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also, I just heard Obama say 'talking tough about earmarks,' but I was getting something out of the fridge and it sounded like he said 'talkin' tough about earmuffs,' which is a kickass rhyme...
My emotional reaction to McCain is really negative. I don't like his voice, I don't like his movements, I don't like his smirks, I don't like the shape of his shoulders. I don't like the way he's leaning on his chair.
It's a good thing the logical part of my brain doesn't like him either.
Man, McCain wanted this Town Hall format, but that was a huge mistake. He's better behind the podium, where he doesn't have to walk like an old man. He looks like he needs a walker.
I'm rather disgusted with this debate so may I just mention here that John McCain reminds me of The Music man. And Crotchety Music Man. ≡ Click to see image ≡
Just drink when Mc says My friend Add in "my friends," and you'll be risking alcohol poisoning forthwith.
This would be my question, if I'd had a chance to ask one:
When I was 30 and recently out of graduate school and looking for jobs, the best quote I could get for health insurance was almost $2500 a month. This was due to a preexisting medical condition, which is completely under control with maintenance medicine. Which of your health plans would best serve people like me?
They're saying things that I've heard before, though it's hard to decipher through the b.s. wording. I also would love to see them actually debate. And Tom Brokaw is pissy.
Total stereotype-filled guess, but I'm thinking he's fairly popular among folks with MBAs/advanced business degrees, somewhat less so among MDs and JDs, and not much at all among everybody else.
(McCain's so unpopular among employees of my public library system that administration sent out an email reminding us to not badmouth him to patrons.)
I napped through the first hour of this debate, which was annoying, but in fact, is a good analogy to describe how I felt about the half-hour I did catch. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
The format sucked.
The only thing I missed tonight was the MeCha thread! Boo!
How are McCain and Obama polling among people who have attended graduate school?
Sort of infamously, party identification by college grads ebbs and flows between R and D but is in the long run about even. The Dems, however, have by far the majority of those with less than a high-school education; on the other hand, they don't vote as much as other cohorts. WaPo cool graphic
It was a pretty dull debate. Obama did seem off his game a bit, but then he also muffs some of his best lines on the stump on a regular basis. He just isn't a soundbite or quip guy. But then neither is McCain. They're actually both obviously smart guys who are more or less matched in debate skills.
The Delaware line was probably one he'd used before in this type of answer -- but didn't have a Delaware running mate then. And Biden's MBNA connections are a potential weakness, if the VPs mattered, which they really don't.
I'm pretty sure he also said that Bush's policies have made us "more safe" instead of "less" and a few other slips. He obviously meant that a group of govt. scientists invented the internet, not the computer. If the computer was invented for anything it was Social Security (really).
The one real slight gaffe I think he may regret was saying "no" to the question about whether the economy was going to get worse before it got better. I think a lot of people wanted a straight answer there and he chose the "safe" one (because you don't want to be accused of talking us into a recession, etc.).
And darned if he would just stop saying "PAH-KEY-STAHN" instead of "PACK-@-STANN" like everyone else he might be able to lose the elitist label.
The one question I wish had been asked of McCain would have been, "Senator, do you approve of your audiences shouting out 'traitor' or 'terrorist' when your opponent is mentioned, or threatening 'kill him!', and if you do not why have you let it happen at campaign events several times this week?" Not to mention racial epithets directed at the news media.
That's what shows they've lost it -- the election and self-respect. They're attacking the media who are covering the campaign. Those guys are now in the position of entering hostile territory just to fill up a B-roll. Are they still going to be McCain's "base" anymore?