I have just finished watching the final debate between Senators Obama and McCain.

McCain started out strong and mentioned Joe the plumber from Ohio, to whom Sen. Obama said the other day he had to “spread the wealth.” Joe was mentioned 15 times by McCain and 5 times by Obama.

Most memorable line in the debate came from McCain after Obama had been comparing him to Bush and saying a McCain presidency would be another Bush presidency. The answer: “I’m not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago”. Good stuff, but the punch was dodged by Obama when he responded that if he confuses the two it’s because McCain’s policy and voting record are so much like Bush’s.

Most memorable verbal slip of the night was when McCain called Sen. Obama “Senator Government” but immediately corrected himself and it became clear it was a verbal slip as his next phrase contained the word “government”. It was funny, though.

McCain was much stronger than he has been before, addressing Sen. Obama personally several times, but once he scored a point he moved on to something else instead of punching at the same spot.

Obama was able to deflect the Ayers problem with his usual answers. McCain brought up the fact he had invited Obama to ten Town Hall debates and this would have been one way to have cut down on the negative attacks. He brought up the fact when Obama was back in the pack he agreed and signed a pledge to use public financing for this campaign if he won the primary and reneged on that pledge once he became the nominee. Again, he didn’t keep with the body punches except to say Obama has run the most expensive campaign in history.

The two compared tax and health plans, with McCain asking how anyone could even contemplate raising taxes in an economy such as we have now. He missed his chance to better explain Obama’s health and tax policies and better compare them with his plans, but time constraints do that.

All in all this debate seems to have been stronger for McCain but actually not the knock-out punch the pollsters and pundits tell us he so desperately needs. It was probably a draw because Obama only had to show up and McCain had to really beat him to get any credit. Draw goes to Obama.

But I’m not so sure of that. I watched the debate on Fox and Frank Luntz had a focus group of 23 undecideds. None of them preferred either candidate when they were selected (they said). At the end when asked how many minds were made up only four people raised their hands and all four said they had decided on Obama.

Comments from some of the other 19 suggest these people are leaning to McCain. One man said he is not voting for a good debater but for someone who will best serve the country, and that person is McCain, even though he didn’t raise his hand to say he supported him.

We shall see what we shall see come Nov. 5, and I hope it doesn’t go any longer than that. I think you know what I mean when I say that.

When video is available I will post it for those who missed it. By the way, Bob Schieffer was the best of all the moderators in this year’s debates, bar none.

Here are some of the debate exerpts for now:

As you most certainly have noticed, I did not jump right up and go to my computer to do a round-up of last night’s debate between Senators Obama and McCain. I didn’t do so because, frankly, I was so bored with it I did a lot of talking during it.

McCain needed to hit a grand slam and instead just got base hits. All Obama had to do was make sure he wasn’t out-scored.

I’m not sure about McCain’s proposal to rescue bad home loans and re-negotiate the mortgages on those houses to the current value of the home. From my moderate to liberal side I think it’s a good idea. From my conservative side I wonder how he plans to pay for it and wish I had just purchased a very expensive home I can’t afford to pay for. If he gets in office I could then downsize my payments and still live in luxury.

What I saw last night was not a potential president, but two sitting senators. Debate in the Senate is so boring and that’s what this was. I do think the format was not good. I’d rather have seen the candidates asked questions from average people about what’s on their minds and have the moderator there just to tell them when the 90 minutes were up.

If McCain wants to win he’d better get it in gear and do it last week!

For more excitement I think today I’ll go outside and watch the new grass grow.

Below is the format for the Town Hall debate this evening between John McCain and Barack Obama:

–The questions will be culled from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience and another one-third to come via the Internet. Brokaw selects which questions to ask from written queries submitted prior to the debate.

–The Gallup Organization makes sure the questioners reflect the demographic makeup of the nation.

–An audience member isn’t allowed to switch questions and will not be allowed a follow-up either. His or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read and a camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting.

–The moderator may not ask followups or make comments.

–McCain and Obama will be provided with director’s chairs, but they’re also allowed to stand. They can’t roam past their “designated area” marked on the stage and are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.

My admittedly biased opinion of the VP debate tonight.

Sarah Palin did an excellent job in showing she’s not the idiot portrayed in her interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric.

In fact, one of the first things she said was she was happy to address the American people without the filter of an editor.

She talked about small town America, where she grew up. She said Wall Street and greedy bankers should be punished for their actions. She stuck up for flyover country and said she didn’t know the ins and outs of politics in Washington very proudly, saying this was one reason she was chosen. This would guarantee change in Washington along with McCain’s maverick streak.

She talked about the time in her family’s life when they didn’t have insurance and had to sit at the kitchen table to figure out what to do. She said the No Child Left Behind Act has not succeeded, and Joe Biden replied that it hasn’t been funded.

Palin is for excellent teachers with pay commensurate with their jobs. She jokingly said her brother’s third grade class would get extra credit for watching the debate.

She held her own on foreign policy, even asking at one point if she could go back to the discussion of Afghanistan. She believes in a two-state policy in Israel, as does Joe Biden. Palin said she wants the US Embassy to be located in Jerusalem.

From a biblical standpoint I disagree with a two state agreement because it is the only land given to someone by God Himself, and I believe any nation that tries to persuade Israel to split the country with Palestinians or anyone else is going against God’s wishes and will lose at least part of His blessing on our country.

While Joe Biden was very senatorial in his speaking style, we got to see the Sarah Palin we saw at the convention and some of the campaign rallies. She briskly walked onstage, was completely at ease, was in a good mood and could be heard asking Sen. Biden if she could call him Joe.

After the umpteenth time of trying to tie McCain to the Bush presidency Palin said the line that will stay in my mind for a long time: “Say it isn’t so, Joe. There you go again talking about the past.” Biden’s response was that the past is prologue to the future and a McCain presidency would be another Bush presidency.

Palin responded that McCain will benefit from the mistakes of the Bush and other administrations in the past and not make the same mistakes.

Biden told some fibs about McCain not wanting to go to Bosnia, which former Senator Fred Thompson refuted later, saying it was McCain who convinced him to vote to go into Bosnia. When reminded by Palin that he had said on a rope line there would be no coal mining in America (something Obama had to refute) Joe Biden claimed he was taken out of context. How do you take out of context a question and answer you heard with your own ears?

Biden insisted all the billions of dollars Obama wants to spend won’t cost the taxpayers and was forced to defend his patriotism remark about paying higher taxes. I don’t recall what he said, so it must not have been memorable to me at least.

Biden insisted Article One of the Constitution talks about Executive Branch powers while addressing what a Vice President would do. Being a senator for so long he should know that article addresses the legislative branch.

This is a synopsis. I admit to pulling for Sarah Palin, so take what I say with a shaker of salt if you wish, but my opinion is it was game, set and match for Palin tonight.

It is now up to John McCain to stop being so senatorially polite and take off the gloves to show what he has done to protect the American public. It’s his to win or lose as the polls are still close, but if he continues playing by the Marquis de Queensbury rules he will be another also ran come Nov. 5.

Video of the debate:

Thanks to CNN.com for the video.

While I appreciate the fact we are in a national turmoil regarding our economy, the fact is we still have a presidential race on our hands with the first presidential debate scheduled for Friday night.

John McCain has decided to suspend his campaign and return to Washington to try to work out a deal with other members of Congress on the economic crisis.

While I admire his putting country first I have to ask myself if it’s a political stunt. (I don’t think so as this type of thing is what has earned him the “maverick” label.) But I can see how others can see it that way.

He invited Sen. Obama to join him and Sen. Obama has declined, saying a president must deal with many things at one time. I agree, and that seems to be what McCain is doing if he attends the debate.

I have called the McCain campaign and begged them to go on with the debate. I see no reason Sen. McCain cannot attend the Senate to try to work out a deal and still be in Mississippi on Friday night for the debate.

Otherwise, he is giving the entire debate to Sen. Obama to say whatever he wishes to say with no opposition to his statements.

I can’t believe John McCain is not prepared for this debate so I have to believe he believes this is the best thing to do. But it’s only the best thing to do if both sides agree.

Right now his website is still showing the debate is scheduled.

Update from the AP

President Bush invited John McCain, Barack Obama and congressional leaders to the White House on Thursday to discuss his administration’s proposed bailout of the financial industry and press them to back the plan.

The invitation was extended Wednesday evening, and Bush called Obama personally to ask him to the Thursday afternoon meeting, which Obama accepted, his campaign said.

The latest development served as a prelude to President Bush’s TV address to the country at 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday, in which he was expected to rally support for his plan.

It also caps a day in which McCain said he was suspending his presidential campaign to focus on working in Washington on the bailout plan, while Obama called that decision unnecessary and rejected calls to postpone the two candidates’ debate Friday night.

The proposed $700 billion bailout plan, in its original form, has faced strong opposition on Capitol Hill this week. By Wednesday, Congress seemed open to a less costly plan as Democrats won a key concession from the White House, which agreed to limit the pay packages of Wall Street executives whose companies would benefit from the proposed bailout.

Update 2: Via the AP:

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama issued a joint statement Wednesday night in which they said the American people are facing a moment of economic crisis.

Moments before President Bush’s scheduled address to the nation, the Republican and Democratic candidates said now is the time for both political parties to come together in the spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people.

They said the $700 billion plan the administration has proposed to bail out the financial industry is flawed, but that the effort to protect the U.S. economy must not fail.

Bush has invited both candidates to a meeting at the White House on Thursday with congressional leaders to discuss solutions to the economic crisis

.

I have to tell you I didn’t expect much from last night’s forum, but I watched it nevertheless, and am happy to have viewed it.

Obama won the coin toss so he was first. McCain was in a soundproof room and couldn’t hear Obama’s answers to the questions.

When Obama was finished McCain was introduced and asked the very same questions by the very same questioner. It seemed to me to be the most fair forum I have seen in my lifetime. Instead of newspeople asking hardball questions of one candidate and lobbing softball questions to the other it was apples to apples and the answers were very revealing.

I’m going to link from the CNN videos so if you didn’t see it you will be able to view it now.

These videos take about two hours to watch, but come back and catch up later.

Some might call this a political stunt, but I wish it was exactly what we would see more of on a constant basis:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House and turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.

Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi’s refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m., and they are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.

At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on and the microphones were turned on shortly afterward.

I would love to see President Bush call Congress back for an emergency session and keep them in Washington until they can provide him with an acceptable energy bill.

In the meantime I applaud those Republicans who, despite all obstacles put before them by the Speaker, stayed on and continued to hammer away at an issue so vital to the citizens of this country.

Lot’s more here, including video.

Because the Republican race is down to McCain and Romney (in spite of Huckabee and Ron Paul still being in) I was particularly interested in watching Wednesday night’s debate from the Reagan Library.

My thoughts:

McCain seemed very self-confident to the point of my wanting to wipe the smirk off his face.

Romney challenged McCain directly about a quote he says McCain has taken out of context regarding setting a timetable for pulling out of Iraq.

When the exact quote was read by one of the questioners I came down on Romney’s side.

McCain says he can lead because he led the largest squadron during the Viet Nam War and he can always appoint people to manage, but you can’t appoint a leader.

Romney then talked about his business life, which from the sound of it from Ron Paul or someone, left some people jobless. He also spoke of turning around the Olympics and addressed the tariffs charged in Massachusetts.

They were things such as charging companies more for putting their signs on the interstates. Instead of charging $200 charge $2000.

He mentioned his state’s health care bill, in which he said if someone was capable of paying for health insurance they should get it or pay their own medical expenses and the state made health insurance available to everyone. He says what the current governor and legislature are doing to health care in his state would be vetoed if he were still governor.

But, more than anything else, I was struck by his tenacity. I have stated many times I could not vote for Romney. Well, the candidate I supported dropped out a little over a week ago.

The bottom line is since we have the choice between these two good Americans I could easily vote for either of them and pray they get a certified conservative as a running mate and conservatives in the cabinet.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to come away from last nights CNN/YouTube debate with a clear winner and strong GOP candidate for the 2008 presidential race?

For what it’s worth, I thought Mike Huckabee ws the only person who acquitted himself well on all questions posed to him.

Mitt Romney is too much of a phony for me (he reminds me of Bill Clinton in his first presidential campaign).

Fred Thompson looked far too old and almost gaunt and while his answers on immigration were to be appreciated, I cannot see him winning in a general election.

John McCain, while I respect his service to this country, shows too much of the my way or the highway mentality (on all issues) to be the CIC, and Rudy, well he was a disappointment to me as he, by now, should be aware that he is being criticized for not expanding beyond his NY mantra.

Hunter, Paul and Tancredo…well they could have stayed home.

But wait. Planted questions, planted Generals in the audience? Why would anyone be surprised by this?

I have not considered CNN a reputable news organization in years. They have shilled for the democrats for so long that nothing they do surprises me any longer. Of course they deny knowledge of the political affiliations of any of these questioners, they spend most of their days in a state of denial in their coverage of issues.

If you read the blogs as I do, you have probably read many pieces on the debate last evening but here are a few that if you missed you might want to check out:

Rick Moran:

If life were fair and the press unbiased, this would become a huge media scandal – perhaps the biggest in a while. You and I both know that will not happen. So what if Republicans get short changed in a debate by having a shamefully incapable cable news network allow supporters and activists from the other party to ask questions designed not to elicit information from the candidates but to try and trap them and make them look bad?

Betsy Newmark:

When you couple this sorry demonstration with the fact that, as Wizbang reminds us, CNN allowed Democratic party operatives to ask questions at the last Democratic debate, CNN has shown how utterly derelict in doing some basic research. Oh, and remember how they pressured that girl in the Democratic debate to ask Hillary if she preferred diamonds or pearls. Yeesh.

Townhall (complete with video):

UPDATE: Uh Oh! Looks like there are more plants. John Edwards and Barack Obama supporters plus a union activist.

and on and on….

We expect answers from those in contention in this race to be honest and straightforward. We should be able to expect the same from those charged with sponsoring these debates.

Update: Linked from Drudge, Joe Scarborough and the reply from the Clinton campaign concerning General Kerr: (Take note of who’s not buying the story)

At 7:51 AM ET, Mika announced that she had received a reply from head Hillary honcho Howard Wolfson. As displayed on screen, Wolfson stated [emphasis added]: “Keith Kerr is not a campaign employee and was not acting on behalf of the campaign.”

Chris Matthews, a guest during the segment at the time, was unimpressed.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well “employee” could be a weasel word, too. I mean, he’s not being paid? Well that’s not the question that was asked.

Note also what Wolfson didn’t say. He didn’t claim the Clinton campaign was unaware of what Kerr was up to, nor did he say that the campaign hadn’t encouraged him to do this. “Not acting on behalf of the campaign” is a meaningless non-denial denial.

If nothing else I’ll say this. The Clinton campaign manages to turn the focus of any major event towards their campaign. Maybe that’s the plan???

Thanks to the Anchoress for the link and welcome to readers from her site who stop by.

I realize that this is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable but it’s still news.
If it offends you, I apologize in advance.

The Human Rights Campaign’s Joe Solmonese and Melissa Etheridge will question Democratic candidates in Los Angeles in a first-ever debate on gay issues, sponsored by LOGO and HRC. It will take place on August 9 and be broadcast live on LOGO as well as stream live at their website.

According to 365gay.com, “the panelists in a statement said they plan to cover a range of issues including relationship recognition, marriage equality, workplace fairness, the military, hate crimes, HIV/AIDS and other important issues.”

Story

Yesterday the Supreme Court rejected Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, Wa., diversity plans because they were based solely on race for school assignments but the Court left the door open for using race in limited circumstances.

The court split, 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts announcing the court’s judgment. The court’s four liberal justices dissented.

The districts “failed to show that they considered methods other than explicit racial classifications to achieve their stated goals,” Roberts said.

Yet Justice Anthony Kennedy would not go as far as the other four conservative justices, saying in a concurring opinion that race may be a component of school plans designed to achieve diversity.

To the extent that Roberts’ opinion could be interpreted to foreclose the use of race in any circumstance, Kennedy said, “I disagree with that reasoning.”

He agreed with Roberts that the plans in Louisville and Seattle violated constitutional guarantees of equal protection.

Justice Stephen Breyer, in a dissent joined by the other liberals on the court, said Roberts’ opinion undermined the promise of integrated schools that the court laid out 53 years ago in its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

“To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown,” Breyer said.

I have grandchildren in school now and not my own children so I can’t speak too much to the question from first-hand experience except to say I know the schools in our city are integrated, but we are not as large a school system as these two cities.

I have always thought bussing children clear across town, when they have to stand at the side of the street waiting for the bus while it’s still dark and they don’t get home until after 5 pm in the afternoon, when it’s again dark in the winter, was not the best solution to the problem of integration, but it seemed to be the best solution fifty years ago.

Last night the Democratic presidential candidates apparently had another debate, and it included talk of this decision and of race.

I’m not going to review the entire debate except to say it was held at Howard University in front of a predominantely black audience, but one quote stuck out at me and has really angered me by what was said by Sen. Clinton:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first female candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, drew the night’s largest cheer when she suggested there was a hint of racism in the way AIDS is addressed in this country.

“Let me just put this in perspective: If HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34 there would be an outraged, outcry in this country,” said the New York senator.

Haven’t we spent millions of dollars on HIV-AIDS research and haven’t we tried to educate the people in our country on how one gets HIV-AIDS? Haven’t we sent millions of dollars to help stop the spread of HIV-AIDS in Africa, which the last time I looked, was populated mostly by people with black skin?

Excuse me, Sen. Clinton, but you are using the race card to continue to divide our country by race and you are not trying to bring together the various races in our country. It works better for your party if you keep a split there and make it look as though it’s all the Republicans’ fault.

Here’s a factoid I’m sure you know, but just failed to mention: President GW Bush has spent more money on AIDS research and prevention than any other president in our history, including your husband who was his immediate predecessor.

Before this everlasting campaign for president is over I expect to hear the old Social Security scare used to get the old people to vote against the Republicans because it has proven to be a vote-getter in the past.

When are we going to get past this and talk about solutions and not try to make people afraid and angry? This is done on both sides, and I’m tired of politics as usual. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I am tiring of politics altogether.

Nothing new gets said in campaigns from one year to the next. We just continue to anger and scare voters but offer no solutions.

The Republicans are guilty of it too, and when I see the quotes I’ll put them up here.

I just read this article at Newsbusters.

It talks about the silly questions asked of the Republican candidates in Thursday night’s debate:

In a debate packed with silly questions and ones matching left-wing attack points on GOP candidates, in the first “Interactive Round” of questions submitted by the public on Politico.com, a co-sponsor of the debate, Mitt Romney got the most bizarre. The Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei, a Washington Post political reporter before jumping to The Politico earlier this year, found this one worth posing: “Daniel Dekovnick [sp phonetic] from Walnut Creek, California wants to know, ‘What do you dislike most about America?’” Romney responded: “Gosh, I love America. I’m afraid I’m going to be at a loss for words…”

Does a presidential candidate have to dislike something about America? What are these guys smoking?

How about this one from Chris Matthews:

And finally, near the very end of the 90-minute plus session, moderator Chris Matthews seriously proposed to all ten candidates: “Would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?”

What kind of question is that to be asking Republcan candidates? Why didn’t they ask the Democrat candidates if it would be better if Reagan were back in the White House? It makes as much sense.

I’m glad I didn’t bother to tune in.

As usual, we welcome the readers of our good friend the Anchoress. Make yourselves at home.