Amerikaanse Presidentsverkiezingen #42: 1e debat zit erop!

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 11:53 schreef Montov het volgende:

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Volgens mij komt er deze week weer een peiling van de betrouwbare SurveyUSA. Vorige maand had die McCain op +20, dat was echter wel op het hoogtepunt van de conventionbounce. En ook R2000 had McCain op +17. Beide peilingen zijn nu te oud om mee te wegen in het gemiddelde, maar het is wel de laatste peiling van die twee peilers.

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 08:49 schreef Cith het volgende:

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lol die kerel die z'n hand opstak maar door z'n vrouw werd weggeslagen

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 12:21 schreef NY_Giant het volgende:
Hoe kan het eigenlijk dat het in New Hampshire zo spannend is? De andere staten daar in de buurt zijn toch duidelijk democratisch. In 2000 is NH trouwens ook naar Bush gegaan.

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 12:24 schreef Hephaistos. het volgende:

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Het is volgens mij een van de staten waar ze het grootste wantrouwen hebben tegenover een overheid. Die nummerborden met 'Live Free Or Die' zijn toch ook van New Hampshire?

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Past Debates Show a Confident Palin, at Times Fluent but Often Vague

Not since Dan Quayle took the stage in 1988 have debate expectations for a major party candidate been as low as they will be on Thursday for Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

A newcomer to the national scene, Ms. Palin has given little indication that she has been engaged in a serious way in the pressing national and international issues of the day.

But a review of a handful of her debate performances in the race for governor in 2006 shows a somewhat different persona from the one that has emerged since Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, named Ms. Palin as the vice-presidential nominee a month ago.

Ms. Palin, a former mayor who had become a whistle-blower about ethical misconduct in state government, held her own in those debates. (There were almost two dozen in the general election alone; she skipped some, and not all were recorded.)

She staked out a populist stance against oil companies and projected a fresh, down-to-earth face at a time when voters wanted change. That helped her soundly defeat Frank H. Murkowski, the unpopular Republican governor, in the primary and former Gov. Tony Knowles in the general election.

Her debating style was rarely confrontational, and she appeared confident. In contrast to today, when she seems unversed on several important issues, she demonstrated fluency on certain subjects, particularly oil and gas development.

But just as she does now, Ms. Palin often spoke in generalities and showed scant aptitude for developing arguments beyond a talking point or two. Her sentences were distinguished by their repetition of words, by the use of the phrase “here in Alaska” and for gaps. On paper, her sentences would have been difficult to diagram.

John Bitney, the policy director for her campaign for governor and the main person who helped prepare her for debates, said her repetition of words was “her way of running down the clock as her mind searches for where she wants to go.”

These tendencies could fuzz her meaning and lead her into linguistic cul-de-sacs. She often used less than her allotted time and ended her answers abruptly.

When questioned about the nuts and bolts of governing, Ms. Palin tended to avoid specifics and instead fell back on her core values: a broadly conservative philosophy and a can-do spirit.

“My attitude and my approaches towards dealing with the complexities of health care issues,” she said in an AARP debate in October 2006, “is a respectful and responsible approach, and it’s a positive approach. I don’t believe that the sky is falling here in Alaska.”

These patterns could help explain why the McCain campaign negotiated for less time for discussion in her debate Thursday with Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware than the presidential candidates had in their debate last week.

Ms. Palin was not always at her best when questioned by her opponents in the governor’s race.

In the AARP debate, Mr. Knowles and Andrew Halcro, an independent, double-teamed her to press her about how she would pay for health care.

In response to Mr. Knowles, she mentioned “certificates of need” and said they had been inflexible, “creating an environment where a lot of folks are lacking the receiving of their health care that is needed in some of the areas, especially in some of our larger markets.” She added, “The State of Alaska needs to be looking specifically at that inflexibility that exists today in order to fill some of the market needs that are out there in Alaska in our larger markets.”

She then added, “I can’t tell you how much that will reduce monetarily our health care costs, but competition makes everyone better, it makes us work harder, it does allow reduction in costs, so addressing that is going to be a priority.”

Mr. Knowles was nonplussed, saying that he did not understand her answer and that Ms. Palin had missed the point.

Mr. Halcro asked how she would pay for critical health care programs.

“Well, the point there, Andrew,” she said, “is that these are critical, and again it’s a matter of prioritizing and it’s a matter of government understanding its proper role in public safety, is health care, so it’s a matter of priorities.”

Mr. Halcro called her answer “political gibberish.”

But other times, she gave direct answers that appealed directly to her audience. The candidates were asked in a debate on Aug. 17, 2006, by a rural resident via video whether they would restore a longevity bonus for senior citizens, a payment intended to keep them from leaving the state.

“No,” Mr. Murkowski said gruffly. John Binkley, a third candidate, said yes. Ms. Palin’s response was filled with emotion.

“Yes, our precious, precious elders,” she said, looking into the camera. “For those who were prematurely lopped off, I am so sorry that that has happened to you.”

But generally, her voice carried surprisingly little affect.

“In tone, manner and sometimes even language, she treated every issue exactly the same,” Michael Carey, the former editorial page editor of The Anchorage Daily News, wrote in an essay about Ms. Palin. “She gave no suggestion that some issues are of higher priority than others. Her voice was cheerful, up-tempo, optimistic, never off key but always in the same key.”

Perhaps her strength in debating was coming across like an average person who understood the average person’s needs and would not be expected to have detailed policy prescriptions.

She also neutralized some of her conservative social views. She said intelligent design should be taught in schools — along with evolution. She said she favored the teaching of abstinence — along with the teaching of sex education. “Let the kids debate both sides,” she said.

She was not a particularly aggressive debater, and she rarely took an opportunity to challenge her opponents. But when pressed, she could be tough. In a roundtable discussion in October on the “Bob and Mark Show,” Mr. Halcro suggested that Ms. Palin had not attended enough debates.

“It’s been a year today that I’ve been on the campaign trail,” Ms. Palin responded, “attending many, many more forums, more debates, than either one of you, Tony and Andrew, because I had a primary opponent. You know, you got to have the balls to take it on in the early part of a campaign, and not just go right to the big show.”

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Though an Experienced Debater, Biden Is Often Tripped Up by Spontaneity

With a single-word response, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. surprised and amused his listeners in the first Democratic primary debate, in April 2007. He was asked if he could be disciplined on the world stage and restrain his legendary loquaciousness.

“Yes,” he said.

No one expected Mr. Biden to stop there, but he did, leaving an expectant silence, until the audience caught the joke and burst into laughter.

He showed less restraint in a CNN/YouTube debate a few months later, when a gun owner asked where the candidates stood on gun control, saying he wanted to know if his “babies” would be safe. “This is my baby,” the man said on the video, showing off his Bushmaster AR-15.

“I’ll tell you what,” Mr. Biden replied. “If that is his baby, he needs help.”

The audience applauded enthusiastically, but Mr. Biden did not stop there.

He went on to deride the questioner, saying he incriminated himself because the man said he bought the gun while it was banned, then he questioned the man’s stability. “I don’t know that he is mentally qualified to own that gun,” he said in a gratuitous aside.

The Democrats held 26 debates during the primary season. Mr. Biden, of Delaware, participated in 14 of them before he dropped out of the race Jan. 3, after he came in fifth in the Iowa caucuses. That would seem to give him a huge advantage going into Thursday’s vice-presidential debate with Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, who has never debated on the national stage.

But his off-putting remark to the gun owner suggests that perhaps his “yes” answer to the question about self-discipline had been premature and that there are perils ahead for Mr. Biden on Thursday — both because of his tendency to go too far and the hazards of debating a woman.

A review of Mr. Biden’s debate performances shows him to be deeply knowledgeable across a range of topics, reflecting his nearly four decades in Washington, where he is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Mr. Biden’s answers tend to gush forth and his voice is raspy, which lends his arguments an air of urgency. He also uses assertive phrases like, “the truth is,” or “folks, let me tell you,” which grab listeners by the lapel.

At the June 3 debate in New Hampshire, for example, he was asked to defend his vote to continue financing the war in Iraq, a vote sought by the White House and criticized by fellow Democrats as an open-ended commitment to the war. All the other Democrats on stage voted against it, including Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presidential nominee who has picked Mr. Biden as his running mate.

“I love these guys who tell you they’re going to stop the war,” Mr. Biden said of his fellow Democrats. “Let me tell you straight up the truth. The truth of the matter is, the only one that’s emboldened the enemy has been George Bush by his policies, not us funding the war.”

One danger for Mr. Biden on Thursday is that his habit of speaking authoritatively, of saying he possesses the truth, will come across as overbearing or condescending, particularly toward someone like Ms. Palin, who lacks his credentials. To try to guard against sounding sexist, he is sparring in practice sessions with Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, who is playing the role of Ms. Palin.

The only other time a woman has appeared on the debate stage as part of a major-party ticket was in 1984, when Geraldine A. Ferraro, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, faced Vice President George Bush. One exchange might offer Mr. Biden a good lesson.

Mr. Bush had said, “Let me help you with the difference, Mrs. Ferraro, between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon.” Ms. Ferraro instantly highlighted what she perceived as condescension: “I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy.”

Mr. Bush underscored one of the hazards of debating a woman when he later gloated into an open microphone, “We tried to kick a little ass last night.”

The risk may be even greater for Mr. Biden. His innate exuberance and gusto in speaking without stopping for air can make him sound like he is clubbing his points — and his opponent.

He loves railing against the Republicans; he did so most memorably in an October debate in Philadelphia, when he said of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, “There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11.”

The line was a huge hit, but again, Mr. Biden did not let it rest. Although the question had nothing to do with Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Biden milked it for 43 seconds more.

Other perils for Mr. Biden are unrelated to Ms. Palin.

He has a tendency to blurt out whatever is on his mind. Even as the vice-presidential nominee, Mr. Biden has veered off script, creating a series of flaps in recent days, from opposing the bailout of the American International Group, which Mr. Obama supported, to labeling as “terrible” an Obama campaign commercial against Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee.

Mr. Biden describes himself as blunt.

He was asked at a Dec. 13 debate in Iowa about whether some of his earlier comments — that Mr. Obama “is articulate and bright and clean,” for example — reflected a discomfort with the subject of race.

“It may be possible because I speak so bluntly that people misunderstand,” Mr. Biden said, defending his commitment to civil rights. Mr. Biden looked sad as Mr. Obama himself stepped in to vouch for him.

One of the consequences of a long time in the Senate is a long record of votes for which one can be held accountable, just as a consequence of a long primary can be a long record of attacks on allies. On Thursday, Mr. Biden may have to answer for both. See the debate of June 3, 2007, for how he twisted himself in knots over a vote for a 700-mile-long fence along the border with Mexico. And see Mr. Biden’s statement that votes against financing the Iraq war by other Democratic candidates, including Mr. Obama, amount to “cutting off support that will save the lives of thousands of American troops.”

Joseph A. Pika, a political scientist at the University of Delaware who has observed Mr. Biden over much of his career, said the senator was prone to making broad declarations — “We’ve got to level with the American people!” — then expounding with lengthy elaborations.

“He likes to hold forth,” Dr. Pika said. “Being an effective debater will require him to be disciplined and focused and to make his points punchier than is customarily his style.”

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 14:44 schreef ImmovableMind het volgende:
Op welke zender en op welk tijdstip kan ik dit geweldige debat gaan volgen?

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 11:44 schreef Reya het volgende:

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Rock_de_Braziliaan.

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 15:04 schreef Apache4U het volgende:
Geen idee hoe betrouwbaar Real Clear Politics is en waar ze hun kaart op baseren:
http://www.realclearpolit(...)ma_vs_mccain/?map=10

OH,FL,NC,VA en CO naar Obama.

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 14:23 schreef Apache4U het volgende:
Lijkt me erg stug, al zou het mooi zijn .

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 14:44 schreef ImmovableMind het volgende:
Op welke zender en op welk tijdstip kan ik dit geweldige debat gaan volgen?

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NOS Amerika Kiest zendt het debat vrijdagochtend live uit op Nederland 1, vanaf 03.00 uur.

Strong

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[We need] a plan that would extend expiring unemployment benefits. For those Americans who have lost their jobs and have been working hard to find a new one, but haven't found one yet. That's part of the change we need. And then after this immediate problem, we've got the long-term fundamentals that will really make sure this economy grows. Change means tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses that deserve it. As President I am going to eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups.

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 15:35 schreef Verbal het volgende:
De GOP gooit er maar weer eens een verdraaide spot tegenaan:

Strong

En wat Obama om die quote heen zei:
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Schaamteloos

V.

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AMSTERDAM - Zoekmachine Google helpt Amerikanen bij het maken van een keuze bij de presidentsverkiezingen. Google heeft een nieuwe tool gelanceerd, waarmee men citaten van bekende politici kan vergelijken.

Bij 'In Quotes' vergelijkt twee prominente Amerikaanse politici uit een samengestelde lijst waar je een onderwerp aan toe kunt voegen. Zo worden bijvoorbeeld de standpunten van de twee presidentskandidaten Obama en McCain met betrekking tot gezondheidszorg vergeleken.

Het is niet de eerste keer dat Google zich bezig houdt met politiek. Al eerder lanceerde het 'Google Moderator'. Hier kunnen gebruikers hun vraag stellen aan de presidentskandidaten waar andere gebruikers op kunnen stemmen.

Youtube

Youtube, eigendom van Google, organiseert samen met CNN de CNN/Youtube debates. Gebruikers van Youtube kunnen hun vraag opnemen en op Youtube plaatsen. De beste vragen worden gebruikt in het debat.

'In Quotes' is er nog niet in een Nederlandse versie. Wel kan men naast uitspraken van Amerikaanse politici citaten van invloedrijke Canadezen, Indiërs en Britten vergelijken.

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 15:35 schreef Verbal het volgende:
De GOP gooit er maar weer eens een verdraaide spot tegenaan:

Strong

En wat Obama om die quote heen zei:
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Schaamteloos

V.

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Palin Says She Represents 'Joe Six-Pack'

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin portrayed herself Tuesday as a champion of everyday people while noting her family's stock portfolio took a $20,000 hit last week.
"It's time that normal Joe Six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency," the Republican vice presidential candidate told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.

Palin said if she and John McCain win, they will "put government back on the side of the people of Joe Six-pack like me."

Palin said she and her husband, Todd, have been affected by the economic downturn.

"I know what Americans are going through," she said a day after a record 778-point plunge on Wall Street. "Todd and I, heck, we're going through that right now even as we speak, which may put me again kind of on the outs of those Washington elite who don't like the idea of just an everyday, working-class American running for such an office."

Palin makes $125,000 yearly as governor, and her husband makes about $90,000 a year combined from his commercial fishing business and his part-time job as a production operator on the North Slope.

Palin said her husband's 401(k) retirement account lost probably $20,000 in the last week as the market dropped.

According to the most recent state financial disclosure forms, filed March 10, 2008, the Palins had about $164,699 in a private investment account and $198,102 in a separate retirement account.

"The relatively low number of investments that we have, looking at the hit that we're taking, probably $20,000 last week in his 401(k) plan that was hit. I'm thinking, geez, the rest of America, they're facing the exact same thing that we are," she said.

Palin was asked to clarify why things are tight for her family.

"It's just the great financial crisis that America is in, as our savings accounts also, and a 401(k), they're being hit," she said.

She didn't explain how her savings account was being affected.

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 16:04 schreef ub40_bboy het volgende:

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Op woensdag 1 oktober 2008 16:04 schreef ub40_bboy het volgende:

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