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Erin: Welcome to T2A special edition as we join American voters while they monitor the final Presidential debate before the November 4th election. Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama are discussing the issues and defending their positions at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New Jersey. Our Democratic voter guest is Janice Marie in New York City. Joining us from Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia is Gary Dungan.
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Hannah: What questions does each candidate need to address in this debate?
Janice: The biggest questions on the minds of Americans right now are the economy, foreign policy, energy and health care. I am constantly amazed at how much time is spent arguing about issues like gay marriage and abortion - didn’t we already handle that one? - at election times when what people really want to know at the end of the day is: how am I going to feed my family? Will I lose my house? How will I ever afford to send my children to college? Is my money safe? What will happen to me/my family if we get sick? What will I do when I can no longer work and can’t afford to retire? These are key issues that every American faces, regardless of party affiliation, and they are they are the issues that should be discussed not only in this debate but at all their campaign events instead of spending time bashing their opponent.
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Gary: I don’t know of any particular questions each candidate needs to address tonight. McCain needs to have a strong performance. Obama just needs to not make any major mistakes.
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Erin: Give your first impressions of tonight's contest. Did each candidate adequately outline his plan to try to ease the country's economic crisis?
Gary: Happy to see McCain hit what he called "Fannie and Freddie Mae." The voters need to know that's the cause of our financial difficulties. His mortgage buyout plan is a Democratic plan, not Republican - that's why he's slipping in the polls.
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Janice: McCain continues to say to Obama, "You'll raise taxes," and Obama says he will not for those under $250,000 annual income. Obama's hitting a strong point that most of McCain's tax cuts go to wealthy and large companies, and Obama's tax cuts are for the middle class, the biggest part of the country, mostly suffering now. I don't get McCain. His view here irritates me. Obama just said, "Nintey-five percent of you will get a tax cut," then McCain will say that Obama is not saying this.
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Hannah: As Election Day approaches, do you think Americans are becoming more or less sure of which candidate will get their vote? What about you?
Janice: There are a lot of people out there who are going to vote for their party’s candidate no matter what. They will rarely, if ever, cross party lines so their sense of “sureness” about their vote is never in question, even if their candidate doesn’t prove him/herself to be a wise, qualified, powerful or appropriate choice for the office. As for those who aren’t intensely politically minded and don’t necessarily affiliate themselves with one party or another, I can only imagine just how difficult it must be to filter through the quagmire (negative attack ads, sound bites pulled out of context and twisted beyond recognition, outright lies, talking heads with their own political agendas and family and generational bias) to make an educated choice. I was sure I was going to vote for Obama early on, and I am equally sure of that now, as McCain has given me absolutely no good reason to think otherwise. McCain has not only lost my respect, but the respect of much of his own party in how he has conducted his campaign. He is not a guy I’d trust to run this country, and the thought of his running mate stepping in to take over should he fall ill (or worse) is downright terrifying to me.
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Gary: I think Americans are becoming much more sure of which candidate they will vote for. I certainly know who I will vote for.
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Janice: McCain takes everything Obama says and twists it.
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Hannah: How important do you think the presidential and vice presidential debates have been up to this point, as far as shaping public opinion?
Janice: What I look forward to in a debate is the opportunity to hear candidates speak without a script or teleprompter and to respond directly to each other. The problem has been that the format of the debates gives the candidates such a short period of time to answer questions, what we often hear them spitting out are the sound bites we’ve heard repeated over and over again. And the moderators of these debates have been pitiful. They are too interested in rattling off their own carefully prepared list of questions and don’t really ever let anything get to the point of being an actual debate. In fact, they don’t even require the candidates to answer the questions they’ve been asked. The debates would be much more powerful and effective if the moderators weren’t so interested in covering every possible topic of concern in one night but would focus only on the economy or foreign policy or health care and allow a more free-flowing discourse that would give us a chance to hear the candidates speak in depth and off script.
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Gary: I believe the vice presidential debate was important in shoring up support for McCain. Both the presidential debates were important for Obama because he wasn’t harmed in those. None of his scary alliances were brought up in those debates.
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Erin: How do you think the economic plan has shaped voters’ opinions of each candidate?
Gary: I think Obama’s base is very happy with the economic plan. Conservatives are mostly opposed to the plan and McCain’s role in passing it. That may be the reason that McCain has been slipping a little in the polls.
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Gary: Obama sounds like [Former President Jimmy] Carter in his famous "great malaise on the part of the American people" speech. McCain is right on taxes. Obama is wrong on taxes, and Obama has voted every time on taxes to increase them. If Democrats today would listen to [Former President] John Kennedy when he wanted to put a man on the moon, he said how he had to do that. As I recall, he said we don't have the government revenues to catch Soviet defenses and put a man on the moon, and paradoxically, in the U.S. the only way to do this is to cut tax rates, and he did that from 90 to 70 in '63 and revenues rolled in. If Obama raises taxes, revenues will roll out. He's a scary person. He's not going to drive the economy into the 21st century. He'll drive it into the ground.
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Janice: To say that Obama would drive the economy into the ground is ludicrous.
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Janice: My beef is a lot of people want to go back to Carter or Clinton. Yes, there are programs started, not beneficial, but what about the last eight years? What has been done to turn things around? Many fat cats got money from big companies, and they are in the GOP party, which is equal to blame for capitalizing on that ride. Gary says Raines and Jim Johnson are on Obama's campaign, and Fannie and Freddie gave large contributions to Obama. Bush and McCain in 2005 tried to regulate Fannie and Freddie, but Carter's CRA in '77 - and Clinton pushed to hammer CRA harder, and then Clinton also pushed subprime mortgage loans, then Fannie and Freddie securitized them and sold them all over the world. Now the crisis - that's how Jimmy and Bill fit into it. Janice says this may be true, but the GOP supposedly has run this country for the last eight years and is largely responsible. Gary says Fannie and Freddie prevented those controls from happening.
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Erin: What issues do you think have not received enough attention from either candidate or both candidates?
Gary: The issues that have not received enough attention in the prior debates are immigration, the war in Iraq, and in the past, alliances between Obama and Ayers, Dorhn, Wright, Acorn and others. McCain should try to emphasize the role of Acorn and the Democrats in Congress in the financial troubles we’re in. He should zero in on the real cause of the financial difficulties, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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Erin: Have recent events made you more or less confident in the candidate you’re supporting, and why?
Gary: Recent events have made me more confident in McCain. Governor Palin has been trashed by the mainstream media and appears to be holding up well. She seems to be a very strong woman.
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Janice: They have made me more confident than ever. It has been fascinating to watch the sideshow of McCain and Palin over the past weeks. John McCain is a man I used to respect. Yet has he stooped to levels.
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Erin: What needs to be discussed in specific, rather than broad terms, in this debate? What do voters want to hear about jobs and other domestic issues?
Janice: This is very similar to the first question. What is key in everyone’s mind right now is the economy. People are scared they’re going to lose their jobs. They’re concerned about how much everything costs. They’re watching our banking system crash. What people want, and have a right to hear, from these candidates is specifically what they’re going to do to get our economy rolling again, how they plan to create more jobs, what they’re going to do to ensure people have adequate health care.
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Gary: The most important aspect of selecting a president is character, and this is what I would like to see discussed in specific terms rather than broad turns. There may be voters who want to hear about jobs and other domestic issues, and I certainly would like to hear about immigration, which has not been discussed, but other than that, I can think of nothing that I need to hear in specifics.
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Janice: McCain's campaign people have said back off the slanderous stuff. People care about putting food on the table, wondering how to get health care and McCain's campaign realizes this slandering stuff does not work. There's no place for this in politics. The McCain comment on town hall meetings is childish.
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Gary: Is McCain evil because he says Obama is decent? Your point, Janice, is ridiculous. You're in New York City and read The New York Times, and I'm in flyover country. The New York Times is for Obama. Nobody here believes the Times or what's on the front page. It seems to me McCain - the only way you can get into the sights of McCain's rifles is if you work for his campaign and he disagrees with you. He admonishes those in his campaign to be decent. He has people on the campaign saying truthful things about Obama and his scary alliances, and McCain chastises those campaign workers. McCain's is the most positive, and Obama's is the most negative.
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Erin: Janice, where are you located?
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Gary: Obama seems to have his "uhs" back.
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Gary: And Ayers is a terrorist.
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Erin: Give us your assessments of the debate halfway through.
Janice: I appreciate Bob Schieffer because he's asking questions and permitting follow-up answers that we didn't see before.
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Gary: I like the way Schieffer's doing this compared to [NBC's Tom] Brokaw. He's letting the candidates argue with each other, and I hate the fact that McCain had these Democratic solutions. I like that McCain is talking about Acorn and Ayers. We haven't gotten to Wright yet. The most important aspect of any presidential campaign is the character of the president. You can talk about the issues all day long - like George W. Bush ran on not being a nation builder, then 9-11 came, then things changed. So you want someone with character. I don't think Obama has any from what I've seen. He associates with people who do not like America.
Janice: This is so silly. Have you served on a board, Gary? Gary says yes, he's been approached by the Federal Reserve to join the government. Besides his Army service, Gary says, he's on countless boards. Janice asks whether Gary knows each member. Gary says none of them are anti-American or bombed the Pentagon like Osama and Ayers. Janice asks Gary whether he heard Obama list the board members he had worked with.
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Erin: What kind of challenges would either candidate face in Congress, if elected? For example, what measures of either McCain or Obama’s economic proposals may be blocked by the legislature?
Janice: The heavy divisiveness along party lines. This country is more divided than it’s ever been, and that is certainly evident in our Congress.
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Gary: Obama would not have any problems in Congress if enough Democratic senators are elected to provide a 60-vote margin. McCain would probably have great difficulty in getting a lot of his ideas through Congress.
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June Villasoto: Is the figure on the polls are reliably correct until Election Day results?
Erin: Good question, June. There are several polls out there tracking different kinds of data, and each carries a margin of error. The campaigns closely monitor public opinion. It seems to be, however, that the only poll that truly matters is the one on November 4th.
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Erin: Does McCain still have time to turn his polling numbers around?
Gary: Certainly, McCain has a good chance of turning the polling numbers around. He doesn’t appear to be that far behind in most of the polls.
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Janice: Certainly, anything is possible and polling is not always a sure indicator of who is going to win. Since he now has members of his own party criticizing him and jumping ship on him, he’s got a lot of work to do if he’s going to turn this around.
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Janice: We cannot drill our way out of this problem.
Gary says this is not true. Janice asks Gary if he thinks the U.S. has enough oil. Gary says yes, there's enough to get us out of the immediate situation we're in - and clean coal. Janice says we all agree we need alternative sources. Gary says the U.S. needs nuclear energy. West Virginia could have helped on something like this, but no new plants since the '70s, and France gets 60 percent of their electricity from nuclear, but people like Obama prevent the U.S. from this type of policy.
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Janice: it's hard to watch the candidates' debate and have our own [with Gary] at the same time.
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Erin: Do you think there are any crucial elements that may change the direction of the election at the last minute?
Janice: No, I don’t.
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Gary: I can’t think of any crucial elements that may change the direction of the election.
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Janice: Shut up John, that's such a lie.
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Gary: Janice, let me recommend a couple of good books on the Depression, including The Forgotten Man.
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Gary: Again, Obama seems to have a small lead in the battleground states mentioned, but I believe this is temporary, and I do not believe he will retain his lead.
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Janice: Obama should be leading in these states. He has created a grass roots campaign aimed at educating people as to who he is and what he stands for in these key states, and if he has a lead, it’s because people like what they see in the man and believe he’s the best for the job. I can’t begin to say whether it’s a temporary lead or not, but any good politician would be wise to act as if it is temporary. This election wont be over 'til it’s over, and it would be unwise for anyone to claim a victory and assume those states are “in the bag” until all the votes have actually been counted. If he’s established a lead there, I assume his campaign would be smart enough not to back off their efforts with only a few weeks left before Election Day arrives.
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Janice: I'd like to hear both say, "I don't have a clue about what's going to happen after I'm elected, but I'll do my best." Know they need to make promises, but at the end of the day, the logistics of getting all that actually done is a different ballgame.
Gary agrees here - too many promises with too many details. I'd rather hear the big picture about where they're coming from. Janice asks, "Where does this $5,000 come from in McCain's health care plan?" Most would use that money to buy a television instead of health coverage. Gary says when the government starts offering universal health care, then every employer will drop it, and we'll all pay for it.
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Janice: There goes Obama saying McCain will tax health care.
Gary says this is dealing with large employers. The employee premiums are tax-free, but not for small companies and individuals. -------------------------------
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Erin: Janice and Gary, does it sound like we're moving inside the Beltway in this debate? I need an exit lane out.
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Gary: Yea, it is. What can you say?!
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Gary: On the issue of conservatives, we like Palin, but not as much McCain. Invite me back to chat in four years when it's Palin and [Louisiana Governor Bobby] Jindal running as a team, OK?
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Janice: This whole Roe v. Wade thing bothers me that it comes up every four years, but it's a red herring. This is an emotional issue. Obama says a woman and her doctor can make that choice, and there's no reason to legislate this when the economy is in the dumper. Why do such emotional issues take over?
Gary says the job thing is worrisome, but whether you're going to kill your baby is not. Erin notes here the discussion is getting - guess what? - emotional. Back to the debate, you two. We're in the home stretch. -------------------------------
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Gary: On education, Obama would hurt the country's system.
Janice says Obama's highly educated. Gary says extreme-leftist Democrats would hurt the education system. Eighty years of Democratic Party rule in West Virginia has the state 50th in prosperity rankings, and Obama would keep us there. Virginia is one of the most prosperous states in the country. -- -------------------------------
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Erin: Give your final impressions of the debate and expectations for the rest of the campaign.
Janice: Both candidates are well versed in their plans and communicating them. What it's going to come down to? No huge flaws tonight, so philosophy on how country should be run will decide who you vote for. I happen to lie on the side of the Democratic side and like Obama and what he stands for and lost respect for McCain. I know Gary will have a different opinion. The best debate under Schieffer's moderation, however.
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Gary: Janice is wrong. I would not disagree totally with what she said. I'll vote for McCain because Obama is a scary unknown person. We only know that he allies himself with people who are anti-American, and that's scary. He said he created more charter schools in Illinois than other places, but the Annenberg project was an attempt to radicalize education. I agree with Janice that McCain says a lot of things I don't agree with. I'm a Sarah Palin Republican. On this debate, both pretty much accomplished what they had to do. McCain looked fairly strong, and Obama didn't seem to make a lot of mistakes, though he seemed to add a lot of "uhs." The debate does not change anything, including my views. West Virginia is a pretty safe red state this year.
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Erin: Thanks Janice and Gary. That wraps T2A special edition with American voters who monitored the final Presidential debate between Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama. Our thanks to Janice Marie in New York City – Gary Dungan in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia – and to you for joining us. You can get the latest election news on www.usavotes2008.com We hope you can come back on Wednesday, October 22nd at 1800 hours UTC when we learn about the extraordinary craftsmanship behind the delicate, eye-popping, jeweled eggs of Carl Faberge. Toby Faber chronicles the amazing journey of these imperial objects that grew from a seemingly plain, white egg Faberge created for Russian Czar Alexander III in 1885. That’s Wednesday, October 22nd at 1800 utc right here on voanews.com See you then! |
