling -- Obama won by a handy margin.
Here are debate reactions, compiled by the Daily Dish:
Obama breezed right past it and concisely crushed the McCain health care plan. But if "that one!" doesn't go down as "the moment" of the night, then there really is no use whatsoever for a media that only notices superficial flaws in the candidates' performances.
Instant verdict: a no-score draw. Boring and dull and platitudinous. No heavy punches landed. The format scarcely helped. In fact it helped snuff out any threat of life or spark or conflict or, damn it, interest. And so, because of that, Obama, leading in the polls, won.
Gut read. Obama owned it. This election’s over unless he murders and eats the flesh of a child on live television.
From a horse-race perspective, John McCain came in behind and losing ground, in the middle of a financial/economic panic that works against him, and therefore needing a big win. This meant either damaging and flummoxing Obama, or so outshining him in audience rapport, mastery of policy, and empathetic connection through the camera, that the debate could be presented as a turning point. None of that happened. (McCain's best performance was at the end, rejecting a "Yes/No" question on whether Russia is an "evil empire.") At this stage in the race, a tie goes to leader, and this was not a tie.
I think it's very much to Obama's advantage that he and McCain are freed from their podiums, roaming the stage. For one thing, this calls attention to Obama's height advantage. Obama is also just more fluid.
The questioners were mostly props, the format, negotiated by both campaigns, was terrible, and there weren't any memorable moments. CW says that John McCain had a 90 minute window to turn his campaign around - to put into play the McCain Resurgence Strategy, if you will, and if that's the CW threshold, I don't think McCain met it. With the exception of "That One," McCain seemed less irritable, although his jokes seemed hokey and fell flat - they don't work when no one laughs.
On some level, it’s not so surprising that we didn’t hear anything incredibly new. On another level, it’s extremely surprising to me, tactically, that McCain didn’t try to do something new. Instead, McCain took the same talking points (earmarks bad, tax cuts good, earmarks very bad) that have seen him fall behind and decided to repeat them with less energy. I would be shocked if this exchange gained any ground for McCain and not at all surprised if he just continues to slip.and graceful. McCain is stiff, awkward, and generally looks much less comfortable on the move.
My guess is that most Americans will pick Senator Obama as the winner of this debate. On substance neither of the candidates said much of anything new. The issues at play still favor the Democrats. And on style John McCain mumbled through his answers a lot more than in past performances. As a viewer this wasn’t a very fun debate to watch. How can I connect with a candidate who doesn’t wink at me?
One thing that’s clear from this debate is how little there is to John McCain and his campaign. He’s running on a few, vague issues – tax cuts, an aggressive response to Russia in specific and terrorism in general, something about energy – and a whole lot of non-policy fluff: America’s inherent strength and goodness, Obama’s inexperience, scorn for Washington insiders. But mostly, he’s running on a platform anchored by a single assumption: that John McCain is inherently, singularly qualified to lead the country, and, subsequently, deserving of the office of president. McCain views the White House as something to which he is unequivocally entitled. Beyond that, nothing else matters. Indeed, if you hold this view, nothing else would.
What's the bottom line? McCain performed well, I think, subject to some concern that he may have come across as pretty old. Obama showed, in the first debate and again tonight, that he too can come across well under pressure. He's no longer stammering and indecisive as he once was on the stump. On the whole, he's a plausible rogue and I suspect that he passed muster with most people who aren't knowledgeable about the issues. McCain did fine, but I don't think anything happened that will significantly affect the momentum of the campaign.
The big story of the night: Obama and McCain both do debates differently than they do public rhetoric. Of course, McCain’s rhetoric is far sleazier than Obama’s. And Obama’s is far more dizzying than McCain’s. Take your pick. Obama’s is more worrying, but McCain’s is more disgusting. Awesome.
Bill Kristol points out that the reason you have a town hall debate is to introduce an element of unconventionality and shake things up. Nearly every question brokaw selected was political Secconal. He's right. Fred Barnes is in agreement and notes that so far the questions asked at a church by Rick Warren were more illuminating than any of the journalist moderated debates since then.
It should be noted that this debate, coming at the height of election mudslinging, was admirable issue- and policy-oriented. Doubtless, that makes for a bunch of “dud” reviews, but it’s also probably a welcome change for a lot of us. And credit where it’s due: Tom Brokaw was excellent.
JPod:
The takeaway from this debate may be that it will prevent Obama from running away with the election; McCain put in a performance strong enough to keep the floor from falling out under him.
Tonight was supposed to be John McCain's night, but it was the first clear debate win Obama has scored over the course of this campaign -- including the primary. McCain, as it turned out, was badly disadvantaged by the format. The debate was more physical than previous encounters. The candidates were mobile, as were the cameras. And McCain, for reasons of age and injuries and height, has a less commanding physical presence than Obama.
Nothing McCain did tonight changed a thing. He's done. This race is now the 2008 version of Clinton vs. Dole. And you know how well that turned out for the Republicans.
The silver lining: Obama and the Democrats are going to own this godawful mess. And the conservative movement can clear the deadwood out of the way, and start to rebuild itself into a credible force.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Palin and Women: The 'Mean Girl'
An interesting reader comment on Palin's debate performance from the Daily Dish:
I just want to point out that women of any intelligence recognize Palin as a female archetype we've had to deal with for years. In modern vernacular, she's a "mean girl," who is ambitious and has no trouble stabbing people in the back to get what she wants. This type of woman is terribly divisive, splitting women between adoring acolytes who want to be "just like them" and women who see clearly what's going on and can't believe that no one else (especially males) can see through it. If Rich Lowry has a girlfriend with a brain, I bet she'd like to strangle him. Right now, Palin is cocky, self-satisfied and believes she has fooled the world. This is good news. It's frequently the state of things just before a mean girl gets toppled from her throne. The waiting can be hard, though.
This female archetype knows no generational boundaries. My mom, who is a serious fundy and believes the Bible is a scientific review of creation, had not seen much of Palin prior to the debate.
Her only sense was that Palin was being persecuted for believing in the Bible. Even she was appalled by Palin's performance at the debate and thought the flirty phoniness was totally unbecoming a national political figure. You could almost hear a collective embarrassed groan from educated, non-neoconservative women all over the world who have worked their asses off to be taken seriously only to have this bimbo blatantly and on camera attempt to reduce the role of women to their ability to flirt.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Palin = Fargo's Marge Gunderson - Video
Conservative Rob Dreher points out an eerily apt comparison between Sarah Palin's contrived folksiness of last night with Fargo's Chief Marge Gunderson:
Palin's folksy "you betcha" demeanor undermined confidence in her ability to handle a serious crisis. It brought to mind police chief Marge Gunderson in the great film "Fargo," and it irritated me. I thought: "This is heavy stuff, stop it with the welcome-wagon shtick."This fake McCain campaign ad starring
Having said that, Sheriff Marge was the hero of "Fargo," and her you-betchaness concealed her fundamental seriousness, while at the same time telegraphing a foursquare simplicity that, in the end, revealed the greatness of her character. Perhaps it does with Palin as well.
Palin Performance Shows What You Can Get Away With
Joe Klein encapsulates a couple of my primary impressions from last night's Palin/Biden debate:
Sarah Palin's high-energy performance in the vice-presidential debate was the most glaring demonstration—since George W. Bush's performances in 2000—of how little you can get away with knowing and still survive one of these things, especially if the rules limit the cross-examination as severely as they did in this debate. Her relentless opacity was impressive. She refused to answer the questions where she hadn't been prepped with answers and when Biden pointed out that an early question had been on deregulation not taxes, she flashed: "I may not answer the questions the way you and the moderator want to hear, but I'm gonna talk straight to the American people."
Talk straight she didn't, with only a few exceptions. She talked talking points. And when the talking points concerned areas where she didn't know diddly, she didn't talk them very convincingly. Indeed, there were times I got the distinct impression that she didn't understand the points she was talking about (on the vice president's constitutional powers, for example).
Also:
The fact that Palin made it through the debate without running off the stage shouting, "I can't do this!" should not obscure the fact that there was only one person tonight whom anyone with any sense—even John McCain, I imagine—would trust as President. Biden's performance was strong and, happily, gimmick free. He used no gotcha soundbites, no consultant-driven silliness—a fact driven home by the lameness of Palin's snark lines like, "Say it ain't so, Joe" and—pace, Gipper—"There you go again, talking about the past"...
What [Palin showed] was some folksy charm and some energy—qualities that might get her selected for Dancing With the Stars, if not Jeopardy. But that's not enough to change the trajectory of this race, especially since nothing that was said in this debate will be remembered, or remarked upon, a week from now.
Sarah Palin Debate Flowchart Leaked!
Now we can understand how Sarah Palin got through last night's debate:
Morning Thoughts on the Biden/Palin VP Debate
Here are a few more thoughts about last night's VP debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, as initially relayed via an instant message exchange with a friend:
[friend]: how can some people think she won?i dont get itme: she has apotheosized the idea that you can just say and do whatever the fuck you want. don't hold press conferences... don't answer the questions posed to you... don't be bright or interested in world affairs.i expected a decent block of people to say she won. ultimately, 20% of the fucking country still thinks bush is the best thing since sliced bread! that's tens of millions of ignorant people!i also suspect that the viewership was disproportionately republican, as I suspect that a lot of nervous republicans were tuning in to see if palin would throw them some craven red meat. she partially delivered on that account. although, in the final analysis, its the storied 'undecided voter' who matters and i think that they were turned off, for the most part, by the end of the debate
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Polls Show Biden Won Debate By Large Margin
The numbers speak for themselves:
A CNN poll of Americans who watched the vice presidential debate shows that most felt Sen. Joe Biden beat Gov. Sarah Palin, 51% to 36%.
A CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll of uncommitted voters show Biden winning 46% to 21% with 33% calling it a draw.
Palin/Biden Debate Reactions
I am too emotionally drained to write much of anything myself right now. The long and the short of it is this. Palin didn't implode. She avoided nearly every question the moderator put to her. She read off notecards repeatedly. She repeated platitudes and forced her way into folksiness too many times. She explicitly argued for the expansion of the powers of the Vice Presidency. Seriously. The moderator was terrible and had no fortitude to keep Palin to the issues. I think Joe Biden gave a solid performance and caught himself before he could embellish or exaggerate. Ultimately, she didn't fail as tremendously as most expected (I didn't think she would). In the final analysis, I think she did fine by her base but my educated guess is that she did poorly with average run-off-the-mill undecideds.
Here is a debate reaction roundup from Andrew Sullivan:
Ifill, moderator: Terrible. Yes, she was constrained by the agreed debate rules. But she gave not the slightest sign of chafing against them or looking for ways to follow up the many unanswered questions or self-contradictory answers. This was the big news of the evening. Katie Couric, and for that matter Jim Lehrer, have never looked so good.
Palin is reading off cue-cards that, one assumes, have complete answers written out. Not, of course, the answers to the questions she is being asked but, indubitably, answers nonetheless.
Palin wins on domestic; Biden wins on foreign policy. But Palin’s relative strength here can’t do much, I don’t think, to help McCain’s basic disadvantage on the main domestic issue — the economy.
Any conservative who was white-knuckled going into this is relaxing by now. There were some points where she was a bit more platitudinous than one would ideally want, but overall--she's cleaning up. Biden is sighing more as the night goes on, and I can see why.
Palin: people aren’t looking for more of the same. Does she know which side she’s on? Biden: McCain’s not a real maverick! As they start to wrap up, I will admit that Palin has avoided disaster. Biden has put in a pretty successful performance. My guess is that Biden will come off as the clear winner in the eyes of viewers, but it will not be as lopsided as her critics expected.
Seems that Palin kept talking about General McLellan when she meant General McKiernan. That's the sort of thing that might stick. Meanwhile, Palin says she loved being able to get up here and answer these tough questions without the "filter of the mainstream media." Weird that she used her closing statement so defensively. But whatever: Good for her. She should give up on politics and get a talkshow. Otherwise, she should learn how to answer the press's questions.
I think a visitor from Mars watching this debate would have been struck by the fact that Sarah Palin could barely get a paragraph out without mangling what she was trying to say. Conversely, a veteran of the Katie Couric Interviews would be struck by the fact that Palin’s errors weren’t so egregious that you were left totally baffled as to what she was trying to say. But I don’t actually think this stuff is all about expectations. If Palin had some kind of substantial record on or background in national issues, I don’t think anyone would find this performance especially terrifying. But if you already had some serious doubts about her, I think she scarcely put those doubts away.
My quick take is that Palin passed a pass-fail test, though she flagged as the debate went on. Though she was chosen for her emotion connection, she was the drier of the two candidates. But if the central worry was that she'd be a drag on the ticket, she likely returned herself to the same status as Biden and every other running mate in memory: Not, ultimately, a major factor at the polls.
I think Palin is giving a cosmetically strong performance so far, but on the substance it's a horrorshow.
Meanwhile, note her extremely heavy reliance on notes--up to three or more glances per answer. At moments during her Afghanistan exchange she seemed to be reading directly from them.
I can't tell you who won. I thought, though, as the debate wore on Biden really put on the pressure. They seemed even early, I guess with an edge to Palin. But you can't keep repeating the same talking points.
After running ahead for most of the debate, the Sarah Palin has now fallen narrowly behind on most of the analyst scoring. Suspect last impressions are most important. I sure can't remember what we were talking about an hour ago.
Sarah Palin just field dressed Joe Biden like a moose. She was awesome. She connected with the people. She had fun. She was relaxed. She was awesome.
Averaging expectations, style and points, it was a wash. Partisans have reason to be satisfied; I honestly have no idea how undecided voters will react (although CBS's panel of them gave Biden an edge.) ...To practiced ears, Palin memorized and repeated talking points and Biden responded to the questions and argued. Palin dodged questions and seemed vague; but then again, for those whose only impression of Palin has been the one Tina Fay performed on Saturday Night Live, she cleared the bar. Biden seemed a little unsure how tough to be at the beginning of the debate; by the beginning of the final third, he hit his stride. As the debate wound on, Palin seemed less agile when it came to constructing sentences and answers. Lots of key phrases, weird placement of conjunctions, so the gist of what she was saying was there, but it wasn't terribly clear.
Post-Debate Palin Spin Lolcat
As a public service to the McCain bloggers out there who might need an image to use in your post-debate "Palin did great! So authentic; she's one of us! Leave her alone, Librul Media!!" posts, may I offer the lolcat I created last month?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Video From Palin Debate Prep Leaked to Press
This video of Sarah Palin being prepped in Arizona for this Thursday's vice-presidential debate just got leaked out of the McCain campaign. Pretty remarkable stuff:
Palin Debate Footage Leaked
Breaking news. The following video was leaked today and shows the prep work that Sarah Palin is undergoing before her debate this Thursday:
Pity Palin? Cry Me a Freaking River
I admit that I have occasionally lapsed into a bit of pity at watching Sarah Palin f*ck up so stupendously over the last two weeks.
Sharp literary minds have repeatedly woven her trials and tribulations into a metaphorical tableau evoking simpler times when, yes, we too experienced the pains of a book report in seventh grade gone awry or a mean teacher in high school who called us on something we didn't know.
Regardless of the college debate I once flubbed, I am 100% done with the Sarah Palin pity party. After all, we're not talking about a college debate, a book report or a mean teacher. We're talking about someone that could conceivably ascend to the most powerful political office in the world.
Seriously, just think on that the next time you feel the urge to lactate in sympathy to the crying of Sarah Palin's inner child yearning to run free.
When McCain and his campaign came a-calling, she had all the power. She could have done the right thing and politely said NO and spared her family (and the world) the pain she has now foisted upon us.
Here's Salon's Rebecca Traister with sentiments echoing my own:
Like everyone else, I can barely take the waves of embarrassment that come with watching someone do something so badly. Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem, Sophia Coppola acting in "The Godfather: Part III," Sarah Palin talking about Russia -- they all create the same level of eyeball-squinching discomfort...
It was so predictable that we would get to a pity-poor-helpless-Sarah phase. The press was already warming up for it on the day McCain announced her as his running mate, when NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell speculated that McCain's choice was designed to declaw scrappy Joe Biden, whose aggressive style would come off as bullying next to the sweet hockey mom from Alaska. Now, of course, we know about the hockey moms and the pit bulls; the more-powerful-than-expected Palin juggernaut forestalled the pity/victim/mean boy/poor Sarah phase.
So here it is, finally. And as unpleasant as it may be to watch the humiliation of a woman who waltzed into a spotlight too strong to withstand, I flat out refuse to be manipulated into another stage of gendered regress -- back to the pre-Pelosi, pre-Hillary days when girls couldn't stand the heat and so were shooed back to the kitchen.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Palin Both Incompetent and a Liar
Reflecting on the Palin-Couric interview intellectual catastrophe, let us not forget that she is not only a bad interviewee but also a pathological liar. Andrew Sullivan sums up the state of her lies as of today:
Palin could not have asked her girls for permission to accept McCain's veep offer if she also says she accepted the offer unblinkingly and right away. Palin did fire a police chief even as she insisted to a reporter she hadn't. She did violate the confidential medical records of Mike Wooten. She hasn't met with any trade missions from Russia. She does not have any gay friends that anyone can find. She did not oppose the Bridge to Nowhere. She did not sell that plane on eBay. Her Teleprompter did not fail in her convention speech. Alaska's state scientists did not conclude that polar bears were in no danger. She did deny publicly that humans had anything to do with climate change.
Alaska does not provide "nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy," as she claimed. The gas pipeline she touts as her major "mission accomplished" has not broken ground and may never do so. She did not take a pay-cut as mayor of Wasilla. And on and on. Anyone with Google can check all of these out. Including reporters.
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