The Obama-McCain event tonight consists of two parallel press conferences that happen to be in the same room.
The detailed rules hammered out by the two campaigns state that the questions were to have been submitted in advance by the audience members and over the Internet. The questioner may not change the question and the microphone will be cut off after the question. Neither the questioner nor the moderator, Tom Brokaw of NBC, may ask followup questions. The candidates may not question each other.
There will be no debate at all. Who does this format favor? Probably neither candidate. Usually the questions the general public asks aren’t very hard, are largely predictable in advance, and have already been asked 100 times (“how will you fix the economy?”). The candidates have stock answers they will reel off. Given the current state of polling, McCain needs to shake things up and Obama needs to keep the status quo.
An event that doesn’t rock the boat much thus de facto works for Obama. Nevertheless, once in a while something unexpected happens at one of these events. In 1992, someone asked the candidates how the national debt affected them personally. George H.W. Bush was flustered by the question (by which the questioner probably meant the budget deficit) and it threw him off stride somewhat.
Political confrontation in the Free World.
ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz…….
The “debate” sounds like a real ho-hummer.
Of somewhat more interest from that site are the following stories on Palin. The bloom is really off the rose now…
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Palins May Owe Tens of Thousands of Dollars in Back Taxes
When Sarah Palin accepted John McCain’s offer to be his running mate, she probably didn’t fully realize what being in the national spotlight meant. For example, your tax returns get to be analyzed in public (for free) by miscellaneous tax experts. Gov. Palin actually lives in Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage, but the state capital is in Juneau, 500 miles away as the crow flies (assuming they have crows in Alaska). On the many nights she stayed at home, she claimed to have been away from the capital on business and was reimbursed $17,000 by the state for this “travel.” Being paid a per diem for staying in your own home is ethically dicey but probably legal since “away on business” is probably defined as “not near your office.” However, Palin was also paid $25,000 to reimburse her husband and children for being away from “home” (Juneau) which she did not list as income. A D.C. tax lawyer and two law school professors specializing in tax law have concluded that if the State of Alaska wants to pay the governor to take her family on “business trips” that is its good right, but the money received is taxable income under the internal revenue code and the Palins should have declared it and paid tax on it, which they did not.
State Employees will Testify in Troopergate
The Alaska attorney general has reversed himself and announced that the seven state employees subpoenaed by retired prosecutor Steve Branchflower will testify in the Troopergate affair. Branchflower was hired by the Republican-controlled Alaska state legislature to investigate potential abuse-of-power charges against Gov. Sarah Palin in conjunction with her firing the state commissioner of public safety for refusing to dismiss her estranged brother-in-law. In addition, the state supreme court will hold a hearing tomorrow on a defense motion to throw the whole case out. Branchflower is trying to get his report out on Friday. If he concludes that Palin misused her power, it will be a huge bombshell.
This is too funny !!! From Huffington Post, Borowitz column:
“Elsewhere, Sen. John McCain’s practice session for the second presidential debate was cut short when his pants burst into flame.”
#2 – JimD
Uh…you already said that.
These things are such a waste of time and point out the absurd fact that our elections are nothing more than popularity contests. That may be one more reason why the government doesn’t like to count ballots anymore.
In any case, nothing of import will transpire and the lies the candidates mouth will be forgotten by the time the pundit’s ink dries.
I don’t think the format for tonight’s debate (which I agree is terrible) is a reprimand on US debates in general. For the first time, some of the debates (2 of the 3) have more open-ended formats where the candidates are encouraged to address each other. It’s not something either candidate took advantage of that much in the 1st debate, but that can’t be blamed on the format.
#5–hypersoar==of course the format is at fault along with the candidates. No self respecting moderator would make himself into a potted plant the way they now do. The conclusion is the moderators in fact have no self respect.
If the candidates don’t exchange views, the “format” should require the moderator to do it.
Not to confuse stories, but I suppose a crap sandwich is better than no sandwich, but its still crap.
While we are arguing about stuff like this;
AIG Executives blow $440,000 on hotel outing right after getting $85 billion emergency loan from the Fed (taxpayers)
Copy of hotel bill
The debates are rand by “The COmmission on Presidential Debates” and guess who owns and runs that? Why it is the Republican and Democratic parties. They own the show. They run the show. They have no motive for either side to win the show. It isn’t a debate. It is a show created to give the illusion of debate and the illusion that there is any real difference between the candidates.
Well, whatever the rules, it looks like Obama walks away the winner yet again.
McBush should fake a heart attack to save himself the mortification of being squashed like a bug at the polls on November 4th.
These televised “debates” are really just a business opportunity for the Tv networks. Their rating go up, because most of the cable channels don’t carry this. And they very likely get paid to carry the debate, from the two parties’ campaign funds. You don’t think they sacrifice their regular program for free, do you?
These debates are pre-orchestrated between the two main parties. It’s their show, run by and for their benefit. That’s why no independent candidates are allowed to get involved. And the questions and answers are all worked out weeks in advance. That’s why none of what was said, really addressed the recent economic problems of today. It reflected what was happening, probably back in late August. Perhaps a much later “debate” will catch up on today’s economic events. But I don’t know what these clueless politicians would say about it.