US Presidential Debates

[mockney piers]

What, Brendan Bums Baltimore? I thought you won a Glammy award for that.

[pk]

so is mccain definitely going to turn up now?

i thought that he was going to be busy solving the word's financial problems

[Jah Lush]

Can't see it myself. I think McCain will bottle out of it. Obama will eat him for breafast before he can say "Policies, have you got any?"

[mockney piers]

Has Obamam actually got any concrete policies other than a seemingly earnest desire for change.

My socialist mate in the States has been pretty aghast over the last year or so as he's watched the noises from obama get increasingly centrist, conservative and establishment.

But actual policies?

McCain has his down on his website;yes tired, predictable, depressing and guaranteed to appeal to a huge swathe of middle America, but at least they are there.

Obama's own website is chock full of nice noises like "Help Americans Grab a Hold of and Climb the Job Ladder", but really very little actual substance http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

[david_carnell]

Did you look very hard?

Obama and Biden will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. The Obama-Biden plan will have the following features:

Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away from any insurance plan because of illness or pre-existing conditions.

Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the plan members of Congress have. The plan will cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.

Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.

Subsidies. Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need financial assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.

Simplified paperwork and reined in health costs.

Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.

Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.

Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies in the new public program will be required to report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.

And that's a small part of the healthcare proposals. Seems well documented to me.

And you have to bear in mind the short attention span of the electorate Piers. They're not like you. They are not prepared to read reams of paperwork detailing complex financial instruments for the redistribution of wealth. They want a soundbite.

[mockney piers]

Fair enough, not the most comprehensive rummage by me.

Bit wet that, cheaper premiums for all...sigh.

[david_carnell]

Sarah Palin dismisses the idea that people should vote for Obama in her own eloquent style:

 

[mockney piers]

Like DC I like to steep myself in thought from across the spectrum, just to make sure that I'm not mad, it's just that everyone else really is wrong :-/

Then you come across something like this and I start wondering if I really am insane.

Who'd a thought it eh McCain a bloody pinko!!

[giggirl]

Sarah Palin debate flow chart. Made me laugh...

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/3/43222/8057/718/618653

[SeanMacGabhann]

that is both hilarious and scary GG

Not as scary as the human flotsam shouting racist chants at recent rallies for Mcain and Palin

And as for this

words fail me

[giggirl]

Holly terror SMcG - that is truly deeply scary. Those people look so normal and they walk among us and they have the vote.

[dulwichmum]

I just adore this candidate - although she really is an outside runner ;)

 

[Moos]

Hmm. Was that video clip made by Michael Moore?

[SeanMacGabhann]

I take you feel it is mis-representative and un-fair then Moos?

What about all of the other reports coming out of recent rallies where mention of Obama (often with his middle name Hussein insterted) let to large shouts from the crowd of "Traitor", "kill Him" etc and neither Palin and McCain looked shocked nor told the crowd off in any way?

Am I missing something? I'm not making any huge claims for Obama, but I have yet to see anything which corresponds with this kind of ugly behaviour

[Moos]

No, no - not saying it's untrue.

What I am saying is that cheap journalism is cheap journalism regardless of the purity of the cause. And why not let the situation speak for itself? To me, that clip was so showcased it undermined its own truth.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Oh for sure - but in the world of American media, that is one drop in the ocean up against the might of Fox news and their "fair and balanced" reporting

Not that I can stop watching it in recent weeks mind you....

John Smith

[Moos]

Well yes, or indeed the fair and balanced piss-taking of Jon Stewart! Well, if it's funny...

[SeanMacGabhann]

for the

Mess O Potamia

banner alone, I will always love the Daily Show. At least it's open in it's p***-taking.

Who is hosting the election party in ED btw?

[Moos]

It's good stuff, isn't it? The Sarah Palin/Hillary Clinton coverage reporting was hilarious.

[Keef]

What I am saying is that cheap journalism is cheap journalism regardless of the purity of the cause. And why not let the situation speak for itself? To me, that clip was so showcased it undermined its own truth.

Quite right, usually watching his stuff, I'm usually against him by the end of it, even if I 100% agree with his actual point!

[david_carnell]

But John Stewart is even handed in his abuse - everyone is a target. The only reason the Republicans and Bush get it more than the next is their incumbency.

I think he's been fair with the election coverage.

Fox News on the other hand......

[Moos]

Perhaps I don't watch it often enough, but whenever I've seen it I've thought the Republicans get more than half of the pasting. Must as you say be the incumbancy point.

It almost goes without saying that the Democrats are in any election much more appealing - surely hardly any Europeans would vote Republican? It's just when I saw the Palin/Clinton programme in particular, although it was very funny, I did think that you could make an almost identical programme the other way around.

I'll have a look at Fox tonight.

[david_carnell]

Moos Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>It's just when I saw the Palin/Clinton programme in

> particular, although it was very funny, I did

> think that you could make an almost identical

> programme the other way around.

I agree. And for good reason. Because the Democrats haven't chosen a living corpse with ping-pong balls in his jaw AND a raving lunatic with a rifle but not a passport for their ticket.

Which one is easy fodder for comedy? And that's still essentially what Stewart is - a comedian. And he makes no bones about his liberal, New York, jewish, intellectual background. And nor should he.

[Moos]

Er, doesn't that mean that you completely disagree with what I said?

Or are you just so polite that you couldn't bring yourself to say you thought I was wrong? Bless you.

[david_carnell]

Oh crap, I dunno.

I never actually think these things through before I type them. You should know by now it's just a stream of consciousness writ large.

So yes, I don't agree with you. Or not.