I just can't WAIT for the debates to start! That's where we win this thing!

I think any one of us old enough to vote knows by now that a candidates qualifications, intelligence, and indeed experience, matter very little when the American voting public at large chooses a President. They go by the intangibles. While I would NEVER say it's a good idea to vote for someone based on stupid things like appearance or "who would you rather have a beer with", it is things like this that may very well help Obama take the White House.

When the Presidential debates start later this month, what will people get out of the figures they see on stage. Even IF they are tossed softball questions. Even IF no one really listens to their answers. They will see a poised and confident Barack Obama. He will stand strong, he'll have an infectious smile, and he'll command the energy of those watching him.

What will they see when McCain stands next to him? Shifting. Sweat. Uncomfortable bluster and stuttering, weak voiced answers. The kind of things that can lose you an election, no matter what the spinsters try and say about it after the debate.

Again, I would never want a voter out there to choose a candidate just because he is taller, more handsome, stands more confidently, or any other number of inane reasons. But the simple fact is, people DO vote for people for these reasons. Lots of them do. The difference this time is, not ONLY is Obama the taller, more confident sounding candidate, he is ALSO the one with the brains to back it up. He really is the total package, in my opinion, and when these to get up to face each other side by side, it will truly be game over for the right.

But i also remember 4 years ago and Bush still won.

Kerry CREAMED Bush on the issues, but no one really cared. Women polled at the time thought Bush was the more handsome man (God knows why). Kerry's manner of speaking put people off. It didn't matter that he was right on the issues to most of those watching. I think Obama has the edge in both message AND poise.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

No one predicted those debate outcomes. Kerry thought Bush would be easy, and apparently did zero debate prep. Halliburtonboy mopped the stage with Edwards, sadly, and we were left wondering how we came out of four easy debates with only one victory.

I think this Veep debate will be a circus. Unpredicatable, could be Biden 100 points to Sarah Lee 0, or some odd stinkbomb blowup one way or the other.

In a debate, I think Obama will have trouble with McCain only because thirty years giving speeches in the Senate is great prep, and the questions will all be softballs. But I figure a 2-1 margin of victory in the three Pres debates is a reasonable goal for Obama.

have said nothing and still "do better than expected"

The eye rolling, the sighing and harumphing by Gore were seen as a huge turn off to many! The substance of Gore's answers meant little compared to his attitude.

Democrats rarely do well in these canned "debates." They aren't real debates.

Sarah Palin will do very well. She'll reel off nasty little zingers and the press will love it. Biden will be in the no-win situation of having to condense thoughtful responses to complex issues into short answers for the moran public.

The same will occur when Obama and McCain meet. The press will toss softball questions to McCain which he'll handle in a manner the press will label "endearing." Meanwhile, Obama's intelligent responses will be labeled "arrogant."

The "debates" never do Democrats much good. Fortunately most people aren't influenced by them much one way or the other.

and then gets beat up in the media for the next few days anyway over nonsense:

2000: Al Gore "sighed" too much in debate #1, and got his facts mixed up about a girl not having a desk in an overcrowded Florida classroom, and you know "Bush just looked folksy and relaxed, like the kind of guy you want to have a beer with".

2004: Same thing with the Bush "looked folksy and relaxed, like the kind of guy you want to have a beer with" meme.

They will probably be a wash due to the media supporting McSame/Failin with lowered expectations, etc.

With I hope (and actually expect) to see from now to November, is a slow, steady improvement in the polls in our favor as the "celebrity" effect wears off.

The better that is for us. But I still stand by what I said. This election is already close, but then, when aren't they anymore? Will the debates help Obama win in a landslide? No way. But I do think they'll show us in a good enough light that we will pull ahead and stay ahead.

I thought Bush sounded like a blithering idiot in 04. But then, I don't have teevee, I listened on the radio.

Obama is definitely taller and way more poised.

We won the debates in 2004 hands down.

After watching Shrub's terrible moronic performance in 2004 and the unbelievable lift he got out of it, I don't expect much from these debates. JFK's pouncing of Nixon almost 50 years ago has ushered in the era of visuals. It's not about substance in the debates, it's about mannerisms and vocal tone and other useless high school crap.

Granted, Obama's presence and confident vocal tone will leave McDimbo in the dust, but there are so many other nuances at play that I'm very guarded about the favorable outcome of these debates.

Debates have become a debacle. I hope Obama puts an end to that.

And the election will be the GOP's funeral.

Did anyone see C-Span this morning at the AARP convention. They had both Obama and McCain address the crowd. They gave a short talk and then each were generally asked the same questions. They were not actually there but did it via video link. Obama went first and was clear, concise, and described his view in an easy way to understand. The crowd cheered and went nuts. McCain looked tired, stumbled over his words, and got a moderate courtesy applause. Unbelievable. Obama dominated the debate. If I can find that on U-Tube, I am sending it to everyone I know. It fired me up again, because all I could find earlier in the morning was Obama bashing on every network channel.

found a link to the whole clip at C-Span (Recent Programs
http://www.cspan.org/

AARP 50th Anniversary Conference (September 6, 2008) Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) speak at an AARP 50th anniversary celebration via satellite. The theme for the Life@50+ | National Event & Expo is “Generations Connecting to Change.”
Washington, DC


direct link for RealPlayer (e.g.) rtsp://video1.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08_090608_aarp.rm
O'Bama start at around 3 minutes into the clip, answering questions (just a few out of 20.000) after some 10 minutes speech.

Take care,

Nodi

every single one of us can make a difference by volunteering to help register new voters, turn out the vote, or make sure all of our votes are counted. Even though there are lots of people who vote on gut instinct, there are at least as many who ordinarily would vote Democratic but who don't vote either because they're not registered or just don't make it to the polls. The bigger the turnout, the better the chance we have to win.