if palin were running for president, the question would be a lot more relevant. i know, i know. apparently everyone thinks mccain could drop dead at any second. but that just isn't the reality of the situation.
I think Nikolokulus mentioned that actuarial tables suggest McCain would have a 25% chance of dying in office. If right, then odds are against it, but it's still a highly significant chance. The reality is that a man his age, who has been through bouts of cancer and has had heart troubles is at significant risk. He's obviously nothing close to certain to die in office, but it's a much higher risk than most people.
I found the funniest thing in the debate to be "Joe the Plumber", "Joe the Plumber", "I'm talking to you Joe if you're out there", etc.
I thought it was funny when McCain said Obama voted against justices Breyer and Roberts. Obama did vote against Roberts, but he was not in the Senate when Breyer was confirmed. I presume McCain meant Justice Alito. (Hey, all white men look alike!) Very unfunny was putting women's "health" in quotes. As a cancer survivor, McCain SHOULD know that a woman having to decide between, say, the chemotherapy that would save her life but cause major birth defects in her fetus, or trying to carry a pregnancy to term at the risk of leaving her cancer untreated, is not "health" in quotes. I found that really insulting. I'm sure he would not put his "health" in quotes. Obama did not make gaffes that I caught, unlike last debate when he said his personal story would not be possible in any other state, when he clearly meant any other country.
Once the question got asked about the things the campaigns had been saying, it was all downhill for McCain. McCain, ensured by mocking those who may have had to get an abortion because of legit health reasons, just guaranteed that women will be supporting Obama in a huge margin. Women felt Obama won the debate in a landslide, and men were more mixed. McCain did well on the switches up until the question about what the campaigns had been saying, and then it seemed like everyone just gave up on McCain's canidacy after that. Obama even won the Frank Luntz focus group for goodness sake!
At first, I thought he did that on purpose, and I laughed. Then he corrected himself and I realized he was just fumbling his words.
For a split second I thought, "McCain's actually come up with a pretty good catchphrase to label his opponent. It's demeaning, goes to Obama's personal philosophy, and clearly demarcates a major difference between the two candidates." And then it was clear that it was all just accidental and McCain had no intention of actually being a little clever.
Agreed. I also loved how McCain went on about how he doesn't believe in litmus tests, and he'd never litmus test a supreme court justice candidate, and it's all about the qualifications and not the litmus test. And in the last sentence he says that any justice who supports Roe V Wade isn't qualified. If that ain't a litmus test, what is? (Funny to watch Obama give a genuine grin at that point. He saw the blatant contradiction there. I thought he'd pounce on it, but clearly Obama is playing a prevent defense game at this point. He's not doing anything risky, and that includes wading any deeper into the water of the abortion issue than he has to.) Anyway, I agree that his answer was a disaster for McCain. He's got to figure out a way to attract massive numbers of women, and going on for two minutes about abortion like he was talking at a GOP Pro-Life fundraiser isn't going to do it. The smart answer (that everybody would find acceptable) is something like, "Look, I'm pro-life, but I'm also smart enough to see that some abortions are going to happen no matter what law is in place, because people break laws. Let's figure out ways to make it so that there are better options for women than abortion. Women don't seek abortions because they want them. They do it because they feel they have no better option. We can all work together to give them better options." Instead he spent his entire time pushing a cause that just isn't going to convince anybody who isn't already voting for him.
The real risk is putting Obama in the White House. The guy has less executive experience than Sarah Palin, and is a radical Marxist.
Not only did he not say something like that, he kept hammering away with the term "pro-abortion." Using purposely dismissive and antagonistic terms is fairly idiotic when right now he's desperate for undecideds to move towards him. He looked like a discussion forum troll, trying to agitate the people he disagreed with by calling them "pro-abortion." Obama was much more diplomatic and graceful, saying that good people can disagree on this issue, not using any derisive terms and talking about something no one is likely against: trying to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. He looked and sounded like a statesman, respecting both sides of the issue and seeking common ground that both sides can support. McCain really seems to be totally tone deaf in terms of relating to people. Which is also quite stunning, because relating to people used to be a chronicled strength of his. At this point, he seems as good at it as Nixon, Dole or Cheney.
