US 2008 Presidential Campaign/Debate Discussion Thread - The Fifth Installment

[2861U2]

Originally posted by anitram
Obama DEFINITELY needs to answer "does your pastor love America as much as you do?"

No, not necessarily that question, but people are still unsure about his relationships with Wright and Ayers. They aren't going away.

[U2democrat]

This is for laughs:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1509297894

[Jeannieco]

Originally posted by deep


they didn't


it was just a small town woman, "clinging"

FROM SALON

About that flag-pin question
One more thing about Wednesday night's Democratic debate and then I'll let it go. Determining which of the discussion topics was the most inane is tricky, but I'd have to go with the flag lapel-pin question.
Early on in the debate, Charlie Gibson said he wanted to offer a question that "goes to the basic issue of electability." Gibson said, "[I]t is a question raised by a voter in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a woman by the name of Nash McCabe." From videotape, McCabe then asked Obama if he "believe[s] in" the American flag, and why he doesn't "wear the flag."
For ABC, this offers a little distance from the trivia -- the moderators didn't ask about lapel pins, some regular ol' person did. I had assumed that ABC went around western Pennsylvania, looking for voters with good questions, and thought McCabe's was provocative. But that's not quite what happened.
A couple of weeks ago, McCabe told the New York Times that she can't back Obama. "How can I vote for a president who won't wear a flag pin?" the recently unemployed clerk typist said. (Josh Marshall explained, "Presumably, a researcher for ABC or Gibson saw the piece in the Times, figured, hey, this lady hates Obama and is seriously ginned up about the lapel issue. Let's send a camera crew and film her slamming Obama to his face. It'll be great in the debate.")
Or as Will Bunch put it:
So Nash McCabe wasn't located at random at all. Instead, someone at ABC News decided that they wanted to go after Obama on the patriotism issue, and they actively sought a Pennsylvanian who they knew wanted to bring it up. I assume they thought it would sound better if "a typical voter" asked the question instead of Charlie Gibson. "You see, we're only raising the issue the voters really care about," they can claim.
― Steve Benen

[deep]

This is for laughs: too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu9Ny...o_and_tel.html

[MrsSpringsteen]

It's painful when Mitt tries to be funny. Cringeworthy.

Maybe he should have had the lead in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

[MrsSpringsteen]

I love that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yel8IjOAdSc

Barack Obama is clearly taking that abysmal ABC News debate in stride. He told his supporters not to fret about all the "textbook Washington" drama on Thursday, recounting the superficial moderators and Hillary Clinton's attempts to "twist the knife" on trivial issues. Then Obama made pop cultural history, miming the rapper Jay-Z's iconic hand signal to "brush the dirt" off his shoulders.

That popular youth gesture grew out of "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," a hit song in 2003. As Wikipedia explains, it refers to "getting enemies off your chest by brushing your shoulders off." Blogger Spencer Ackerman, who regularly mixes political analysis with hip hop references, immediately heralded the move as "perhaps the coolest subliminal cultural reference in the history of American politics." A YouTube clip of the cultural moment, uploaded by the Obama Campaign, swiftly drew over 100,000 views on Thursday. And then the mashups started.

On Thursday night, YouTuber Bill3948 uploaded a one-minute mash-up of Jay-Z songs, Clinton attacks and Obama's inspired response. The sequence opens with clips of Clinton's cheap shots, accompanied by the Jay-Z ballad "Moment of Clarity," pivots to lowlights from the ABC debate, and then scores Obama's response with the original "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" track. While Obama brushes, graphics of Hillary, Bill and Charlie Gibson fly off his shoulders. Then he shakes off a kitchen sink -- a nod to Clinton's desperate strategy -- as Jay raps about hanging out "in the kitchen with soda." It's a fun, sharp extension of Obama's call to brush off some of the ridiculous attacks:

Obama really is a Jay-Z fan, too. When asked which hip hop artists he likes in a recent interview, he said, "lately I've been listening to a lot of Jay-Z -- this new American Gangster album." But he also stressed his opposition to the degrading and materialistic themes that run through too many hip hop albums:

I love the art of hip hop. I don't always love the message of hip hop. There are times when even ... with the artists I named -- the artists I love, you know -- there's a message that is not only sometimes degrading to women; not only uses the n-word a little too frequently; but also something I'm really concerned about, it's always talking about material things. Always talking about how I can get something. How I've got more money...

[2861U2]

Originally posted by MrsSpringsteen
It's painful when Mitt tries to be funny. Cringeworthy.

What are you talking about? Some of those were pretty good.

He's a lot funnier than Obama brushing his shoulder.

[Vincent Vega]

I guess an appropriate review of the debate can be found here: http://www.thedailyshow.com/

[verte76]

Originally posted by 2861U2


No, not necessarily that question, but people are still unsure about his relationships with Wright and Ayers. They aren't going away.

True.

[verte76]

Originally posted by anitram
Obama DEFINITELY needs to answer "does your pastor love America as much as you do?"

I must know whether he has the ability to ascertain the emotions of another man before I can vote for him to make an economic decision on my behalf.

Yeah, he needs to get this thing behind him.

[verte76]

Originally posted by MrsSpringsteen
It's painful when Mitt tries to be funny. Cringeworthy.

Maybe he should have had the lead in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Yeah.

[verte76]

People are calling McCain McSame because he'll just continue Bush's rotten policies. The Democrats need to keep linking McCain to Bush.

[2861U2]

Originally posted by verte76
People are calling McCain McSame because he'll just continue Bush's rotten policies. The Democrats need to keep linking McCain to Bush.

I'll take Bush's third term over Jimmy Carter's second term.

[deep]

not me,
ever (I lived through both of them as an adult, barely.)
Carter was not as bad as the right wants you to believe.



and I don't believe for one minute
that McCain is Bush 3

[deep]

Originally posted by Jeannieco
About that flag-pin question

Where Is McCain's Flag Pin?

[deep]

Gallup Daily: Clinton 46%, Obama 45%
General election races remain tight



PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows that Hillary Clinton now receives 46% of the support of Democrats nationally, compared to 45% for Barack Obama, marking the first time Obama has not led in Gallup's daily tracking since March 18-20.

it looks like Hillary is going to pull it off
a good showing in Penn on Tues

and the Polls now have her on top!!!

the SuperDelegates will surely break for her now

she has the experience and the Clintons have won the WhiteHouse twice

Obama will have to wait his turn
perhaps he should consider the VP slot

[Bluer White]

If and when Clinton wins Pennsylvania, after being seriously out$pent,

and you consider her showing in vital states like Ohio and her pseudo-victory in Florida........

why would she ever bow out of this race? Maybe she really is more electable than Obama.

[deep]

Originally posted by Bluer White
Maybe she really is more electable than Obama.

you can be Sec. of State.

[Bluer White]

I haven't decided between McCain and Clinton.
I have decided between McCain and Obama.

I don't think I'm alone here.

[Pearl]

I haven't decided between anyone