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Tag: Debate

Not a Scratch on That Glass Ceiling

It is time to stop kidding ourselves. This wasn’t a breakthrough year for American women in politics. It was a brutal one.

Posted on Nov 19, 2008 READ MORE  |  20 COMMENTS


This Is What He’s Sorry About?

It was nothing Bush did—no decision he made, no policy he pursued, no faith that he placed in ideological dogma—that he finds regrettable. Bush told a cable network, “I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said” over the course of eight tumultuous years.

Posted on Nov 13, 2008 READ MORE  |  24 COMMENTS


Some Blame Must Follow the Financial Collapse

“What am I going to tell the public,” one French official asked, “when there are 3 million people marching in the streets of Paris? That ‘we all made mistakes’? That no one was really responsible?”

Posted on Nov 11, 2008 READ MORE  |  42 COMMENTS


A New Era of Hope

With Obama’s victory, it’s time to hope that the era of racial backlash and wedge politics is over. Time to imagine that the patriotism of dissenters will no longer be questioned and that the world will no longer be divided between “values voters” and those without a moral compass.

Posted on Nov 4, 2008 READ MORE  |  28 COMMENTS



AP photo / Jose Luis Magana

Only Nader Is Right on the Issues

Tomorrow I will go to a polling station in Princeton, N.J., and vote for Ralph Nader. I know the tired arguments against a Nader vote. But there is little disagreement among liberals and progressives about the Nader and Obama campaign issues. Nader would win among us in a landslide if this was based on issues.

Posted on Nov 3, 2008 READ MORE  |  318 COMMENTS



AP photo / LM Otero

The Obama Standard

A good politician triumphs by adapting to the times and taking advantage of opportunities as they come. A great politician anticipates openings others don’t see and creates possibilities that were not there before.

Posted on Nov 3, 2008 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS



Wikimedia Commons / edited for effect

Populism Arising—but Will It Be the Killer Kind?

The old assumptions and paradigms about capitalism and free markets are dead. A new, virulent populism, still inchoate, is slowly and painfully rising to take their place. This populism will determine the future of the country. It is as likely to be right-wing as left-wing.

Posted on Oct 26, 2008 READ MORE  |  132 COMMENTS



AP photo / Madalyn Ruggiero

‘Joe the Plumber’ in 2010?

Life took an unexpected turn for Joe Wurzelbacher, or “Joe the Plumber,” when he became a kind of human talking point for John McCain and Barack Obama during their last debate, and now Wurzelbacher has apparently taken a shine to politics.

Posted on Oct 25, 2008 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS


McCain and Obama

McCain’s Oil-Talk Addiction

This week’s Mosaic Intelligence Reports investigates John “Drill, Baby, Drill!” McCain’s claims about “good” and “bad” oil, energy independence and whether he played a little fast and loose with the oil talk during the final presidential debate,

Posted on Oct 18, 2008 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS


Left, Right & Center

‘Left, Right & Center’: Looking Down the Final Stretch

No more presidential debates (at least for a couple months or so)! Who won the last one, Barack Obama or John McCain? Tony Blankley, Matt Miller and Truthdig’s own Robert Scheer size up the candidates and their campaigns and discuss the latest developments in the economic arena on this week’s “Left, Right & Center.”

Posted on Oct 17, 2008 READ MORE


Stuck in the Primary

John McCain’s debate performance almost certainly did him good among those whose votes he already has: very conservative Republicans who share Joe the Plumber’s view that Obama is some kind of socialist.

Posted on Oct 17, 2008 READ MORE  |  28 COMMENTS


McCain Sounds Worse Than He Looks

Grouchiness, twitchiness and haughtiness didn’t help John McCain in Wednesday’s debate, but what he said hurt him more than how he said it.

Posted on Oct 17, 2008 READ MORE  |  22 COMMENTS


ENTER_ALT_TEXT

McCain’s Scare Quotes

The term “health of the mother” is a coded term used by extreme pro-abortionists to mislead the public about their nefarious intentions, as John McCain suggested during Wednesday’s presidential debate. Or it could just mean “health of the mother.”

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS


The HBO Debate

Here’s one way to liven up the political process.

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT


Colbert

‘Colbert Report’: Getting Off at the NSA

Warrantless wiretapping makes for a rollicking good time at the National Security Agency, according to moral crusader Stephen Colbert, who’s not above a little dramatic re-enactment of his own biblically inspired carnal fantasies (for illustrative purposes only).

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT


McCain in Ohio
AP photo / Gerald Herbert

Another Round of Dirty Tricks in Ohio

After Wednesday’s big debate, McCain-Palin volunteers celebrated what they considered a big victory for their presidential candidate. But the real action was taking place in courts miles away.

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  59 COMMENTS



AP photo / Madalyn Ruggiero

Joe, the Plumber Who Wasn’t

Things really aren’t going well for John McCain, but then he has only himself to blame. Take Joe the Plumber, whom McCain mentioned more than 20 times in Wednesday’s debate. For the record, Joe’s name is Sam, and he’s not a plumber.

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  29 COMMENTS



AP photo / J. Scott Applewhite

Obama 3, McCain 0

Although the pundits were impressed with John McCain’s debate performance, the polls showed another win for Barack Obama, who once again kept his cool against an angry, negative opponent.

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS


Endangering Choice

While gay marriage is losing its stigma, abortion is once again retreating to the closet.

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS


Debate Preview: Batman vs. the Penguin

Now we know where John McCain has been getting his campaign ideas: 1960s camp television. My friends, who is the Batman? And why is he always palling around with criminals?

Posted on Oct 15, 2008 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


McMime

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Posted on Oct 13, 2008 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT        


Palling Around With Meteorologists

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went on the attack today, claiming that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has long-standing ties to The Weather Channel.

Posted on Oct 12, 2008 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS


This Is No Time for Specifics

Each campaign has given voters ample notice about the inclinations, temperaments, habits, philosophical leanings and advisers they would bring to the White House. That’s enough.

Posted on Oct 10, 2008 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS



AP photo / Susan Walsh

Palin vs. Palin

Would the Republican VP nominee vote for herself? During her debate with Joe Biden, Sarah Palin said “we have to fight for” and “protect” our freedom, but her party and the policies she seems to support have crippled American liberty.

Posted on Oct 9, 2008 READ MORE  |  45 COMMENTS



Citizens Against Government Waste, and for McCain

During the first presidential debate, John McCain gave a high-profile shout-out: “I suggest that people go up on the Web site of Citizens Against Government Waste, and they’ll look at those projects.” The group quickly returned the favor—its political action committee is calling McCain a “taxpayer hero” in TV ads airing over the next two weeks in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Posted on Oct 9, 2008 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS


Michelle Obama on 'Daily Show'

Michelle Obama, Known Associate of Barack Obama, Visits ‘Daily Show’

Do we really know Michelle Obama? She thinks so, since, as she tells “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, after 20 months on the campaign trail there have certainly been plenty of opportunities to check her and Barack Obama out.

Posted on Oct 9, 2008 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS



AP photo / Jim Bourg, pool

Third-Party Blues

Ralph Nader is right: The two-party system is failing America. There isn’t time between now and Election Day to create a viable third-party candidate, and so the sad reality is one of two deeply flawed men, the byproduct of a deeply flawed political system, will serve as president for the next four or eight years.

Posted on Oct 9, 2008 READ MORE  |  171 COMMENTS


McCain

Flashback: McCain Pledges to Run a ‘Respectful Campaign’

What a difference a few weeks and a few polling points can make. Last April John McCain pledged to run a “respectful campaign”—a goal he restated on more than one occasion until around midsummer.

Posted on Oct 9, 2008 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS


overhead projector
Composite: communicationcorner.com/wikimedia

Projectorgate 2008: Astronomers Fact-Check McCain

What on earth was John McCain referring to during Tuesday’s debate when he kept bringing up that mysterious “$3 million overhead projector” that Barack Obama ostensibly supported in Chicago?

Posted on Oct 9, 2008 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS


Obama

Obama Responds to McCain-Palin Attacks

During a sit-down interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson that aired on Wednesday, Barack Obama talked about the economy and how he’d lead differently from President Bush before addressing the McCain-Palin campaign’s ramped-up attacks of late. “All these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points,” Obama told Gibson.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE  |  19 COMMENTS


Honor Won and Lost

Nothing in the presidential campaign so far has been as instructive as its swift descent into the politics of personal destruction. Although voters have probably heard little lately that they did not already know about Sen. Barack Obama, they have learned something very important about Sen. John McCain.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS


What McCain and Obama Don’t Know

Uncertainty is the backdrop for a presidential campaign whose last month is being conducted over the shakiest terrain. What we didn’t know yesterday, last week, last month suddenly reshapes the contours of our lives.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE


The Real Stars of the Debate

In the second presidential debate, the questioners seemed to understand better than either candidate that we are in the midst of a national emergency as grave and possibly more far-reaching than the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


Obama
AP photo / Madalyn Ruggiero

Obama Leads by 11

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has pulled significantly ahead of Republican rival John McCain, taking an 11-point lead after Tuesday night’s presidential debate, according to the latest Gallup Poll.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE  |  11 COMMENTS


McCain’s Brain and the Second Debate

Penny for John McCain’s thoughts? Keep it, that’s what YouTube is for.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE


Open the Debates

The reviews are in, and the latest U.S. presidential debate, the “town hall” from Nashville, Tenn., was a snore. One problem is that in a debate it is important for the debaters to actually disagree.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE  |  27 COMMENTS


Nashville debate

2008 Presidential Debates, Round Two

Tuesday night marked the second debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, moderated by NBC’s Tom Brokaw at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. While Brokaw struggled to stick to the script, the two candidates fielded questions about the current economic catastrophe and American foreign policy.

Posted on Oct 8, 2008 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS


Obama and McCain debate
AP photo / Charles Dharapak

Obama Wins in Nashville

As was the case in the first presidential debate, Barack Obama emerged from Tuesday night’s confrontation with John McCain in Nashville, Tenn., in command of the situation. The Democratic nominee looked calm, confident and presidential as he won their second contest.

Posted on Oct 7, 2008 READ MORE  |  82 COMMENTS


Nowhere for McCain to Go

Tuesday night’s debate, a town-hall discussion dominated by economic questions, made it clear that John McCain’s effort to change the campaign’s focus to the culture wars of the 1960s is not going to work.

Posted on Oct 7, 2008 READ MORE  |  21 COMMENTS


What McCain and Obama Just Don’t Get About Central Asia

There are only two real issues left in the foreign policy debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. Yet neither the Iraq nor the Afghanistan issue is within the power of any American president to resolve.

Posted on Oct 7, 2008 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS


McCain and Palin
AP photo / Ron Edmonds

Bill Boyarsky on McCain’s Low Blows

Truthdig’s chief political correspondent weighs in on the week in politics. From “pallin’ around with terrorists” to Tuesday’s debate, Team McCain is “going for the gut,” but will it work?

Posted on Oct 6, 2008 READ MORE  |  12 COMMENTS


Vetting Sarah Palin

Vetting Sarah Palin

Truthdig is excited to collaborate with Capzles.com on a unique new way of telling a story – in this case, about VP hopeful (and, yes, possible president) Sarah Palin – using video, audio and text “moments” along an interactive timeline.

Posted on Oct 6, 2008 READ MORE  |  114 COMMENTS


Fey plays Palin

‘SNL’ Spoofs the VP Debate

Parody is the best policy, as evidenced by the boost that “Saturday Night Live” has recently enjoyed, thanks to Sarah Palin lookalike (and sometime comedy star) Tina Fey. We kid, but so do Fey, Queen Latifah and Jason Sudeikis—playing Republican VP candidate Palin, PBS’ Gwen Ifill and Democratic VP pick Joe Biden, respectively—in this clip from the show’s Oct. 4 episode.

Posted on Oct 5, 2008 READ MORE  |  25 COMMENTS


Left, Right & Center

‘Left, Right & Center’: The Bailout Deal and the VP Debate

In the latest edition of “Left, Right & Center,” co-commentators Matt Miller, Robert Scheer and Tony Blankley (Arianna Huffington is still at large) give their expert analyses of Thursday’s vice presidential debate, inspecting Sarah Palin’s and Joe Biden’s arguments and self-presentation styles down to the smallest detail.

Posted on Oct 4, 2008 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS


VP debate

‘Middle East 101’ for Biden and Palin

“Mosaic Intelligence Report” host Jamal Dajani is distinctly unimpressed with the level of knowledge about the Middle East displayed by Sarah Palin and Joe Biden during Thursday night’s vice presidential debate.

Posted on Oct 3, 2008 READ MORE  |  21 COMMENTS


Hillary Clinton

Clinton Chats With Seacrest About VP Debate

All right, now this is getting ridiculous. None other than Ryan Seacrest has managed to insert himself into the political mix by scoring a phone interview with Hillary Clinton on his radio show Friday. What’ll it be next, the Obamas and the Bidens sit down with the preternaturally perky Mary Hart on “Entertainment Tonight?” Oh, wait ... never mind.

Posted on Oct 3, 2008 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS


With Palin, McCain Is Gambling With the Country

The key to understanding how John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate was provided by The New York Times last weekend when it described an episode in which he “tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table.”

Posted on Oct 2, 2008 READ MORE  |  22 COMMENTS


Saying ‘No Deal’ to This New Deal

The marriage of American capitalism and democracy has always been a Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee affair—stormy and erratic since its hasty wedding. But during the debate over a Wall Street bailout this week, we watched that matrimonial knot unwind into a tangled tale of terror.

Posted on Oct 2, 2008 READ MORE  |  17 COMMENTS


VP debate

The Big Question After the VP Tussle

Did they deliver? That was the question coming from the Democratic and Republican camps after Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin did battle at the vice presidential debate in St. Louis on Thursday night. Here’s the full debate in video—tell us what you think about how the candidates handled themselves and represented their respective tickets.

Posted on Oct 2, 2008 READ MORE  |  29 COMMENTS


Palin and Biden
AP photo / Don Emmert, pool

You’re No Harry Truman, Governor

Gov. Sarah Palin survived Thursday night’s debate, much to the disappointment of Democrats who hoped she would crumble as she did in her interview with Katie Couric. But she ducked tough questions, gave canned answers, tried to smile her way out of tough spots and cheerfully distorted Sen. Barack Obama’s record.

Posted on Oct 2, 2008 READ MORE  |  205 COMMENTS


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