Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Brief post-debate thoughts

I plan to bump myself (less painful that way) in an hour or so, but can't resist getting this out of my system. I get to indulge my numbering-mania, too. So it's a win|win all around.

I'll always be honest with you, so...
  1. John McCain did a great job — of reminding me why he was among my least-favorite primary candidates. He hasn't a clearly-defined, deeply-thought-out ideology. He can only combat Obamessiah's hard-left radical liberalism with a patchwork of cobbled-together this and that.
  2. What's worse, Obama — the worst candidate for that office in memory — came off as articulate, assured, in command of the facts and the situation, unflappable, confident. McCain came off as sputtery, stammery, uninspired and uninspiring. I said Biden looked particularly old (among other things) debating Palin. McCain looked particularly old debating Obama.
  3. Sadly, in this post-modern age, image is everything. Evidence: Clinton I and II. The brainless and the clueless and the singed-consciences will be swayed by Obama's assured and confident nothing/bad. McCain did not do what he had to do.
  4. Can't we just flip the ticket? I know, I know, we can't. But Palin is out there campaigning her heart out to enthusiastic, overflow crowds, bringing the fight to Obama — and there's McCain looking senescent and windless, sounding as if he's doing a bad job of cobbling together badly-memorized phrases and bringing them out in no particular order.
  5. I knew we were doomed when Brokejaw said, "From all of these questions -- and from tens of thousands submitted online -- I have selected a long list of excellent questions on domestic and foreign policy." He selected. The lefty, dinosaur MSM talking-head selected. So any questions that might have made his candidate look bad were bypassed, and only those questions that served his unrepresentative interests and purposes were featured. Hence, no icky questions about abortion, character, philosophy, qualification, Ayers, or the like.
  6. While I'm on Brokaw, was there ever a lamer moderator? Oh, I suppose there has been. But good heavens, man — the whining! Just STOP IT. Stop whining about the candidates talking when the little lighty-whities go out! Moderate! Man up! Lead!
  7. Who's advising McCain? Obama keeps landing the same blows, and McCain offers no answer. I'm nobody, and I know they're coming. They don't? Duhh.
  8. Huge missed opportunity for McCain. Obama said, "No, I am confident about the American economy." A sharp, on-game McCain would have said, "Senator Obama, I'm glad to hear you are confident about the American economy. So, would you say that the fundamentals are sound?" But no such McCain was there, so it went unsaid.
  9. Another huge missed opportunity was when Obama, with that heavily serious demeanor he fakes so well, sonorously attempted to deflect criticism of his insane foreign policy mistakes by citing McCain singing "Bomb bomb Iran." A more deft McCain — which is to say, not McCain — would have pivoted instantly and said, "So, Barack — since everyone knows I was joking, are you saying that all your foreign policy statements have been jokes? At least that would make some sense of them."
  10. One bright spot: who knew John McCain was a John Frame fan? Brokaw asked McCain to prioritize health care, energy and entitlement reform. McCain replied, "I think you can work on all three at once, Tom. ...we can do them all at once. There's no -- and we have to do them all at once." Who knew McCain was a tri-perspectivalist?
A sane, sound and intelligent electorate would see through it all, slap down Obama, and hand McCain a two-digit landslide. Clinton's first victory assured me that we have no such electorate. His second nailed the coffin for me.

So I'll be worried at least until one candidate concedes, and doesn't then pull a Gore. Then, regardless of who wins, my worries will take on new specificity.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed. McCain didn't swing and miss, he didn't even swing. The first time in my life when I've considered not voting.

DJP said...

Yeah, but no, don't do that. The stakes are too high. Just consider the Supreme Court alone. The WORST judges on the Court are like 900 years old, and they're just hanging on by their drool-catchers until a liberal sits in the Oval Office. Next Pres names 1-3 Supremes. Care about abortion, "gay" "marriage," and a score of other issues that matter to us? The odds of Obama making a good appointment are NEGATIVE numbers. The odds of McCain doing so are not wonderful, but they are positive numbers.

Plus, positioning Sarah Palin is worth it.

Plus, Obama is the terrorists' candidate. Weak America = sitting duck.

Unfortunately, my most compelling reasons for voting FOR McC are the reasons AGAINST Obama — but I think those are sufficient reasons.

Plus, even only a little plus, is better than minus.

Anonymous said...

Where's the passion?!

Great post. Your reasons for McCain (we share the first three letters of our last names, so I'm biased of course) are sufficient indeed.

An Obama court, not to mention administration with a Democratic House and Senate, are frightening.

I will be buying a couple of new guns and lots of ammo in the coming days in case those loons try to pull a fast one.

Mike Westfall said...

My wife and I used to say if Hillary wins (back when that was still a possibility), we're moving to a different country!

If Obama wins though, we won't have to take that drastic step; we'll already be in a different country

CR said...

Mesa Mike: If Obama wins though, we won't have to take that drastic step; we'll already be in a different country

Good one.

CR said...

DJP: A sane, sound and intelligent electorate would see through it all, slap down Obama, and hand McCain a two-digit landslide. Clinton's first victory assured me that we have no such electorate. His second nailed the coffin for me.

I could be wrong, I hope I'm wrong, I've been praying that I am wrong and the Lord would remember mercy and not give us Obama, but the absolute worst kind of judgment that the Lord could put on a society is giving them what they want.

The electorate cares more about their financial situation, their big homes, their big toys, their stuff. They are worried about tomorrow and they don't give a hoot or a rip about the unborn and the institution of marriage. They simply don't care about God. So, the Lord, might just say, fine, I'm going to give you what they want. I've been pleading to Him to please remember your church and remember mercy. I fear His response is going to be like with Habakuk when Habakuk cried out to the Lord asking Him how long would he tolerate Israel's idolatry to which the Lord responded by telling him not to worry but that He was going to send the Chaldeans into Israel and rip the Israelites from their land. (If you recall, even Habakuk I think was a little concerned of God's response) So, I hope I'm wrong here.

But I think the issue is not so much we don't have a sane, sound and intelligent electorate (if it elects Obama, then it clearly is not), but the issue is we have a selfish, godless electorate that doesn't care about the Lord and His righteousness and He might just say, fine, you want the false Obamaessiah, you got it!

CR said...

Also, I kept a close watch of the so-called 80 undecided voters in the audience. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, you've got some serious problems if you are still undecided.

Anyway, the audience pretty much during the debate kept to their stone cold faces except one lady, she was smiling while Obama was speaking. But most of those 80 undecided were good and not shaking their heads in the affirmative when Obama was answering their questions.

Then after the debate you saw the change. And Fox News (didn't have to worry about a server coming in and rebuking me for watching Fox News this time) kept a screen in the corner of screen of the hall with Obama and his wife shaking hands in the audience while Fox News was doing their pundtry. (I guess McCain left the scene).

And it was amazing, you saw one lady come running down (it was like something from the Price is Right )giving Obama a hug. You also had scores of these undecided (not the general audience in the background that we couldn't see, but the so-called undecided voters) getting their pictures taken with Obama with huge smiles. Uh, some undecided voters.

I did see, amazingly, situation when Obama stretched out his hand to shake but the one undecided voter did not shake his hand.

And I agree with Dan, this was not a good selection of questions. Nothing about abortion, nothing about gay marriage, (of course not, because it would make Obama look bad to the swing voters he is trying to win), nothing about immigration. Go figure...

donsands said...

Politics does get my blood moving thru my veins.

John was bad, Obama is a pluralist/socialist.

Obama said, the at there are morals issues, when talking about helping other nations.

Man, if I was McCain, I would jumped on that.
Moral issues like killing people, like ripping babies apart in the womb, and sucking their brains out of their heads, and even letting them die after they are born.

Obama is a nice guy, and yet he is evil, because only an evil man could vote to allow for infanticide.

I'm voting for John, but my heart ain't in it.

Thanks Dan for taking the time to post this. It helps.

Actually, I turned the debate off for a while a watched an old Charles Bronson movie, where he gets the bad guy. I was getting too mad.

Unknown said...

So many things left unsaid. So little time to say them to such a vast and hungry audience.

I think I'm going to stop watching Fox News and pick up Augustine's City of God...

Truth Unites... and Divides said...

Dan, an absolutely great political post. You express my thoughts and creeping dismay perfectly.

The American electorate? We collectively reap what we sow. And deserve no better, unless God grants us deliverance.

I'm hoping for a large miracle that Obama can be stopped, but I'm expecting and bracing for the statistical likelihood that Obama will be the next President.

My prayer now is that the Lord help California voters to pass Proposition 8, the traditional marriage amendment. That is a HUGE proposition and all professing California Christians must turn out and vote "YES" on that proposition.

And in the final analysis, win or lose, God is sovereign and God is good, and we faithfully abide in Him.

Thanks again for a great post DJP.

threegirldad said...

Love the insights in this post. Hate that the insights are so dead-on. On way or another, it seems that John McCain is going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. [sigh]

Note to Stan McCullars: please put your cap back on. Thanks. ;-)

CR said...

TUAD: My prayer now is that the Lord help California voters to pass Proposition 8, the traditional marriage amendment. That is a HUGE proposition and all professing California Christians must turn out and vote "YES" on that proposition.

If we're to believe the opinion polls in CA, it looks like this proposition is going down to an utter defeat. (State Attorney Jerry Brown forced the changing of the title of the proposition to swaying public opinion). A similar proposition (not an amendment to our state constitution that's why the state supreme court could strike it down) passed overwhelmingly in 2000 by 60% or so.

This is a tactic of liberals. When they cannot pass their ideology through normal legislative means, get liberal judges to legislate it from the bench. They wait to do it when they know there is no supermajority to overrule their decisions. It's very crafty and cunning on their part. Liberals also realize that after they make their rulings, once something becomes legal, the public begin to think it is right. If something is legal, many believe, then it must be right. That was true with abortion. Public opinion on abortion shifted widely for it, after the SCOTUS ruled it as a constitutional right. The same will perhaps be true for gay "marriages."

Terry Rayburn said...

Dan,

Excellent analysis, but as you infer, McCain will be McCain.

Accepting that he is no Palin, our best focus is on defeating Obama.

Next time you talk to the McCain handlers :) you should ask them why they're not telling America that to elect Obama would virtually guarantee a Liberal Anti-Christ Activist Supreme Court for the next 30 to 40 years(!) minimum.

Blessings,
Terry

Rachael Starke said...

I found myself muttering over and over "Do The Math" each time Obama added another slice to the bread loaf he is dangling right next to the giant circus posters on the walls of the Coliseum, the one with the hungry lions inside.

But then I remembered that it's not just that most Americans can't do the math. They don't want to. They want the government to do it for them, but not in any kind of way relating to reality. Just the way that will let them keep the houses they could never afford.

And to your point Terry, Americans want THAT more than they want to protect our courts, children, or nation. At least, that's what everyone, excepting Sarah Palin and NOT excepting the entire McCain NonCampaign team, seems to think.

The one comforting thought I cling to is that our Founding Fathers set up the three legislative branches for just this day - when one would rise up and try to choke the others, and our country in the process. Here's hoping it works.

But it's back to Proverbs 16 and Psalm 105 for me...

DJP said...

Thanks, Terry. Next time the phone rings, I'll be ready!

DJP said...

Carlo, Prop 8 is now leading.

CR said...

Thanks, Dan, quite a swing. I didn't know.

Gilbert said...

Dan,

Excellent analysis. I was saying "Oh, come on!" and "Hit a homer!". On Facebook, one person summed it up in two words and a smiley: Obama won. In the dog-and-pony show world we live in, he surely did.

That's the thing: Obama has PASSION. People resonate with those that do, regardless of ideology. Energy, enthusiasm, passion, and he'll get the job done! McCain was just lumbering along, and pretending he wasn't like a conservative, even though we need one right now to get us out of this mess. Conservative in the sense of Godly leadership.

You probably saw the article where a WND reporter was detained in Africa. Corsi was told "Don't ever come back. See you in hell!" Read the WND article on there...it's really an eye-opener. This guy goes beyond Socialism, folks...it's scary. Say something against him, and...

See you in hell, I guess.

donsands said...

After looking the post over again, I feel very weird, and a little dizzy, and I think now I'm gonna vote for Obama.
I feel the hope.

DJP said...

LOL, Don

Ebeth said...

I just keep reminding myself that God has already chosen who will govern and for how long and to what end.

candy said...

One hint of backbone is when McCain mentioned Obama's relationship with the whole Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacle. Of course, Palin beat McCain to the punch with that one. I am not going to link, but some very good articles about Obama (plus cronies) and his agenda can be found at American Thinker. Just google it and you will easily find it.

CR said...

American Thinker is one of my best sources for stuff. It's too bad they come out with so much good stuff because I don't have the time to read it and miss a lot of good stuff. I try to catch things with RSS Reader, but I miss a lot.

Truth Unites... and Divides said...

If Prop. 8 passes, I would rejoice mightily!

1 out of 2 is better than 0 out of 2.

donsands said...

"I just keep reminding myself that God has already chosen who will govern and for how long and to what end."

And at the same time I keep praying for God's mercy on this nation, and that He would change the hearts of the leaders of this country, and allow us to live a quiet and peaceful life, for this is the will of God. Especially for our children, and our grandkids. Amen.

Carl said...

It seemed that Obama dropped the football several times and each time rather than grab it and run like made, McCain picked it up AND HANDED IT BACK TO OBAMA! What gives, John? You trying to hand the election to Obama?

The only consolidation I have at this point is that I am reminded that Al Gore had an 11+ point lead over George Bush at the same time during the last POTUS campaign. So it ain't over yet. But I can't be optimistic is McCain's strategy stays the way it is. Of course, Obama could just as easily punt somewhere between now and election day.

Carl said...

Oh, by the way, it is my opinion that any and all future POTUS and VPOTUS debates be NEVER moderated by ANY journalist, pretend journalist, part-time journalist nor anyone who plays a journalist on TV.

DJP said...

Two words: Brit Hume.

Carl, the only horizontal factors that give me any hope are:

1. Sarah Palin
2. The McCain campaign has shown that it can run a disciplined, focused, aggressive campaign.

I just hope they remember that, and start fighting like it matters. Because it really does.

I was telling my dear wife that I'm getting that feeling I had with Dole-Nameless One, twelve years ago. I wanted to wake Dole up. I wanted to say, "Dude, you fought for your country once. Do it again! Fight now. If you don't care, do it for my kids." But no, he and Kemp just sleep-walked their way to defeat.

McCain had better wake up, like yesterday, and start fighting like it matters. His running mate certainly is.

CR said...

TUAD: If Prop. 8 passes, I would rejoice mightily!

1 out of 2 is better than 0 out of 2.


Here's the problem TUAD, all it takes is a federal judiciary that can turn that 1 out 2 into 0 out of 2. And that's what a President Obama would do. Fill the judiciary with liberal judges like our state supreme court is filled with liberals. I'm praying for 2 out of 2.

Truth Unites... and Divides said...

Here's the problem TUAD, all it takes is a federal judiciary that can turn that 1 out 2 into 0 out of 2.

CR, you're depressing me! But seriously, I don't think SCOTUS will touch state law regarding their state Constitutions that define marriage as between a man and a woman.

I'm praying for 2 out of 2.

Me 2!

CR said...

Ha, sorry, to depress you TUAD! :=)

No, but seriously, do not underestimate liberals. The SCOTUS will deal with the gay marriage issue. This is the liberal plan. They will force the issue in the federal courts by demanding under the Full Faith and Credit Clause in US Constitution that every state in the union recognize their marriage. Just as every state has to recognize marriage and divorce no matter what state they get married and divorced in, liberals will demand that gay marriages be recognized in every state.

We cannot underestimate liberals. They caught the nation off guard in 1973 with abortion being a legal right, they'll do the same thing with gay marriages.