pres. debate 10/7

[novillero]

who "won"?


McCain missed several openings, and he really needed to "win." Obama just needed to coast and not have any big mistakes. McCain didn't win (for those that think he did, then put it this way, he didn't win BIG). McCain missed pointing out differences in the last 8 years of Bush. He could've pointed out that de-regulation was not the problem. He could've actually pointed to regulation during Bush, like Sorbannes-Oxley. Obama held his own, and therefore "won."

Not much of a town hall when you are fed the same talking points you've heard from months. And it's not much of a town hall when the news media makes sure that the questions are news-media type of questions, just asked by regular people.

On Obama: I heard a lot of spending, and don't get how exactly he's going to pay for it. It's all fine and good to say you will examine every agency and make cuts, but that is no real plan. As citizens, we've heard this before and know that this general-speak never comes to fruition.

As to health care, Obama claims that it's a "right." Well, if elected, it will be a right for some, and a duty for others. Forced health care at the point of a gun is not much of a right, especially when the government will decide what that health care "right" will be. There are no "rights" that are dependent upon another being forced to give up their labor and money for the benefit of another. sorry. By the way, does anyone think that the government will do a better job running healthcare than the other bureaucracies under it?

His foreign policy needs work... He claims we should be sending troops on humanitarian missions. So, sorry Iraqis, hello Darfur? Where else will we sending troops on humanitarian missions?

On McCain: Anyone notice that he was taking notes before the debate even started? I am not sure that he provided on-the-fence voters with a new face, but probably reinforced the old man persona. (what's with the constant wandering?)

It seems McCain watched Biden's answer in the VP debate, and this threw all the republican pundits for a loop (immediately after the debate, no one knew how to answer this): He will take taxpayer money and not only renegotiate the interest rates on home loans, but also the principal... "to stabilize the housing market." This is nationalization of the mortgage industry. No doubt Obama agrees with it, but I haven't heard this from his lips (yet). And I do not think keeping prices up in the housing market necessarily stabilizes it... Are these housing prices still inflated or not???

WHAT WASN'T DISCUSSED?
(1) Immigration;
(2) Specific plans about Iraq;
(3) any real specifics...

[bergsteiger]

You were awake though the whole debate

[lisas84]

I'm really wondering how to find out how feasible each one's economic plan really is. Which one has a better chance of working.

[novillero]

Oct 8, 2008 8:40:19 GMT -5 lisas84 said:

I'm really wondering how to find out how feasible each one's economic plan really is. Which one has a better chance of working.

Neither. Both want to spend; both are making promises they can't keep. Their so-called "cuts" in spending are general, and amount to nothing more than me or you saying, well, let me get in the driver's seat and see what I can do - big deal, we've heard this before.

Their specific budget cuts - cutting 10% military contracts by Obama, and McCain's earmarks are both an infinitesimal part of the budget. Suspending a few crumbs of foreign aid is even less. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are in deep trouble. We have 10 trillion deficit. China owns a vast amount of our bonds. We are in an unending military war(s).

How do you think buying mortgage loans and reevaluating them will work? Sounds to me like a huge new bureaucratic nightmare. Some new agency will have to sit down and evaluate loan by loan what the new terms are? And McCain admitted it'll cost a lot, "you bet!" Do you think this new bureaucracy will pay for itself? Do you think the bureaucracy will cost nothing? How many loans will default while they are in queue waiting to be evaluated? What experts will they hire to evaluate these loans? The U.S. govt will be paying a premium for bad debt, and most likely we will not get our money's worth. (If it was such a great deal why wouldn't a business buy them and make the profit themselves? Right, the greedy Wall Street types want money money money, why don't they outbid the US govt?)

Do you think we will get universal health-care in any form? doubt it. I'll leave you to guess whether a new bureaucracy will work, but ask will it cost anything? Of course it will. Can we afford it? Of course we can't. Will anyone be happy with it? Do you have a favorite Govt agency that you think works particularly well?

Do you think we can afford universal pre-k? Of course not? Look at NJ, how much money do we throw at failing schools? Has it helped those schools? No, it hasn't. But they will spend more money, because throwing money at a problem satisfies constituents.

What about government funding new green technologies? After all, the US govt developed the computer, uh, right? Maybe ENIAC was the first "computer," but green technologies had already been developed. This is nothing new (it's been "discovered" already). What we need is not the US government, we need the Hewletts of the world. We need the Green Tech Bill Gates, the Green Tech Steve Jobs, Stephen Wozniak - we need the private industry innovators to perfect it, to market it, to make it cheaper for the common man. Believe me, people are doing this already. We need government to get the heck out of these people's ways. We need to let the oil companies drill (without any help from the government) - creating new jobs and new wealth. At the same time, when we stop assisting Big Oil, we need to let the other technologies do their thing to make things work.

All I see are empty promises, and they are fighting each other as to who can make more promises. Seems that the only way to get elected is to make promises, who cares if you can keep them. By the time the people figure it out, you're in office already - and if asked about your promises, you can point the blame at the other party then.