Who won the Final 2008 Presidential Debate?
Obama
Side Score: 38
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McCain
Side Score: 28
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No matter what the numbers suggest, the outcome of this election is not at all certain. There is a pervasive suspicion that there may be some or many Americans whose vote will be based on skin pigmentation. I don't believe there can be any doubt as to who the winner of the presidential debates has been, however. Barack Obama's poise and self-control has never been so evident as it was last night. To his credit, he seemed genuinely put-out and uncomfortable when the focus turned to personal attacks, repeatedly trying to bring the discussion back to the issues. I don't think it would be fair to say that it was an ugly debate with both candidates bemoaning the personal attacks coming from the opposing side. John McCain was very much on the offensive, with Obama taking a defensive stance. And only when boxed into a corner did Obama bring up the subject of people directing chants of "Kill Him!" ("Him" meaning Obama), at McCain rallies. McCain came at Obama with everything he had last night, it seemed, and may have done some damage bringing up mirky things from Obama's past, like his affiliation with ACORN, a group most of us had never heard of before. (ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is apparently a large community organizing group which spends most of its time and energy addressing housing issues for low-income families. It has, however, come under fire for voter fraud, apparently illegally registering homeless people. When thinking of voter fraud in this country, of course, most recall the debacle that was the vote count in Florida in 2000, which to this day brings into question whether or not President Bush actually won that election.) Obama was willing to address calmly and (allegedly) factually all of McCain's charges. McCain came off as sarcastic and snarly, and seemed to be working hard to maintain his composure. Both candidates, once again, failed at times to speak directly to the questions, leaving one to wonder how effectual either of them could really be in turning things around in this country. Still, we must continue to hope, and Obama's ability to remain cool under fire, I guess, gives me a little more hope. Side: Obama
5
points
Of the two, Obama took the more presidential attitude. He calmly addressed McCain's points, while McCain got irritated and was visibly angry at times. He showed a clear plan and finally had solid numbers to back up his points. Side: Obama
The question is posed in a way that forces me to take a side, when what I feel is continued disaapointment from both candidates. While this was a modest improvement over previous debates, neither side demonstrated any plan for the economy. McCain's best argument was that he was not George Bush. Obama's best argument was that he realized that developing alternative energy might eventually improve things, but neither side has anything you would call a plan. supporting evidence - perhpas if someone would look at the Pickens Plan commericals, you could see a far better communication of an energy approach than what we saw tonight. Side: McCain
If you want an egocentric madman in charge, then McCain's your man. If you want someone who's thoughtful, intelligent, motivational and sincere...then you definitely don't want Palin. I'm a registered independent and have simply gotten to the point that I won't discuss politics with anyone who's never voted contrary to their political party. What this election year has shown is that there are many people willing to sacrifice this country's future for the sake of loyalty to a party affiliation. I'm grateful to anyone who's served in America's military (my cousin was killed in Vietnam and I have a nephew in Iraq today), but I think it's a damn shame that their sacrifice and honor is of so little consequence that regardless of the reality of this election, there are those that refuse to acknowledge the facts and resort to inciting violence and hatred towards a candidate. Christopher Buckley is a hero, not McCain. Side: Obama
This is exactly the type of non-sensical rhetoric endemic of Democrats in this election. Who is inciting violence and hatred toward a candidate? I can cite plenty of example of crazy left-wingers acting like esconced madmen toward McCain and Palin this year. And egocentric?? Obama definitely fits that bill. McCain's campaign motto has been 'Country First' as evidenced by his heroic service in the military. Obama's only service is in the community organizing ranks with the extremely corrupt ACORN. The really scary thing is that there are more people out there on the left that hold this viewpoint... Side: McCain
I would have to say that Obama won this debate once again. Through I must honestly say John McCain did better in this debates than the others. McCain did come out more and went after Obama a lot more than before which I have to say is what he should have done from the beginning. Through he did make mistakes and some of the stuff he said was once again misleading or false. However, I do believe McCain should have not been rolling his eyes so much when Obama was talking, it is rude and disrespectful and if you say Obama has no honor and say McCain does that, wow. Obama clarified a lot of stuff like he should have done. This performance was better of connecting with people unlike the town hall where I was disappointed in both of them. So, really Obama won but McCain made some good strides in this. Side: Obama
1
point
At this point in the game, everyone it's all about persona- how one comes off to the general public. The time of intricate explanations of policy are over- what people are looking for is the basic essence of the person. John McCain comes off as fake- I don't think anyone, other than those already far into the McCain camp, took the 'Joe the Plumber' storyline as anything other than that- a storyline; a bunch of baloney made up by one of McCain's advisers in a desperate attempt to connect with the average working man or woman. On top of that, McCain also came off, yet again, as grumpy. And he kept saying that America is angry- which doesn't play too well. On the other hand, Obama came off as magnanimous, steady, and thoughtful, even when McCain tried to insinuate that Acorn is some evil cabal and that Obama hasn't been forthright to the public regarding his relationship with that organization- both of which assertions are false. No contest- Obama wins third debate, making it 3-0. Side: Obama
1
point
WOW! what a election and Obama took it. Im just impressed the first arican amaerican, and tht mite just be a good thing. Macains speech at the end of the elcetion was calm and i liked it.I kinda felt bad:( but happy at the same time:)! although mcain was pretty offensive to Obama..I think both did a great job...well,heres my song: O mama, O mama, vote 4 Obama. No worrys or fears hell take u to the Bahamas. He even may have a llama..but this is an osm obama! Side: Obama
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3
points
McCain was on the offensive this debate, and exposed the American people to flaws in Obama's economic plan. He backed up his points with numbers, and showed that in this downturn, his plan will put money into individual's hands, not the government. He frequently reexamined what Obama said and let the American people what it really meant, and how his vision was the stronger of the two. Side: McCain
McCain has been offensive for the last two debates. I see nothing new about what he said this debate except that he was a little more polite in his attacks. His 'examinations' were more rhetoric based upon faulty information and statistics as well as a skewed perception of the needs of everyday Americans. I don't think Obama won, per se, but McCain certainly lost worse. Side: Obama
I think McCain did a good job standing firm on this issues.. his isn't the best speaker-but being a smooth talker doesn't make a president. Experience and wisdom does-we need to really look at everything in a boarder scope of things. Yes we need change but change doesn't happen overnight-good change happens over a period of time. Plus look at this-is the country really ready for change, when race keeps being brought up, on both sides. You can't accuse one side for being racist when in-fact you should be accuse of being racist for stating that. Case in point.. there was an African American DJ that in a sense was supporting McCain-the next thing you know he was getting hate mail from other African Americans because he was supporting McCain (in a sense)-:making comments referencing the fact that your African American how can you support a white man. When did this become a race issue? Well I hate to break it everyone it was a always one and it really shouldn't be. It should be based on the experience, knowledge and wisdom one can bring to the table, not skin color. How can we grow and change as a country when we are still stuck in the past. We can't! Yes it was horrible and shouldn't have happened, but it did and we can't change the past just the future. However how can we change if we still are reminded every day what happened in the past and still are running into issues of race every day? You can't change the future that way. OK so are we really running into race issues every day?yes we are..Not just with African Americans and whites but on all levels-white, Mexicans, African Americans, women, men. Case in point-Obama former preacher at the church he attended- talked about whites and makes racist comments (yet that seems to be OK?) and Obama supported him -I saw a video of him stating how this preacher was his (obama's )Mentor and that Obama respected him. Yet once this preacher was caught on tape stating those things-Obama had nothing to do with him and claims he never stated anything (about him being his mentor --etc..) of the sort. You know that all the while this preacher was always been saying things like this.. it wasn't something that was just said. Another case in point-OJ-what happened after he was freed years ago.. ? Riots, raids-killing sprees-break in's.. why? what did that prove? Now that he is going to jail for crimes his comments, we are hearing again that it was unfair because he had a white jury.. (when in fact it was a mix of different races -but everyone was fair skinned).Hello he commented a crime-period! This proved we aren't ready.. we haven't grown. I'm not being racist here. I'm trying to show everyone that we aren't ready for a major change if we can't get past the past issues. We have to get past the past to move forward in this life. No re-living the issues and always be reminded of it. IS it good to know what happened in the past? Sure it is but it's not good to use the past in the way to get a head in this world, nor is it good to be reminded daily about it because how is that going to help us to move forward and grow-when all that does is get people angry and upset with each other. I think there had to be a happy medium when it comes to knowledge of the past, so we can move on to a brighter and happier future. Side: McCain
McCain didn't give a lot of detail about his own plans, what he did was try to attack Obama's plans. Experience and wisdom are important but wisdom does not necessarily come from age but the experiences in your life and how you learned from them. McCain has experience but unless he analyzed and learned from them they are less significant. McCain looked angry several times during the debate, interrupting and at times being disrespectful. instead of worrying about the issues Obama presented McCain attacked Obama on personal matters, as has the majority of republicans. I agree with you that racism is a big problem still in american, no matter how much anyone even Obama wants to pretend it isn't. Nonetheless that does not mean that we are not ready for change, that we can't elect a non-white person, and that we can't elect Obama now. About the DJ you mentioned, was he threatened because he wanted to vote for a white man or because the person he was voting for was supporting what the majority of what non-whites don't want? Because of racism and other factors African Americans are mainly in the middle and lower classes and all of McCain's plans, if anything, hurt those people's economic, social, and physical health and thus voting for McCain could be seen as a sign of disrespect and indifference to them. As for Obama's preacher, He was stating there are large areas of american society where racism still permeates, his language was bold and blunt, but it was true nonetheless. If you look at the history of America, all of it, you can see that while America has done a lot of good it as also done a lot to be ashamed of. Slavery is obviously a sore point in american history but also is the eradication of the Native Americans, the treatment and containment of Japanese Americans during world war 2, the persistence attempt to deny voting rights to minorities and women, and the imperialistic actions to overthrow leaders, some who were even elected by the population, of nations by coups as well as invasions just because they do not support American's "visions". Americans don't necessarily like to hear about the atrocities America has committed, but until you know and accept the truth as it really is you cannot freely move forward with any issue of importance. We've had decades to get past racism, if we don't elect Obama because we don't think the country is ready for him; we are hindering a process that should have long been over. Electing Obama will not make racism disappear but it will be a step further in a shorter period of time than not electing him. History is important, one of the main reasons being so that we have a knowledge of what to do when similar events emerge in the future. Why shouldn't we be reminded daily about what continues to linger in american society? If we ignore the past and present than those who harbor racist ideology are allowed to continue believing such destructive ideas. Society cannot move forward if we can't truthfully and boldly assess and and attempt to solve the problems that plague it. The civil rights movement partly started because people decided change was needed when the majority of the country didn't. If they had accepted the idea that America wasn't ready for change than racism would be stronger and more prevalent in society today. Just because some people don't want an African american or don't feel he can properly run the country doesn't mean society and the present aren't ready. Obama with his ability to remain calm under McCain's attacks and his greater willingness to more completely answer the questions posed about his policies demonstrated among other things that he is also ready to lead America. Side: Obama
you said it all. McCain told us what Obama meant. Yeah, Obama is charismatic and a good speaker, but his plans? Very flawed and involve taxes; and Obama has kept that pretty secretive by using his speaking skills. Well not this time Obama! McCain told us straight up what you were really going to end up doing to us. Obama presents his plans and 'peaceful' and 'easy' and how they're going to 'change' America. They are NOT peaceful, very complex, and the only thing Obama will ever 'change' about America is we'd end up worse than we are now. and God bless McCain, for letting us truly see what Obama's saying, and McCain's great alternatives. Side: McCain
I feel that McCain had many opportunities to show Obama's weaknesses, but didn't take them. Personally I would have liked to have Obama explain more about his back round and involvement with ACORN. It should be obvious to everyone what ACORN is doing.Committing Voter Fraud to help the democrats win in several states. Why else would Obama's Campaign given $800,000 to the controversial organization, ACORN. http://www.mailtribuneforum.com/forums/ http://hillarysmygirl08.wordpress.com/ http://mothersforamerica.blogspot.com/ -Granted, McCain did accept honors from ACORN in 2006. But that was 2006 and not a PRESIDENTIAL election year and ACORN was not yet being investigated for Voter Fraud by the Feds. Plus ACORN endorsed Obama for the presidential election. -As for Obama's preacher, I feel that the house of God is not an appropriate place for making such comments. Rev. Wright is entitled to his freedom of speech,but what he has said in church, about racism and America, is truly unacceptable. -America's history does have it's flaws, but what nation's hasn't. I also find it interesting that many people find McCain and the Republican party are responsible for stirring up racism. Many people even go as far to say that the Republicans supported segregation and didn't care about slavery. Obviously these people have never opened up a history book. The Republican party was formed on the basis of slavery being abolished in America and it was the Southern DEMOCRATS that supported slavery and tried to make it legal. Before, during and after the Civil War, the Democrats considered the Democratic Party to be the "White Man's Party". Lets not forget that the Dems have a very controversial back round. When it comes to national security, cutting spending, and helping to reverse the direction of the country's economy McCain wins. Obama, wins in public speaking and appealing to the American people. McCain needs to learn to be a better public speaker because it seems in this election, its not what you say, but how you say it. Also the Democrats have been in control of the Senate and Congress for a while and have nothing to show for it. Why? Could it be that they were waiting for the economy to get really bad so they could have a strong presidential campaign platform for 2008? Side: McCain
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