CitizenSugar: Who Won the Debate, Part II
By Citizen Sugar | Related entries in News
Liberty, one of the voices on CitizenSugar, is a San Francisco native that defends the progressive principles she believes in, like tolerance, civil liberties, diplomacy, and government transparency. Here’s who she thought won the debate!
In the most high tension, and perhaps most conversational, debate John McCain came out looking for a game changer. McCain seemed rested and eager (did you hear the Al Gore sighs?) while Obama seemed reluctant and a little low on energy. Still, Obama’s calm demeanor allowed him to rise above a potential catty debate, and focus on his issue advantages.
Coming out strong, McCain’s crisp statement: “Senator Obama, I’m not President Bush” had no matching punch line from Obama, perhaps giving McCain an edge in the sound bite battle.
In the middle, the candidates spent much time talking about attack ads, leaving me lamenting that this is what the American people get to listen to from their presidential candidates. By noting that William Ayers has become the center of McCain’s campaign, Obama made McCain’s campaign look deaf to the real issues facing the American people. After setting the record straight about his strained connection to Ayers, Obama then took the opportunity to make a positive and reassuring argument about the capable people who will advise him, such as Warren Buffet and former NATO head Jim Jones.
After a discussion on healthcare, which left me thinking Obama knows more about McCain’s plan than McCain does, the two got talking about abortion. Obama called out the McCain/Palin refrain that he supported infanticide, pointing out that there was already a law on the books requiring care to babies of botched abortions when he voted against an Illinois bill for other reasons.
Obama then took the dialogue to another level saying that he wants everyone to work together to reduce the number of abortions and promote adoption. McCain went on to slam the pro-choice movement with the pejorative “pro-abortion.” I’m still wondering if considering the country’s at war and in an economic crisis, and after eight-years of a pro-life President and more Roe v. Wade, whether the abortion discussion was worth the time.
While this was McCain’s best performance by far, I think Obama maintained a presidential and informed presence. Maybe I can find Joe the Plumber and ask him what he thinks.
Article cross-posted on CitizenSugar.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
The only part of this I take issue with is the description of Pro-Choice vs Pro-Abortion. While I’m not in favor of outlawing abortion, I think the Pro-choice label is a deliberate attempt to hide the reality of the situation. The reality is that the Pro-choice argument is an argument in favor of allowing abortion, and trying to hide that is just silly. No-one is in favor of abortion (vs not getting pregnant in the first place), but Pro-Choice is as meaningless a term as Pro-Abortion.
And more importantly, is abortion really an issue that is a supremely important measure for a presidential candidate?
October 16th, 2008 at 11:00 am
i disagree. i think the pro-choice label is accurate because when faced with a pregnancy, women can choose what they want to do. that is the basis of being pro-choice. not all women choose to abort, however that is one of many options. when people push the term “pro-abortion” it comes across in nuance as being the only option each and every time. does that make sense? i’m hungover today.