McCain's Debate Performance Against Obama Won't Matter

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Republican voters seem to be a fearful bunch. The GOP's messageboard boosters repetitiously insist that only their candidate can keep the country safe. It is as if they are recreating their childhood, when Daddy would always be there to protect them against the boogey man or the mean kid on the playground. (Oh, yeah? My Dad's bigger than your dad!) Only now instead of their real fathers, they look to their surrogate father, big daddy McCain, to protect them against the new national boogey man, Osama bin Laden. Come to think of it, perhaps that's why Osama bin Laden hasn't been captured yet. It's because he is serving a purpose: to scare Americans into voting for their Republican protectors.

TG of PA 10:22PM October 16, 2008

when you think about it obama should win he wants to help all of the old people out her. if yo have any family in iraq they wont come home and probaly will die if mccain is president. but if you vote obama you will have your family memebers safe at your side. like above mccain says if he doesnet win he nows how to get bin laudin to blow this popscikle stand up.

biana holmes of FL 6:09PM October 16, 2008

Information is knowledge and your kids know it. Each generation is supposed to grow beyond the last; to question, learn, gain personal judgement. They take all sources in, decide what they feel is worth believing in, and go with it. They are growing away from Religion in droves, and realize the freedom that comes with finding your own perspectives..rather than the ones their "folks" tell them they should believe. They're "mavericks" to be sure, and "you betcha" they can smell BS a mile away..Liberal or not. At least they're interested, you should be thankful.

Mom of OR 4:17PM October 16, 2008

The liberal media is everywhere--we can't escape it--tv, movies, radio, magazines, news shows--and my kids look up to these lefty illuminati celebrities to top it all off! They worship the ground they walk on!

MNotaro of CA 1:31PM October 16, 2008

I'm voting Obama because I CAN think for myself. I do not equate Presidential leadership to war experience or POW status, nor do I believe that multiple years under/supporting Bush's reign leaves you untarnished and unfilled with bad habits.

McCain made many bad choices as a military pilot, and his temper is not a good thing for America. Research his military career and see his stats, I'm not all that impressed. (ps, my father spent 22 years in the military and I've lived all over the world..so I have some military perspective)

I'm tired of people saying that just because Obama doesn't have that facet of military "bravery" that McCain has, it makes him less of a leader. Obama knows that the Presidency is about co-operation, balance, and being calm in the face of adversity. He understands that without education and healthcare reform our kids have no chance of having a competitive future in this world. The complete negative attitude of Obama's educational accomplishments, and terming them as elite, is ludicrous. It's also hypocritical of the Right to state that. I say bring on the brains, kick out the brawn. I don't need anyone equated with Joe-sixpack in the Oval office, I've witnessed enough dumbing-down of this country to last me a lifetime, and if we're to be brutally honest, it's the uneducated and culturally ignorant who are messing things up. Just look at our national reading levels, a joke to be sure. We should not strive to have anything but an educated, well-spoken, thoughtful, insightful, and youth motivating president in the White House. Otherwise we'll be doomed to more beer drinking, moose shooting, plane crashing, religified wrecks in the White House. I don't want a "Maverick", I want someone level headed who will listen to the people and not deem it ok to spin off on their own because they either believe it's "God's plan", or they're just too caught up in their own self-imposed, grandiose labels to see they're disasters waiting to happen. The "Country First" approach won't stick in a Global world. We're all merely ripples in the same big pond and it's time we had a leader who recognizes that a ONE world attitude makes us stronger as a country. Evolve people, evolve.

M of OR 11:06AM October 16, 2008

first of all im voting for obama because i believe he'll take care of this country. and mc'cain is to old and i dont care how much experience mc'cain have or wateva its not about that its about who's gonna take care of this country and what they can do. and its so sad that some people is voting for mc'cain and so dumb to think that he can take care of this country.and i was wacthin the debate and mc'cain didn't answer tha questions like he supposed to his main focus was on attacking barack obama and thats sad because by him doing that he was only making his self look bad. so i wish people would wake and vote for barack obama we need a change. SO PLEASE VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA CAUSE I KNOw ALL OF YOU IS READY FOR A CHANGE I KNOW I AM!!!

michelle of CA 3:37AM October 16, 2008

Wake up America!! Can you all be so brain washed by the media or are you just to lazy to think for your self.

Can you actually think that what Barack is saying can work. Unless,you think he is Santa Claus and is going to come and bring free gifts, for not having to get out there and deserve it or because we were all good boys and girls. Sorry but you dont get something for nothing. Look under your tree your presents will be poverty,distruction of the American Dream, the worst health care in the world, oh and dont forget to open the big box where you will have no job if you still have a house to put your tree up in.

John McCain did a hell job tonight making his point tonight "AMEN".

I happen to love my country and i want my children to have the same life i had growing up in this great country,and its sad when you have to listen to policies Barack wants to bring to the White House. God help us all.

Wake up America "WAKE UP!!!!"

debbie of FL 2:40AM October 16, 2008

Bill, you couldn't be more wrong.

If conservatives think their running of the country since 1996 (yes, 1996) has been so successful, why are we so much WORSE OFF than we were even eight years ago?

Why, under Bush, we have had:

1) Four successful terrorist attacks on US soil

2) ZERO success at catching the man responsible for those attacks

3) A meaningless war in a country that had NOTHING to do with 9/11; a war that has has cost us twelve-billion dollars PER MONTH for over five years

3) A doubling of the National Debt

4) The near ruination of the economy

5) Major erosion of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

I could go on, but you get the point...

McCain has supported Bush throughout Bush's hideous bungling and outright-corrupt handling of the situation. AND YOU WANT HIM AS PRESIDENT? Luckily, most of us are not as crazy as you are, Bill.

Forrest of UT 11:00PM October 15, 2008

John McCain is out of touch. I don't believe John McCain has the ability to keep us safe. We need a young warrior with fresh ideas, passion, energy, intelligence, and a willingness to strike out in new directions. Our next President must cut a striking figure within the world political map if America is to be taken seriously once again, most especially as the land of the free and the home of the brave. McCain will give us a 3rd term of very failed policies and will keep us in a war that is draining our beautiful country not only of its resources, but of its very vibrant young men and women.

Time to change the linens on the bed people!

Suzanne of 10:54PM October 15, 2008

Bill, I hate to break it to you, but in the second round of debates McCain said, and I quote, "I'll get Bin Laden", "I know how [to get Bin Laden]" - yet he did not follow up. How long has he been holding onto that pearl of wisdom? And his "solution" for solving Americans pressing issues? To gather the smartest people in the US to think of a solution. You know who else came up with that idea? About every 5 year old in America. His comments on the economy are so vague as to make you question the last time John Sidney McCain the Third (III) stepped into a bank on his own behalf, let alone grasped anything happening outside a war room.

And let’s not forget the latest Sarah Palin scandal; that she openly supports a group of radical Alaskan Separatists, whose founder is quoted as saying "I hate the US government" and "when I die, do not dare bury me under that damn [United States of America] flag." Just Google “Sarah Palin AIP” to read more, or heck, watch the video of her supporting these people for yourself. It was filmed just this year.

Oh ya, wonderful track-record of judgment calls, there. Bravo.

Say whatever you want about the evil liberal media, but the one person who has done the most damage to McCain in this election has been none other than... McCain.

Ruddeger of LA 10:51PM October 15, 2008

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Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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