Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Debate Part II

I'm halfheartedly watching pieces of tonight's debate while halfheartedly grading essays and wholeheartedly eating a bag of chips. And here are some random thoughts:
  1. John McCain strikes me as a genuinely good human being. You can't say that about most politicians, and this may be the first time in my life that a GOP presidential candidate has met the human decency test. I disagree with a lot of his policies, but if he wins, I won't want to move to Canada like I did in 2000.
  2. The town hall format seems to have run its course, no? Isn't it time for a new debate format? Town hall setups seem very 1992.
  3. I just read this at Slate.com: "Even before the credit crisis, the next president stood to inherit more problems from George Bush than he could hope to solve all at once. Now the next administration's burden will include a global financial crisis beyond what any one president, party, or country alone can address." Besides being a severe condemnation of the Bush administration, it also reinforces what I like about Obama--he seems more able to build broad consensus, especially on the international scale, to address not only the issue of terrorism, but also the financial catastrophe.
  4. One last thought from last week's VP debate--I solemnly vow to never vote for anyone who says "nucular." Ever.

2 comments:

Chelle Ellsworth said...

I think McCain has a lot of experience and has done a lot of good for our country. I think my main problem with McCain is the Iraq war, his vp, his sometimes crazy tactics (suspending his campaign, for example), and his health care plan. Also, I do not like his wife.

dastew said...

and the rest of his policies are pretty odious. and his campaign tactics are despicable. and he looks just plain grumpy on stage.