Tuesday, October 7, 2008

More Debates


Well, what did you think?

10 comments:

Casmall said...

Where is this real-time audience tracker? I watch the debates on line and I can't find it.

Aviva DV said...

I think I'm exhausted and that I'm going to watch 9 to 5 to recuperate. I'll have to mull it over for a more significant response. Very briefly: the time constraints annoyed me, though I'm not sure if it as more irritating that they both kept going over or that the ridiculously short time of one minute is what they decided on. I thought Obama did well and was very pleased to see that the CNN running graph of the opinions of undecided Ohio voters consistently tended towards the positive when he was speaking.

habladora said...

I thought Obama did really well. I missed the first 20 minutes, though! Did I miss anything mind-blowing?

Also - I really like Michelle Obama. Did you see how she got right up and started meeting people after the debate ended instead of just hovering by and waiting for direction?

Kekla Magoon said...

I just need to face the fact that I'm a better reader than listener when it comes to political issues. Watching the debates makes me feel kind of dumb, even though I'm not. I get really confused, and then frustrated because I don't understand. Is it me, or are they talking in circles and contradicting each other about things that should be clearly factual? Is there truth mixed in there, or are they just trying to throw enough dirt at each other so that they look cleaner in the end? I mean, I get that that's part of debating, but are all the undecided voters out there really able to follow this?

This isn't as big a problem for me as it could be, because I already have decided who I'm voting for. But I continue to watch because I really want to hear them talk about what they believe and what they want do in office. It's such a letdown for me, every time, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I hope I'm not alone in this frustration.

I also find the town hall format irritating, with the constant milling around. I wish they'd just sit or stand still and talk.

Amelia said...

I didn't get to watch. Sadness! Dang German test tomorrow...

My mom kept texting me commentary, though. I will have to find it on YouTube or something.

Not-So-Normal-Mom said...

I agree with habladora-I loved that Michelle got up and walked around talking to people. I pointed it out to my son (14). I told him to watch how Mrs. McCain was attached to Mr and was a step behind him, grinning. But Michelle was all up in there-independent! Love it. I liked Obama's answers and I thought that he actually answered most of what he was asked, without skirting too much. My fav was when the question was something like "in which order would you put these in order of importance" and McCain said-they're all important! I'll take care of them all! And Obama said "number one___, number two____, and number three____. Loved it! Being in the education field, I can't help but get angry when someone doesn't answer the question that is asked!!!

Radical Reminders said...

I thought Tom was going to LOSE IT... he had steam coming out of his ears about the lengths of responses, rebuttals, and colored lights ;)

sally said...

I missed the first half and got home just in time to hear McCain say "that one." I thought to myself, hear we go again.

Did anybody else notice McCain developing Palin's habit of just saying words w/o worrying if they make sense together or not?

Is it me, or [...]

It's not you, Kekla. There is a lot of talking in circles and repetition and contradictions, etc. I have gotten used to ignoring some of this, so it doesn't bug me anymore. However, when I speak to... umm... slightly less intellectual (?) people, they don't seem to notice this at all. They just go with the gut reaction and what sounds good to them.

habladora said...

Did anybody else notice McCain developing Palin's habit of just saying words w/o worrying if they make sense together or not?

Yes. Some of his sentences were really garbled.

And, yes, Kekla - the candidates are often talking without saying much, or avoiding the question entirely. As Not So Normal points out, though, Obama did a much better job of answering the questions at some point during his responses. If you listened closely at the end, when everyone was up shaking hands, you could hear Tom grumbling about long-winded so-and-so's before realizing his mic was still on...

And 'that one'?!? Barack Obama a U.S. Senator, it is hugely inappropriate to treat him in such a way. Over at Renee's (here), some readers are suggesting that this type of disrespect is a type of "'dog-whistling' to the racist right."

Jessica said...

casmall, I think you may be talking about CNN's dial tracker thing they have on the bottom of the screen. I watch debates online too and CNN doesn't have a very friendly live streaming debate tool. I have yet to watch any of them there. Afterwards I see their stuff on youtube, but it isn't on their own site. (Watching the debates online is getting gradually easier with each one. But it's still too hard.)

Btw, I tend to agree with one of the guys making the rounds (checking shows me it's Mike Murphy who I saw on MSNBC) that the dial testing stuff is crap. (A sample size of 40?) I think their focus group follow up is pretty bad too. A lot of the video is just painful. Anchors ask bad questions and don't let people give full answers.