Live blogging the debate. I won’t be making new posts — I’ll update the content of this post; so just keep refreshing if you want to see it as I go.
I’ll be using C-Span Debate Hub for video clips and such. I’ll be learning their system on the fly, so we’ll see what happens there….
8:03 PM — Here we go…
8:04 PM — McCain — “Americans are victims of greed on Wall Street and Washington DC.” Blames Fannie and Freddie. “we need to put the home owners first — acknowledges people who _were_ responsible with their mortgages….
8:06 PM — Obama — tax cut for people making less than $200k. I thought it was $250k…?
Need to fix energy policy, fix education
8:08 PM — McCain — Joe Wurtzelbach confronted Obama — why is Obama going to tax his small business? McCain says Obama will increase taxes on small business.
8:09 PM — There’s the tax cut for 95% of “working families”. McCain, please address that that many already don’t pay taxes.
8:11 PM — McCain — Obama to Joe the plumber: “we need to spread the wealth around”. The basis of Obama’s policy is class warfare — again “We need to spread the wealth around.” McCain making great hay of “Joe the Plumber”
8:13 PM — Obama: “Nobody likes taxes” McCain: “If nobody likes taxes, let’s not raise them on anyone.”
8:14 PM — Moderator– “_both_ of you will increase the deficit”
8:17 PM — McCain “We have to have nuclear power”
What would I cut? “I would have an across-the-board spending freeze.”
8:18 PM — McCain would cut ethanol subsidies. He would fight for line-item veto.
8:20 PM — McCain “Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.” Yeah!
8:22 PM — McCain — Obama, name one time you stood up against your own party.
Obama: I supported tort reform. “I have a history of reaching across the aisle.”
8:24 PM — Obama: “On economic policy you propose eight more years of the same thing”
McCain: “Your argument of standing up to your party isn’t very convincing.”
8:25 PM — Moderator: Both your campaigns have gotten nasty. Are you willing to sit here and look each other in the face and say those things?
McCain: Obama refused my requests to sit down and to town hall meetings. That has affected the tone of the campaigns.
I have repudiated out-of bounds remarks by Republicans. Obama has Not repudiated out-of-bounds from his supporters. Obama supporter Senator John Lewis compared McCain to racist George Wallace.
8:27 PM — McCain — “Obama has spent more money on negative advertising than any candidate in history”
8:28 PM — Obama: “We expect presidential campaigns to be tough.” “100% of your ads, John, have been negative.”
Tonight’s discussion — “that’s the stuff that a campaign should be made of.”
8:29 PM — Obama is beating the drum “four more years of failed economic policy.” He is latching on to the economy and trying to lay it at McCain’s feet.
8:30 PM — McCain — your ads attacking my health care policy are lies. Ditto immigration. Heh — “Joe the plumber and “spreading the wealth around” again.
8:32 PM — Obama: All Americans see is a tit-for-tat.
8:34 PM — McCain brought up the tee-shirts….
8:35 PM — Obama –We have to talk about the issues and not try to paint each other as bad people.
8:36 PM — McCain — Ayers, ACORN “perpetrating perhaps the greatest voter fraud in the country’s history”
8:37 PM — Obama: Ayers is a professor of education in Chicago. he is not involved in my campaign, and will not advise me in the White House. ACORN: “apparently” they were paying people to register people, and they were just filling out forms.
8:39 PM — Obama: “the fact that [Ayers] is the center of your campaign says more about your campaign than it says about me”
8:39 PM — McCain: “My campaign is about getting the economy back on track.” “I’m not going to raise taxes the way Senator Obama wants to raise taxes in a tough economy.”
8:41 PM — Why is your running mate better than the other guy’s?
Obama: Biden will fight for the little guy. Has good foreign policy record. 1994 Crime Bill. Violence Agains Women Act. “After eight years of failed policies…” On key issue Biden “has always been on the right side”
8:42 PM — McCain: Palin is role model to women. She is a reformer. She has fought her own party. Faced down oil companies. $40 billion pipeline supplying lower 48. “Breath of fresh air, sweep[ing] out the old boys’ network”. She understands autism and such, and will reach out to those families.
8:44 PM — “Do you think she’s qualified?”
Obama: “That’s up to the American people.” Nice dodge. If we have an “across the board spending freeze” we can’t address things like autistic children.
8:45 PM — McCain: Biden has been wrong much of the time. He wanted to split Iraq into three countries. McCain: Obama “says ‘we have to spend more; we have to spend more’. Why do we always have to spend more?”
8:46 PM — Q: Give a specific number: by how much can we reduce our dependence on foreign oil?
8:47 PM — McCain: Nukes Baby! We can stop buying from China and Middle East, and buy from Canada. In 8-10 years we can eliminate our dependence on the parts of the world that threaten our country.
8:48 PM — Obama: In 10 years we can eliminate our importing from parts of the world that are our enemies.
Both of them are goofy — in world market, oil is oil is oil — doesn’t matter where you buy it, it’s a commodity and is a wash in the grand scheme of things….
8:50 PM — Obama: “I believe in free trade, but…”
President needs to advocate American businesses.
8:51 PM — McCain: Look at Obama’s words — “we will ‘look at’ offshore drilling.” We can drill right now! NICE.
8:53 PM — McCain — O has never traveled south of our borders. “Free trade with Columbia is a no-brainer”
8:54 PM — Obama: We need to stand up to other countries (on trade)
Auto industry — car dealerships are closing because of the financial crisis. Detroit was slow to make efficient vehicles. Gov’t should “make them” make the right cars.
8:55 PM — McCain — Obama doesn’t want free trade with our best ally in Latin America, but wants to sit down and negotiate with Hugo Chavez.
“Obama wants to restrict trade and raise taxes — the last president to do that was Herbert Hoover, and that took use from a recession to a deep depression.”
8:57 PM — Health insurance: Obama’s plan — you can keep the insurance you have if you want. If not, you can buy into the same plan that senators have. “We’re going to make sure to manage preventive diseases such as diabetes.”
8:59 PM — McCain — $5,000 tax credit for health care. Joe the Plumber again. Joe — if you don’t get Obama’s health plan, Obama will fine you.
9:00 PM — Obama: Joe — here’s your fine: Zero. McCain: “Zero???” Obama: I exempt small businesses. Only fine big businesses “that can afford it”. McCain’s $5,000 credit, but average health insurance plan costs $12,000
9:03 PM — McCain — “Hey Joe, you’re rich — congratulations” Joe the Plumber wants to buy the business he works for, and would qualify for Obama’s fine.
People would get their employer’s health plan, PLUS the $5,000 credit. “A change to choose their own futures”
9:05 PM — McCain: “Senator Government… er… Senator Obama” wants government to choose your health plan
9:06 PM — Roe v. Wade — could you nominate someone to the court who disagrees with you?
McCain — I have never imposed a litmus test. I would nominate based on qualifications. McCain was part of the “gang” that broke gridlock on nominations. Sen Obama voted against Justice Roberts based on that they didn’t meet his ideology.
9:08 PM — Obama: “It’s true we shouldn’t impose a litmus test.” One of use will be probably making an appointment, and “Roe vs. Wade hangs in the balance” “I believe the Constitution has a right to privacy in it, and should not be subject to state [decisions]“.
Senator Obama, would you please tell me WHERE in the Constitution it says “right to privacy”???
Obama talking about equal pay for women — the courts need to stand up for these kinds of things and he would appoint judges that would do so.
McCain “You would waive the statue of limitation, and that would be a trial lawyer’s dream”
9:12 PM — McCain — How do you vote “present” on a law to protect the life of a baby that is born during a failed abortion?
Obama: “It’s not true” There was such legislation — it “would have undermined Roe v. Wade”
“I’m willing to support a ban on late-term abortion” if it has exception for health of mother.
“We need to prevent pregnancies.” “Nobody is pro-abortion.”
McCain: Again look at Obama’s wording: The “health of the mother” is commonly stretched to mean just about anything. McCain has a few times pointed out Obama’s carefully chosen “eloquence” — i.e he parses words to conceal what he’s really saying.
9:17 PM — Education
Obama — a balance between “more money and reform — we need both”.
“We need to make college affordable.”
Hey Obama - as with housing, if government gives the money away PRICES WILL GO UP!
McCain: it’s “the civil rights issue of the 21st century” Free choice is the key issue. Reward and promote good teachers. “Give parents the same choice that Sen. Obama and Cindy & I had” “Throwing money at the problem is not the answer.” Support Teach for America. Adjust student loan eligibility to inflation.
9:21 PM — Suddenly Obama likes Bush — “No Child Left Behind” was good, but not funded.
Obama likes charter schools & needs to get rid of bad teachers — agrees with McCain on these. Disagrees on vouchers.
9:23 PM — McCain — No Child was a great beginning — we should re-authorize. Spending more money is not always the answer. “Head Start program is not doing what it should be doing.”
“It’s a system that cries out for accountability.” “Vouchers… are a good and workable system.”
Obama on vouchers: “The data doesn’t show that it solves the problem” In Washington DC, there were only 2,000 vouchers — leaving the rest of the parents without.
9:26 PM — McCain mocks Obama: “Because there are not enough vouchers, we shouldn’t do it, even though it’s working… Got it.”
(McCain has been smiling a lot tonight. Heh.)
9:30 PM — Obama: “Washington’s unwillingness to tackle the hard issues over decades” has lead to the financial problems. Huh??? Again with the “failed policies of [Bush].”
9:32 PM — ABC Announcer: “A little over an hour tonight was devoted to Joe the Plumber” LOL
Joe “the plumber” Wurtzelbacher (sp?) is a real person.
