are you impressed yet?

Ladies and gentlemen of the Democrat party,  here are your candidates for President — Senator Clinton, the Washington insider and Senator Obama, the photogenic rookie.  I guess you have to fight an election with the candidates you have, not the candidates you wish you had.  One important thing I took away from the debate tonight is that Barack is beatable.  Even this election year.  Even with an unpopular (at least according to polls) incumbent President.  What we have been seeing recently is the humanization of Barack Obama.  He has fallen off his high perch from self-inflicted wounds and harmful associations with America-haters like Reverend Wright.  We saw more of this in the Hillary v. Obama debate this evening.  He actually looked like he was unsure of himself and his answers to the questions reflected that.   John McCain can beat this Barack Obama.  He couldn’t beat the one we saw 6 months ago.

7 thoughts on “are you impressed yet?

  1. I think it’s obvious that Democrats are very pleased with the candidates they have. The Democrats this year have had the highest primary turnout in modern history. That’s not because they don’t like their candidates. It’s because 1) they very much like their candidates and want to see them win and 2) George Bush is such a lousy president and extremely unpopular according to polls and reality that people are motivated not to see his reign continue. On the other hand, Republicans are experiencing some of the worst turnout in modern history. Their nominee, McCain has not won the conservative vote, the party’s supposed base, in one single contested primary. That’s what happens when people are unimpressed by their candidates and their party.

    In some instances Democrats are doubling and almost tripling Republican turnout. That doesn’t sound like Dems are not happy with their candidates to me. If the GOP was experiencing such record breaking turnout they would call it a revolution or an awakening or something cheesy. But when Dems are setting records in every primary held, they are unimpressive and losers.

    Sorry, Lisa, I’m just not following your logic here. I’ll agree both Obama and Hillary are beatable just like I’ll agree McCain is beatable. I think McCain will be very hard to beat. Even though I’m an Obama supporter, I still think McCain has the edge in this one.

  2. It’s simple, Chris. I’m talking about what we both saw in the debate last night, not what the general opinion of the Democrats has been of Barack and Hillary. Yes, there has been high turnout and massive enthusiasm for Democrats (but mostly for Obama) this year. It would strongly suggest that the Democrats are satisfied with their candidates. But this is something that can change. Six months ago we probably wouldn’t have said that.

    I’m not going to argue that the Republicans have their act together. They don’t, and you’re right — we aren’t thrilled with McCain. We do think he’s more prepared for the job of President than Hillary or Barack, and that’s why we will vote for him and tell others to do the same. You can’t tell me that after that debate, you are still as confident of Barack’s chances against McCain as you were before the debate. Sure the mods had a few questions that one might consider to be hostile, but he’s got to have good answers to them. McCain’s edge will be even bigger if Barack has a debate performance like this against McCain.

  3. I guess there’s the assumption that I watched the debate. I didn’t. I haven’t watched one all year. And don’t plan on it. Apparently I missed Obama flopping. I doubt that he did and if he did I really doubt he did any worse than George W. Bush does during debates. So Obama is obviously still qualified to be president if we are to use debates as the presiding measure of presidential worthiness.

    Of course Republicans think McCain is more prepared to be president. That’s why they are Republican. If they didn’t think that there would be something very wrong.

    If Democratic turnout strongly suggests that Dems are satisfied with their candidates, like you just suggested in your reply, why in the original post do you state that you fight the election with the candidates you have and not the candidates you wish you had? And ask in the title if we’re impressed yet. That totally confuses me.

    I think Obama will do just fine against McCain in a debate. Remember George Bush was outdebated all through 2000 and 2004 and he still won. Debates, as they are with today’s media, aren’t actual debates. There’s no policy questions and no chance to allow the candidates to critique each other. Instead we get talking points.

    With an ongoing endless war in Iraq, $4 gasoline, a Republican legacy of incompetence because of Bush, the largest national deficit in history, the weakest dollar in history and bin Laden still free, I could see how Republicans are hoping that debates remain more about talking points rather than issues. That way if Obama apparently flops again, people won’t realize what all has happened during the last 8 years of Republican rule.

  4. A serious contender for the Presidency gets schooled on taxes by Charlie Gibson? Priceless.

    “Gee, Barack, everybody knows the positive benefits of lowering cap gains. Except you.”

    The Democrats are the incompetents. And I see Chris has truly lost his mind. Latest example: “Bush was outdebated in ’00 and ’04’?

    What debates were you watching? Dubya destroyed Gore by being himself and he sat back and watched Kerry destroy himself with his absurd globalist rhetoric.

  5. Chris,

    I naturally assumed you would be watching the debate, since you have a serious stake in what happens to Barack on his road to the nomination. 😉 Too bad you missed this less-than-stellar performance by your guy. If I was a Democrat watching this, I’m not sure how confident I would be about either candidate. If you are saying that these two, Barack and Hillary, are the most competent and prepared candidates that the Democrats have to offer the country, and that the Democrats couldn’t have found someone better, well, I’m going to have to disagree with that. The Democrats are settling too, just like the Republicans, and there are a growing number of Dems who will vote for McCain if their candidate doesn’t get the nomination.

    We aren’t judging Barack by George W. Bush. We aren’t judging Barack just on one debate. It’s based on how he handles the major and minor obstacles thrown in his path on the way to the nomination. So far he’s handled the questions relatively well, but he has shown that he is capable of saying things that can get him into trouble when he’s off-script. We didn’t need last night’s debate to figure that out.

  6. I’m amazed that someone who supports George Bush would be calling anyone less than stellar. 😉

    I totally disagree that the Dems are settling. As proved with the highest turnout in modern history, Democrats are very excited about both candidates, which you agreed to. There has been no president get into more trouble by being off script and off in la la land than George W. Bush and Republicans had no trouble voting for him twice.

    I don’t think this one so-called “debate” is going to amount too much. If Obama flopped then oh well. I don’t let such things bother me. It’s when the Salukis suck and when the Cardinals lose that I get all down.

    I’m just so glad Republicans are paying attention to Democrats. It must mean they are really upset with their nominee if they are worried about our front runner answering questions about a flag pin on his lapel.

  7. We’re not worried. Obama’s lacking resume, ridiculously incomplete policy proposals and questionable associations make him the latest sacrificial lamb nominee. He ‘s not going to win.

    I loved hearing him tell the whopping lie about not raising taxes on anyone making under $200K? Huh?

    Inquiring minds are going to ask, ‘How the hell is he going to pay for all those social programs and health care’?

    What a Democrat!

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