Friday, October 3, 2008

VP Debate

I tried to get through the entire debate last night, but I could not do it. With about 20 minutes left I thought I would be ok, but it hit me that I just could not take any more of this. The constant jabbing at each other and the administrations, the talk about what they will or more likely will not do once in office. Drove me up the wall. What really bothers me is the constant use of facts by both candidates, some with exact numbers ('voting 94 times this way or another way'). I wish someone stood up there and corrected them every time they were wrong. That would make me feel better about the given candidates character.

I did find an article that checked some of their statements. Check it out here. A quick excerpt (this is the first fact from the article):

PALIN: Said of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: "94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction."

THE FACTS: The dubious count includes repetitive votes as well as votes to cut taxes for the middle class while raising them on the rich. An analysis by factcheck.org found that 23 of the votes were for measures that would have produced no tax increase at all, seven were in favor of measures that would have lowered taxes for many, 11 would have increased taxes on only those making more than $1 million a year.

Was anyone really impressed last night by what they saw?

5 comments:

Josh Rosenfield said...

Actually, I thought last night's debate was much better than the first presidential candidates' debate. I thought both Biden and Palin were very controlled, and seeing as how party attacks are part of our current political process, they kept it somewhat civil.

The fact is, both of them used facts that are taken out of context, whether it was voting done in senate by either party or things they said in the past. It doesn't really matter if any of it is true as long is it's the last thing the American public heard. You heard Biden mention a couple times that McCain also voted not to send more money to our troops in Iraq because of the time line or whatever, but you never heard Palin try to rebuke this.

If you don't care to listen to them bicker over what they will do once in office, which I don't like either, than think of the debate as who puts on a better front. They could be arguing over who they think should be in the BCS Football games for all I care, as long as they argue their point well and look strong doing it. I thought both candidates did that last night. Palin really stepped up and got back a lot of the respect she lost from the interviews with Couric. And I think that's all that really matters, because you should be voting for the president, whether or not you think they're going to die within the next four years.

I still haven't decided who I'm voting for, if it all.

lackattack said...

it wasn't as bad as I expected. I think that while it's annoying to watch the way both parties spin information, i'm really trying to gauge who i trust better. Still having trouble figuring that one out.

Vladik said...

Yes, trust is exactly what I'm talking about!

Josh, I felt that the first Presidential debate was the cleanest that I could remember. You're right though, she probably got a lot of respect back. Unfortunately she had a lost a tremendous amount to begin with.

Peter said...

I wish they would tape delay the debates by about 30 minutes...that way, they'd be able to put stuff on the screen to call out the bs. it can be called the bullshit alert. it would start blinking bs with the actual truth they're referencing.

Like Josh said, they're spinning everything and unless people are going to take the time later and look up the accuracy of the statements it's a total joke (and it's clear Americans are incredibly lazy).

Vladik said...

The tape delay is a fantastic idea!