McCain Wants Joint Town Hall Meetings with Obama
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCainJohn McCain has invited Barack Obama to join him in 10 joint town hall meetings with voters. McCain envisions all these meetings being held between June 12th and the Democratic National Convention. He described it as such:
“I don’t think we need any big media-run production, no process question from reporters, no spin rooms. Just two Americans running for office in the greatest nation on earth, responding to the questions of the people whose trust we must earn.”
Personally, I’d love to see the two candidates in such venues. Unlike George W. Bush, McCain is energized by such unscripted interactions. It’ll be interesting to see if Obama is willing to put himself out there as well.
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June 4th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I’d like to see this as well. Very much. Obama looks like a pussy if he demurs.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Hey, way to elevate the discourse, Kranky
If that’s is the kind of thing a McCain supporter considers an intelligent discussion between candidates one can only wonder why Obama would care to be involved.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Actually Obama is in support of the meetings, but he wants longer ones, and without moderation, like the Lincoln Douglass ones, so he can speak for over an hour uninterrupted
June 4th, 2008 at 11:45 am
RE: GERRYF
Spoken like a true Obama Fruit Flavored Beverage Drinker. Rather than addressing the substance of Kranky’s comment, use sophistry to dodge.
I think it’s pretty obvious why McCain is doing this. He understands that he doesn’t match BHO’s rhetorical (in the classic Greek tradition) skills in prepared settings. But McCain’s fairly quick on his feet and is better at unscripted speaking than Obama. I expect Obama to do a lot of arena-style campaigning, where it’s him speaking to people (but not necessarily speaking *with* them), and preferring televised, moderated debates.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:50 am
It’s a t-r-a-p !
Why would Obama spend his time with 300-400 people on townhall meetings, when he needs to get people to know him and his agenda on gatherings where he will deliver his message to tens of thousands of people.
McCain tactic is directly from Sun Tzu’s art of war: meet the enemy on grounds of your choosing.
If Obama takes this obvious bait, he loses points in leadership that I’ve seen in him so far.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
No, Obama will want to do unmoderated long debates, the Lincoln Douglass debates were one hour, then a 90 minue rebuttal then a 30 minute followup.
This would allow Obama to lean on his strong suit which is the speeches he gives and avoid the short moderated debates he does badly in, McCain wants the shorter debates, because as we saw last night he’s not good when asked to speak for longer periods
June 4th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Well than if this really is going to be a different election, why not do 5 short debates and 5 long debates?
June 4th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Bah, no, long debates only, we have to see if McCain can withstand the rigors of the job, who knows he might have a dole moment and fall down
June 4th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
That’s hogwash. A long debate has nothing to do with age. Obama just isn’t as good unless he can use his great oratory skills which really only work when he has a longer format. Shorter and he has to actually think on his feet and not use pre-rehearsed comments. Sorry I want someone who doesn’t need speech writers at all times.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Obama doesn’t need speechwriters, he can write his own, like he wrote a more perfect union himself, and we’ve seen he has the ideas, but McCain needs to be tested at his age, can he keep up, that’s what we don’t know
June 4th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Come on, you know Obama is lousy in short debates. I know McCain is lousy in long speeches. 5/5 is a compromise, it plays to both of their strengths and weaknesses. And if you think 90 min debates can show how they handle the job (which I don’t) than you still get to see how he does in 5 of them.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Well that’s why it will never happen, Obama will want all long, mcCain all short and neither will accept the compromise
June 4th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
ExiledIndependent:
Uhm, if you could point out to me the substance of Kranky’s comment, I’d be glad to address them.
There was no substance.
He was acting like a kid who thinks he’s made a point, yells “Gotcha!” and then called Obama a name and slunk back to wherever it is people like that slink to.
As for the “substance” of your own comments, as already noted, Obama is up for a town hall type debate with McCain. Not sure where you are getting your information about arena speeches and televised moderated debates.
I suspect we will see a bit of both, sadly for McCain who is going to try and distance himself from a guy who he supported 95 percent of the time. That should be fun
As for McCain’s prowess in unscripted, quick on his feet speaking, I have not seen a lot of that from him in a long while.
Would one of those extemporaneous remarks be when he said he was keen on keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years? ‘Cuz that worked out so well for him. Or maybe it was when he was strolling through an Iraqi marketplace and said is was perfectly safe (while wearing a flack jacket and surrounding himself with half a company of troops)? No, no, I know. It was when he equated the Jewish Holiday Purim (a holiday commemorating the time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination) with Halloween. Hmmm, how about when he said al Queda had its training camps in Iraq and that’s why the U.S. needed to launch an attack (a claim that even Bush would be embarrassed to make).
Yes, yeah, that McCain–he’s an excellent off the cuff speaker. I’m sure Obama is terrified of getting into it with McCain.
I guess I would rather be an Obama Fruit Flavored Beverage Drinker then an adherent to a corrupt administration who is willing to support anything told to me just as long as my group stays in power–individual rights, moral authority, national prestige be dammed.
(incidentally, I’m not much of an Obama supporter, but I am definitely leaning that way…you may be surprised to know that I supported McCain in 2000–sadly, the McCain of 2008 is not the McCain of 2000)
Any other substance you would like me to respond to?
June 5th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Gerry,
One can only wonder why you think I’m a McCain supporter. I’m undecided and have been critical or praised both candidates when they have deserved it. If anything, I lean towards Obama. Which you’d know if you read this blog regularly.
I’m just calling it like I see it here. However, allow me to apologize. So sorry to have offended your delicate sensibilities by using so scandalous a term as “pussy.” Since you’re invoking the Marquesse de Queensbury rules for blogging, let me rephrase. If Obama demurs, he looks like he’s afraid. He looks like a milquetoast, a hothouse orchid.
It’s an astonishingly obvious point to anyone who understands even an iota about politics and PR. It can’t be obscured by your attempts to disparage all McCain supporters because I used a naughty word. Grow up. If “elevating the discourse” means being too polite to point out the obvious, count me out.
Oh, and FWIW,folks, on the issue of debate length, here’s the deal. McCain wants shorter debates because he is old, and he tires easily. It will happen to us all, so let’s not pretend it isn’t an issue. As a longtime watcher of John McCain, I am well aware that his vigor has greatly diminished over the past 4-6 years.
Obama, if he wants longer debates, wants them because he can win on stamina. If they have a long debate and it’s fought to a virtual draw and then McCain starts to look tired and confused by the end, he loses based on that alone, and he loses big. You know how when the aging champ is negotating for the big prize fight against the young contender, and the champ wants 10 rounds and the challenger wants 12? Same thing.
Most folks are too polite to mention this, but it will definitely be an issue. If McCain, by his performance over the course of the fall and in big public forums, shows diminished vigor and acuity, he’ll get absolutely creamed in November.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Now there is some substance to discuss.
When you drop in a vague one sentence burp that leaves your intent unclear, expect to get called on it
No one is asking you to be polite or even toss softballs (personally, I prefer less vulgarity, as vulgarity tends to make the user look like a moron), but we do ask that you be cogent.
If you cannot handle that (and obviously you can as per your second post) then get off the playing field.
Sorry I wounded your ego
p.s.–i’m old enough
June 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Gerry, it’s called concision.Try it sometime.
What YOU ought to do is avoid trying to divine someone’s entire political outlook from a single sentence. The substance of my comment was clear. That you chose to take offense at one word choice reflects solely upon yourself, as do your feelings about vulgarity.
I chose the word pussy for its clear meaning.. That ought to be what matters in communication. I don’t believe that it’s especially useful, when communicating, to expect speakers and writers to also make subjective judgements about which words they ought to avoid using despite their clear meaning. But when someone whines and insists, I do my best to accommodate them, even if they have suggested that I am a moron. I won’t return the favor by suggesting that you are a moron, but I have to be honest and point out that I think troubling oneself about vulgarity is moronic.
For what it’s worth, I will cheerfully concede that, given the ease with which some folks take offense and make assumptions these days, using a word like “pussy” carries some risk. It really shouldn’t, but it does. You’ve conclusively proven that, just by being a prude.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:51 am
McCain would let his temper get out of control and it would be a joke. Obama doesn’t need to waste time at town hall meetings. Why won’t McCain agree to larger public debates? Obama will out speak McCain any day!
June 5th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
OK, concise
Sorry I inferred you are a moron. I actually was trying to say that you proved you are not a moron with your second post. On re-reading my post, I see the fault in you thinking that is entirely mine.
It was sloppy and my complement turned into an insult. Again. Sorry.
The rest I will leave at that. If I am prude because I wanted an elevated discourse without vulgarity then I guess I am prude.