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Presidential debates take on role as big as office
Analysts say the stakes are raised this election year
By SCOTT SHEPARD
Cox News Service
Sept. 20, 2008, 4:55PM
WASHINGTON There's no underestimating the importance of the upcoming presidential debates. They are the main event in the 2008 White House contest in an America tiring of its lengthy war in the Middle East and battered by economic chaos.
"They always seem to be bigger than all outdoors, but this time there's great potential to be even bigger," said Allen Louden, a political communications expert at Wake Forest University who maintains a Web site, www.debatescoop.org, that analyzes political debates.
In a campaign already historic because of the first African-American candidate, events in Iraq and on Wall Street "have raised the stakes" for the debates, added Louden in a telephone interview Thursday.
In the contest between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, "they are the main event," agreed Paul Stekler, a documentary filmmaker and professor of radio, TV and film at the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
And "if there's any one event the whole country is going to be watching, it's the first debate," Stekler said in a telephone interview.
The first of three debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates takes place Friday at the University of Mississippi at Oxford.
The candidates will be seated at a table, and discussion will be moderated by Jim Lehrer, anchor of PBS's The NewsHour.
The subject: domestic policy, with the 90-minute debate divided into 10-minute segments for various issues and closing statements.
The second will be on Oct. 7 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., with moderator Tom Brokaw of NBC News. The candidates will field questions on foreign and domestic issues in a 90-minute town hall format.
The final debate will be Oct. 15 at Hofstra University in New York, moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS News. Again, the candidates will be seated at a table for a 90-minute discussion, but the topic will be foreign affairs only.
A vice-presidential debate between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin will take place Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis, with moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS.
It, too, will be 90 minutes with both candidates seated at a table with Ifill, and it will cover domestic and foreign policy.
The timing of the topics domestic first reflects the priorities of voters in public opinion polls.
Even before the meltdown in Wall Street this week, Americans were telling pollsters that their major concern this election is the economy, largely as a result of high gasoline prices, a rising unemployment rate and the spreading credit crisis.
At this moment of high economic anxiety, Americans do not appear to be in the mood to hear the two candidates merely regurgitating political talking points manufactured by advisers, in order to minimize any potential damage.
"Voters want to see the two presidential candidates engaged," said Louden. "Talking points and glib one-liners just won't do" this time.
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22 comments:
Of course the media is biased. It always has been. Only difference is that after a period of apparent "neutrality" they've stopped being subtle.
The weapons labs have been destroyed, financial system wrecked through greed and reckless loan policies to people who never should have gotten a dime, and now we have an organization ( ACORN ) committing blantant voter registration fraud while getting federal funding. All the while the "press" is doing all it can to ensure the man supporting most of this activity gets elected president.
For the first time in my life I no longer want to vote, because it doesn't matter anymore - the game has been blatently rigged. George Soros is going to get his Socialist hand-puppet into office. And the price of that action will cost this country dearly.
I read the whole thing. I guess I missed the left wing stack of cards.
You are so clueless (regarding your ACORN hysteria). People whose registrations are rejected due to incorrect or insufficient information cannot vote. There is no fraud possible and this is of ZERO concern.
In contrast, the vote theft in Florida by the Bushies was real. Why don't the Democrats ever stick up for themselves? Lying, cheating Republicans are stealing our savings and sending our young people to fight in a war in Iraq that never had to happen.
You say that an Obama presidency will "cost this country dearly"- WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING?
The price of the Democrats' inaction in the face of Bush fradulently holding onto the presidency has been enormous - both economically and in the price of the lives of our servicemen in Iraq.
If that doesn't bother you, how about the price to you from the Republicans paving the way for LLNL to be taken over by a "corporate" entity?
We have had enough of the Republicans waging poorly strategized wars for oil. We have had enough of Republicans "privatizing" government functions and then gaming the system and receiving huge kickbacks from the spoils. We have had enough of the phony Republicans pretending to care about moral issues and then never actually enacting any legislation to protect families.
McCain's best buddy Phil Gramm is a prime mover in our current financial crisis. Palin is a total airhead- UNQUALIFIED. No way anyone with a brain can vote for these clowns. A 72-year old flake who would have flunked out of Annapolis except for his daddy's connections.
OBAMA/BIDEN -you have the support of ALL of us thinking people at LLNL!!!
In response to October 20, 2008 10:11 PM.
One constant among left-leaning thinkers is their tendancy to shout at the top of their lungs in hope of drowning out all other thoughts but their own. Also they love to denigrate anyone who does not share their opinions - especially in the IQ department.
I've never smoked, was ranked in the top 0.1% in science when I took my ACT tests long ago, and dealt with military and national intelligence issues before and during my long career at LLNL. No one who's met me has ever concidered me clueless!
I study history, governments, and international politics. As part of that study I use a substancial number of resources both on and offline - knowing any one source may be biased. Note well - reading 5 newspapers that all get their feeds from Associated Press counts as one source!!
As such I've watched the fall and rise of liberal vs conservative power for decades. The mess this country is in started a long time ago and both major parties are at fault for contributing to it. The fact that Republicans favored deregulation of banking does not change the fact that Democrats favored looser rules on lending to the poor. Blind ambition led both sides to make reckless changes that gradually formed the basis for today's financial disaster.
I can document the Soros funding connections to ACORN, the media, and the liberal leadership in the United States. Please provide similar independant documentation of your claims about the Republican candidates ( 5 sources minimum and validated ).
A side-by-side comparison of the writings of Obama and Karl Marx shows strong agreement on many areas of economics and class warfare, hence my classification of Obama as a Socialist. If that label disturbs you then argue definitions with a professor of polical science, not me.
About the prediction of costs.... Obama has made promises during his campaign that, if upheld, are likely to weaken the position of the United States in the international community. While a wonderful orator, his timid nature and inclination to concensus make him less a JFK and more a Woodrow Wilson.
Given that nature, I seriously doubt Obama can act in a strong decisive manner against threats from China, Russia, Iran, or Al-Qaeda. If he doesn't they will take advantage of the situation to our detriment. Not because they are inheritly evil, because they have their own agendas and self-interests to address.
Voter registration fraud. The assumption that all invalid registrations will be detected is not realistic given the systems in most states. In Ohio right now there are state officials refusing to pass on information about suspect registrations to local voting officers. In such a situation the conditions are ripe for both multiple votes and legitimate voters having their registration information altered in an attempt to render them unable to vote. It's no different than having unvalidated software in a voting machine - the fairness of the election must be questioned.
You are so mad. I feel sorry for you Democrat. I love your blame game. "It's all the Republicans fault."
The bottom line is this. " Vote Republican or Embrace Socialist" It's a simple as it gets.
Obviously the thinking people are not the democrat's and I for one will never vote in a Marxist non loyal non Christian anti-gun person into office who for his entire life was surrounded by extremist. There is no way one can be exposed to those surroundings and not believe in their ways.
A good rule to live your life by is this. "" If it's anti-gun it is automatically disqualified to hold any position in the land, city, state or federal"
You must understand the media is this country is no different than Russia's. In Russia the government tell the media what to print. In the USA the media prints what they want, even if it's completely biased, and runs the government on lies and deceit in order to obtain " their agenda" normally piloted by the extremely rich.
October 22, 2008 4:35 AM
It's "Joe the plumber"! How did you find this blog Joe? Here is a tid-bit of info for you...Your candidate is going to be used as a wet-mop in two weeks. Why, you ask? Because the voting public is more interested in moving the country forward than spending the next four years having right wing ideology rammed down their throat. After 8 years of ultra conservative group think you and your party have left us with a giant, smoking, shell crater. You need to accept the fact that your bigoted and biased views are not mainstream anymore, even within your own party. If you aren't part of the solution, YOU are part of the problem. Now shut up get back to work!
It's almost over for the GOP. They are about to get a much needed comeuppance. Eight years of Bush/GOP political dominance has destroyed the middle class in America. Payback is going to be a bitch.
Liberal super-majority. Let that term sink deeply into your head. It's going to be fun watching the right-wing religio-racists of the GOP chew on that big fat one for the two next decade as the new super-majority finally begins to fix things in America.
I guess the right wing Fox News Channel (FNC) is not part of the media... their slant is so obvious as to make yellow journalism of the 1890s look subtle.
When a republican like Senator McCain or know nothing Palin want softball interviewers they head straight to FNC. Fair and Balanced... More like Fascist and Bias.
MSNBC's new Rachel Maddow show with Pat Buchanan, is the best of any cable show - now that's an attempt to balance opposite views.
This blog must be run by NBC, NBC, ABC or CNN or it comprised of a bunch of fools that work for a free loading government agency hoping that a socialist democrat like Obama is going to save their jobs. Wrong answers. Vote McCain and maybe you'll stil have one.
October 24, 2008 4:30 AM
McCain wants to redistribute the wealth to the wealthy.That's right, John wants to cut taxes for the rich, it's a fact.And what of the middle class? John is offering a taxed health care credit. Now if that aint the embodiment of "let them eat cake" I don't know what is. Now that's I what I call serious redistribution of wealth. Problem is Bush and McCain were running the show for eight years using their wealth redistribution model aka "socialist experiment" and, guess what? IT FAILED!
I am sure you will be handing over the tax cut you'll receive under an Obama administration to your favorite charity, right?
I'm voting for Osama because Bodman and D'Agostino are the worst possible public fools.
Osama could appoint Dingell and we'd do better.
Very disappointed
October 23, 2008 10:00 PM
We need another civil war. Democrats in yellow flying the red flag with the big star in the middle and the Republicans flying the stars and stripes. It's time to get rid of those who are destroying our country from within with their idiotic ideological liberialism, daily acts of definace and new media corruption / brainwashing. I'm ready any time you are DEM's.
Like it matters which party runs the country the next four years! the damage has been done by the last 8 and the next president has their hands full. This sort of material should not be on this blog as it adds nothing to the truth and the majority is opinion not fact. People need to do their own research!
October 24, 2008 6:03 PM
There you go. Typical republican bigot.Don't have any thing important to say. Just a lot of mindless babble...the usual.This is why John McCain is going to loose by historic margins. You represent everything the voting public is fed up with. You are the embodiment of the GOP.Hate,fear mongering bigotry.nde
6:03PM: No one that loves this country could hanker for another Civil War. But I can see the swashbuckling appeal of forming the Joe McCarthy Brigade. Maybe O'Reilly can be the drummer boy.
October 24, 2008 6:03 PM
More typical Republican group think. Your input on this blog has no value other than to reaffirm what a sad state the GOP is in.
Here is a thought. Remember the old Republican mantra "America, Love it or leave it"? Since you can't seem to accept the fact that there others (like the majority of the rest of the country) who don't share your right wing views I would suggest you follow the path set before you by those who preceded you. Send us a post card when you get to your new country.
October 24, 2008 7:31 AM
Get a life democrat and face some facts you finger pointing fool
"You people are a bunch of fools if you think the president of the United Sates is going to save your precious economy. It seems you all fail to recognize a few minors issues. It wasn't the president that got you where you are today. It was your willingness to live beyond you means trying to keep up with the Jones and when that failed you decided to obtain what you couldn't afford by use of credit. Yes it was your greed and desire to something you can not afford to be that broke the bank. Now it's up to "YOU" to give up those cards, close all accounts and pay "ALL" of your debt off immediately. Until everyone in this country is debt free and is happy with what they can afford on their salaries _without credit_, the country will continue to spiral downward until eventually it gets flushed down the drain. The good news is this. You're done a very good job of helping the process with your greed. Don't look for "ANYONE" to get you out of this mess "YOU'VE" created. Enjoy your miserable yet well deserved life."
I have NO sympathy for any of you who chose this path.
I shake my head reading the last few postings here. Neither party has done this country any good and all I see is "Rah, rah, rah..."
October 24, 2008 6:03 PM calls for civil war. I'd much prefer that all the hyper-partisan politicians, supporters, and reporters all get a free ride into orbit - then fired out an airlock into a hard vacuum. Where they'd finally encounter something that sucks more than they do.
October 25, 2008 10:38 AM
Sounds good but it's never going to happen. We are deadlocked to the max. I have however witnessed more turncoat republicans than I ever seen before. Republicans and Democrats are almost undistinguishable now days and that my friends is very dangerous. More dangerous than all the bickering you could ever drum up on this blog. I'd much rather have a good fight for the rest of my life than to have a one party dictatorship.
October 25, 2008 7:43 AM
I wonder how many decades it will be before people actually understand this concept. One credit card per family with a maximum of a $5K limit, paid off at the end of each month. Basic training people, very basic. I can only assume your parents didn't teach you anything or they were very bad examples. God knows how else they lead you down the wrong path. One of the rules I try and practice religiously is this. If you can't pay cash for it you can't afford it, so move on. I haven't been able to do it with a house or a car yet but everything else falls within that rule. That's called living within your means and of course doing without a lot that I probably would like to have but weren't necessary to sustain life.
October 25, 2008 6:56 PM
That's right. That's why we democrats need to stick together
October 26, 2008 9:19 PM
The bottomline is this. Democrats are Socialist and that America can NOT tolerate for any reason.
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