Barack Obama and John McCain's Debate—Joe the Plumber and Bill the Bomber

October 16, 2008 RSS Feed Print
  • Comment (49)

We heard more about Joe the Plumber than we did about Bill the Bomber.

But will either man spur a momentum shift away from Barack Obama and toward John McCain? Nope.

McCain had his strongest performance of the debates, but it will ultimately prove too little, too late. Senator, I'm no George W. Bush! Good line. It would have been a better—and perhaps cutting—line two debates ago.

William Ayers finally surfaced, but I got the impression that McCain introduced him without enthusiasm. He passed up a couple of opportunities to mention him—then finally brought the so-called domestic terrorist into the mix. "I don't care about an old, washed-up terrorist," McCain said. OK, Senator, so why are we talking about him?

Then it went away, and things came back to Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher.

For his part, Obama brushed aside Ayers and ACORN with dispatch. Obama did what he needed to do: lie low and avoid the big mistake.

There were other moments. McCain described ACORN as the greatest menace to face our democracy since who knows when; McCain dismissed women's health concerns as being part of the radical "pro-abortion" agenda. In both cases, McCain was speaking shorthand—people who haven't followed the ACORN nonsense, on the one hand, and people who aren't ardent pro-lifers, on the other hand, would be lost or offended.

Where does this leave us? Same place we were yesterday and last week.

Tags:
debates,
2008 presidential election,
John McCain,
Barack Obama

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obama sucks!!!

alyssa of AL 9:50PM November 03, 2008

I don't care whos president as long as they help the country. People accuse mccain to be 90% flows bush that is false. That this is true yes he agreed with us going to iraq but he did it because of our saftey to kill or arrest the main leader for the terroist. People accuse obama of being musslem yes he went to a musslem church but he went to a cathlot school. Congress hasn't let George bush do much and that is also hurting the country. All i say is let the 2 parties join that way the country can have more of a chance of getting back on its feet.

al of FL 12:13PM October 21, 2008

Our beautiful soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is the best future leader for this nation, not Senator Barak Obama. Our beautiful soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is also would be better at leading our nation in the future after a McCain Presidency than Senator Barak Obama would be in leading our nation in the future starting in January 2009. There are great reasons our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin would be a better future leader than Senator Barak Obama. The greatest reason for our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin's is ideology. Our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is conservative in that she is pro life, marriage, guns, low taxes, low government spending, small government, unintrosive government, traditional and judeo Christian values, Bible reading and prayer in our public schools, and military spending. Senator Barak Obama is a liberal who is anti every thing that I have described that our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is pro about or for. A second reason that our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is superior is because of experience. As a governor she has two years of executive administrative governing experience that Senator Barak Obama does not have. A final reason that our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is superior is because of political accomplishments. When our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin came to office she accomplished 3 major things which are as follows: she showed great leadership in the 3 following areas: government reform, the state budget and the economy, and wise use of natural resources. She reformed government by standing up to the big oil companies by breaking up the monopoly on power and resources. She insisted on competition and basic fairness which ended the control that the oil companies had on the state, and thereby returning control of the state back to the people. She also stood up to the special interest and lobbyist, and produced major ethics reform. She lead well in the state budget by generating a surplus which came about by vetoing a half billion dollars of wasteful spending, ending the abuses of earmark spending by congress, and by getting rid of the private jet, the chef, and the chuffer. Economically under her leadership she brought about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. She also suspended the state fuel tax, and when oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, she sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska . On natural resources she has shown great leadership by beginning a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence. When the last section of the pipeline is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart. Senator Barak Obama has done nothing, so please vote John McCain for President and give to our beautiful soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin the opportunity that she deserves leading the nation into the future after a John McCain presidency. When our soon to be Vice President does lead the nation as President after a John McCain presidency,she will be the greatest President that we have ever had. Finally she is smarter than Senator Barak Obama

Thank You

John Warren

John Warren of CO 7:30PM October 20, 2008

Robert Schlesinger

Robert Schlesinger

Robert Schlesinger is managing editor for opinion at U.S. News and World Report, overseeing all opinion editorial content. He is the author of "White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters." E-mail him at rschlesinger@usnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @rschles.

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