2008 US Presidential Race, Obama vs McCain

[Lowerdeck]

Welcome to America.....Christianity's version of Iran. Could an American candidate stand up and claim to be an atheist, and hope to win anyway?

I totally agree with Lowerdeck. Why in the heck does religion have to be involved in politics? Not only does it turn me off, it also makes me convinced that America is not a free country. In my view, America is a quasi theocracy with authoritarian leanings.

But I doubt if religion and politics will be divorced in America anytime soon.

[Charlotteman]

I still can't believe Obama had to make a full on declaration that he is a Christian.....and Time magazine even featured the praying Obama on a cover. Seems so un American to me.

The whole thing is a not so subtle reminder that non Christians are essentially not welcome. Sure you can succeed in business, etc, but if you want to run for high office in America, you had better be ready to profess believe in the Lord.

Just another example of the backwardness of America.

[Charlotte_native]

The complete irony of this all is that the Christians feel they are being persecuted and the downtrodden of society ... and yet they are a sizeable and powerful group within our federal government, our military, and the general population.

[Gusterfell]

Remember the anecdote McCain told at Saddleback about the guard at the POW camp who drew a cross in the dirt? Turns out it is straight from the pages of The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn, an author of whom McCain is an admitted fan. This should have been his "sniper fire in Bosnia" moment, if the mainstream media weren't giving McCain a free pass.

It has also come out that McCain wasn't in a "cone of silence" while Obama was answering his questions, as we were told. Indeed, he didn't even arrive at Saddleback until halfway through Obama's portion. Why did McCain's answers sound so much more polished than Obama's? Because he knew in advance what he was going to be asked.

[Charlotte_native]

I look forward to face-to-face debates.

[monsoon]

I am surprised that someone actually said this on CNN. They, like most of the US media pander to the most trivial issues like what is being discussed above, and don't like to rock the boat.

Jack Cafferty: Is McCain another Bush?

I am assuming this never got aired, or they will soon get rid of Jack Cafferty.

[erdogs]

The "Cone of Silence" was a joke by Mr. Warren. Here is what he said about it.

It was just a joke! It was just being silly, "the Cone of Silence." We knew that the moment he came, the Secret Service was with him the entire time, and then they put him immediately in the other building. So I wasn't even sure that he hadn't arrived by the time we were moving on stage. I knew probably ten minutes before the time that he wasn't there yet, but by the time he got on the stage I assumed he was there.

[Gusterfell]

^Yes, Warren's use of the term "cone of silence" was a joke, as evidenced by the hearty laughter that followed. However, it was clearly stated numerous times, in all seriousness, that neither candidate had foreknowledge of the questions, and that McCain could not hear Obama's interview. That is clearly not what happened if McCain wasn't even at the venue for half of Obama's segment. Does his car not have a radio? Do he and all his aides not have Blackberries?

[erdogs]

^Yes, Warren's use of the term "cone of silence" was a joke, as evidenced by the hearty laughter that followed. However, it was clearly stated numerous times, in all seriousness, that neither candidate had foreknowledge of the questions, and that McCain could not hear Obama's interview.

[Gusterfell]

^There is a difference between "a brief synopsis" and "anticipating the types of question," and hearing the questions word-for-word in advance. McCain would have a clear advantage if he indeed heard Obama's interview, which is why such a big deal was made to the audience about his being in isolation. As it happened, McCain was not in isolation. That is not an unverifiable accusation, as both Warren and McCain have admitted it is the case.

Do I know for a fact that McCain was listening to Obama? No, but I find it very hard to believe that his entire entourage went into blackout mode from the time Obama took the stage until the time McCain arrived at Saddleback.

[erdogs]

That is not an unverifiable accusation, as both Warren and McCain have admitted it is the case.

[erdogs]

Some good news for the Obama campaign today; Rachel Maddow will be hosting her own show on MSNBC following Olbermann, starting on Sept.8. We will now get 2 straight hours of McCain bashing on MSNBC, instead of the normal 1 hour we've been getting.

[monsoon]

Some good news for the Obama campaign today; Rachel Maddow will be hosting her own show on MSNBC following Olbermann, starting on Sept.8. We will now get 2 straight hours of McCain bashing on MSNBC, instead of the normal 1 hour we've been getting.

[erdogs]

McCain, when he has bothered to show up in the Senate, has voted with Bush consistently.

[Gusterfell]

Last time I checked, Bush doesn't get to vote in the Senate. McCain has voted the way you would expect a Republican to vote.

[erdogs]

So would you agree that the premise of McCain as a political maverick is a sham?

[monsoon]

Last time I checked, Bush doesn't get to vote in the Senate. ....

[cityboi]

You know there is a website out there that says McCain may pick Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate. He could be picking her thinking Obama will not put Hillary on the ticket.

[cpeakesqr]

These abortion attacks that are going around, do they have any teeth? I've looked into the so-called "born alive" bill and from what I can tell Obama may be on the losing end. He voted present the first time, and no the second time, and when it was in a committee he chaired he let it die. Granted he gave reasons for his opposition to the bill, none of which point to a devaluing of human life, but are people going to see his reasons trumping the protection the bill gave to infants? Also, when he let it die in 2003, there was already a federal law, which may or may not have applied in Illinios, so why the need for the state bill? Earlier in the week Obama stated in a CBN interview that there was already a bill that protected the infant in these scenarios, but I can't find anything on this unnamed bill. Does someone have the complete story, all I'm coming up with is right-wing blogs...?

[Charlotte_native]

Posing a question that I've been hearing a bit about, but can't say how I feel about it. How accurate are polls these days when so many don't have land-line phones. Have any of the polling companies begun using cell phones? I don't know anyone other than my parents that have a home phone and generally speaking the demographic for those with home phones are older folks. One has to wonder, since so many of Obamas supporters are younger voters, black voters, etc, and so many of McCain's are older voters, if the polls have any accuracy at all. If they are now getting to those without home phones, more accurate, if not an enormous portion of the population isn't being polled at all. Not saying this definitely plays to Obama, but it does make one wonder of today's polls are an accurate picture of American's opinions.

I also go back to the general turnouts in mosts states during the primaries. In many, if not most, states Democrats turned out 2 - 1 at least and many of them new voters. We'll see if they still turn out for the general election, but if they do...

Granted there wasn't much of a fight for McCain, but it made it appear that the apathy towards his campaign was real.

Anyone know of any current numbers of new GOP to new Democratic registered voters SINCE the end of primary season?

These abortion attacks that are going around, do they have any teeth?

[monsoon]

I honestly don't believe the mass of American public that actually votes is educated and aware enough to vote any differently than they have in the last 8 years. It still amazes me what happened in the primaries. It amazes me what is happening now. The United States is unraveling, and people don't seem to have a clue. Americans are hypocritical, bigoted, ignorant, vengeful and primitive all at the same time all while believing just the opposite. Jeremy Clarkson had it right on the BBC. It's like apes with money.

I guess the pain has to get a lot worse before they take the time to figure it out. The polling shouldn't even be close but McCain is in fact ahead now.

[krazeeboi]

I agree that this question should have been an easy one for McCain, but in my opinion Obama gave the stronger answer. He recognized that "evil" exists in many forms, both within and beyond our borders, and that it is incredibly naive to think one president will be able to destroy it. The humility he showed with this answer counters the slurs that he is "presumptuous."

McCain's answer seemed to imply that to him "evil" is a synonym for "Osama bin Laden," as his answer was basically, "I will bring bin Laden to justice." That's great and all, but it begs the question as to why McCain's party has proven so inept at doing so over the last seven years, despite identical promises from McCain's president. McCain ignored all the evil in the world outside of this one man, coming off as a one-issue candidate. Rudy Guiliani, anyone?

[cityboi]

Here is how Obama can win without Ohio

Lets just say the worst case scenario is that Obama will lose Ohio. I doubt it would happen but for the sake of argument lets say he does. In 2004 it was

Bush - 286

Kerry - 251

All Obama has to do is win New Mexico which has 5 electorial college votes and Virginia which has 13 electorial college votes and the outcome would look like this:

Obama - 269

McCain - 268

Thats assuming that Obama wins all the states that John Kerry won in 2004. BTW Obama is ahead of McCain in the polls in New Mexico so realistically Obama can win that state. Virginia on the other hand is iffy depending on who Obama picks for his running mate. If he pick Virginia governor Tim Kaine, its very likely Obama can win Virginia. So if Obama can win the same states John Kerry won and pick up Virginia and New Mexico should he lose Ohio, Obama wins the presidency by 1 electorial vote. Now if he wins Ohio and those two states its a slam dunk.

[monsoon]

More international commentary here from our Russian friends on Bush, Cheney and Rice. Keep in mind these are the people who destroyed all of the good will that was generated with the former Soviets at the end of the Cold War.

In a related move. The USA will be mothballing the Shuttle fleet in 2010/11 because of cutbacks in funding by the Bush administration. As a result the plan that NASA has was to use the Russian space program to lift our own astronauts into space for the next 6 years. They are supposed to negotiate those terms late this year. Any guesses on how this might be affected now?

[erdogs]

Anyone ever wonder why Putin is so upset about a missile defense system in Poland? Does Putin believe Poland would fire missiles on Russia to start a war they can't win? Does he think the U.S. would use these missiles in Poland to start WWIII? No, Putin is upset that if he chose to go in and take over Poland, they would have a fighting chance. Putin is still KGB in his heart and this is made obvious by his controlling of the media by his government. The kicker is that some in this country would give that same media more validity than our own.

Putin the man....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl...iagov/putin.htm