Epic Fail
Pundits and partisans tend to be impressed by attacks, but the portion of the population that actually watches debates with changeable minds don’t. They judge the candidates on such inane factors like demeanor, confidence, and temperment. I say inane, because I prefer my candidates on the issues. That is why I am a Democrat. Because of the issues. Was Al Gore a pompous ass? Sure. But he was right too. Was Dukakis devoid of emotion? Sure, but he was right on the issues. Did Kerry look like a French elitist? Sure, but he was right on the issues.
We should judge substance rather than the intangible. But those who are not partisans one way or the other do judge intangibles. They want to be comfortable with their President. They are inviting this man or woman into their living rooms for the next four years, and so candidates are very much judged liked suitors on a date. Why did Al Gore lose his debates with George W. Bush? Because he was unlikable, rude and arrogant.
Why did John McCain lose all three debates to Barack Obama. Because he was erratic, angry, mean, grumpy, and selfish. He is not a man you want to have a beer with. He is a narcisstic and misogynistic asshole. And he showed it in volumes last night, because Barack Obama and Joe Biden were geniuses prior to the debate. They goaded him into attacking. They challenged his manhood. “Hey John, why don’t you say that to my face!?!” It worked.
This debate format, with both candidates seated and facing each other, does not provide for attacks of the kind John McCain launched last night. If McCain wanted to attack, he should have done it in the first debate, but he lost that opportunity. Further, attacks were not what the American people wanted to hear. They wanted answers to the tough challenges facing us in the economy, healthcare, climate change and energy policy. John McCain lost the debate because he cared more about his hurt feelings over John Lewis and more about what Bill Ayers did 40 years ago than about what the American people care about today: their very existence. Will they have jobs tomorrow? Will they have healthcare? How are we going to pay for gas, food, and education? John McCain provided no answers. All he says is “I will fix it, my friends, when I am president.” That is his answer to every question. Fix it how, asshole? Tell me how. We don’t get told how. We get told to “shut up” and listen to his hurt feelings. We get told “shut up” and hear about this scary guy Obama.
John McCain has no respect for the American people, and I think he is pissed off that he has to explain himself to the American people. He should be President with no effort, in his mind. The Presidency is his. Who are we to dare consider anyone else. He served this country as a POW, and thus he should never be questioned. We should just be bowing down and surrendering our votes to him. That is how McCain thinks. You can see it in his angry eyes. You can hear it in his sighs of frustration. Oh, and women: John McCain thinks you are an extremist just because you want to live. Just because you might be concerned about your health during a pregnancy.
Yes, that’s right.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N_UfQVuvXo[/youtube]
This election is over. He just lost undecided and independent women. I mean all of them.
This election is really going to change things for the better in this country and the change is going to last a very, very long time.
Here is a final video that sums up the debate:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGzfYOp34d8[/youtube]
DD thanks for contextualizing what I’ve been thinking but not able to put togther.
After last night’s debate I told me wife that I am always wrong about debates. I said, “I thought Kerry killed Bush in the debate only to wake up the next day to find out Bush kicked his ass. I think maybe McCain won this one – but tomorrow I’ll probably learn that Obama won.”
You nailed it with htis post my man.
That is because you and I are political partisans and pundits. We judged debates on points. On points last night, as I said in the comments, I thought McCain won, but I also noticed the visceral that I discuss today, and I thought the visceral would probably lose him the debate, or at least provide a tie.
It lost him the debate by a landslide, according to the post debate reaction polls.
Given all of this, (for all his flip/floppery) Mitt would have been a better choice.
The wingnuts would have come around and he would have given Obama a run for his money in among Ohio and Florida independents.
It must be cold comfort to Dave Burris to know that he was right, and Mike Castle was wrong from the get go.
I just don’t know. Mitt Romney’s claim to economic fail is Bain Capital. I think a lot of attention would have been paid to his layoffs and dealings. He might have been seen as part of the problem. Yes, he would have made this race more competitive, for he could say with a straight face that he has executive and business experience, but I think the public would still reject Republican orthodoxy of trickle down.
I have the same problem as Jason; my inner Bubba always thinks McCain is doing better than he is.
Why did John McCain lose all three debates to Barack Obama. Because he was erratic, angry, mean, grumpy, and selfish.
And…. he is wrong on the issues.
They goaded him into attacking.
The thing is, McCain had already attacked, with surrogates and whisper campaigns, not to mention his actual negative ads.
The genius of the Obama/Biden challenge was that it called attention to the desperation of McCain’s slime campaign. It didn’t even matter if McCain actually accepted the challenge or not.
McCain’s best option would have been to go nuclear on Obama – in a serious, controlled way – over Ayers and Wright, defining and laying out his beef with those associations in a way that educated and connected with voters on those issues.
But McCain couldn’t even manage that, instead just saying he didn’t care about Ayers, thus invalidating all his negative ads on the subject.
Great points anon. I hadn’t considered the impact of McCain’s throw away “I don’t care about a washed up terrorists” line.
He conceeded the stupidity of his own campaign.
I put up a reality check post last night on this (but I can’t access it from here…booooo). This is done.
It’s over, Johnny.
It ain’t over, it ain’t over until I say it’s over!
That’s what we have to look forward to.
You lose all credibility when you talk about Sen McCain’s ‘manhood’.
Sen. Obama is not qualified or ready to be President. Ask Sen Biden.
Protack is going down with the ship.
Just remember that this is the same Protack that told us he was going to beat Bill Lee. Thanks for playing Mike.
“Sen. Obama is not qualified or ready to be President. Ask Sen Biden.”
Isn’t that for the voters to decide, Mike? And what do you think Biden would say if you asked him that this morning?
Do you really think the readers of this blog think that your commentary here is sincere?
And didn’t Protack call Lee a coward? Sounds like Mike questioned Lee’s “manhood”. What was that about losing ALL credibility, Mike?
One thing that I find fascinating about this election is how the left has defined the meme for Mcinsane as “angry”. It was something that they couldn’t do at all for Bush because of the right wing media.
I disagree with DD entirely that Al Gore was pompous or Dukakis was devoid of emotion or that Kerry looked like a French elitist. If you truly believe that, then you swallowed the beltway village pundits’ meme echoed constantly by the right wing echo machine.
Substance is why McCain’s “manhood” is being attacked and his lack of substance. He was given the opportunity last night and he threw everything he had at Obama. Everything! And what did he get? Nothing. All the polls show it was nothing. Even the whole “I’m not George Bush”… No one ever said you were, the problem is that most people realize that what You’re saying Senator McCain is no different than what has been in full effect these past 8 years. Here’s another attack on his “Manhood”… If you really firmly believe that your running mate is “qualified” then man up and quit trying to protect her and let her go on interviews… We all know why he doesn’t because he knows deep down inside what a stupid, stupid mistake it was to get her…
Check out Obama’s latest ad “90 Percent”. It is masterful and devastating.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1859660952
Sorry, anon, DD is right on the money!
Gore, Dukakis and Kerry were good on paper, lousy in person.
I usually notice the TV stuff, as well as the substance. I remember noticing Gore’s sighs during the debate with Bush and thinking they were distracting. I thought Gore won on points, but I agreed with Gore a lot more than Bush. I wasn’t surprised when Gore’s demeanor became an issue. Kerry definitely won the debates with Bush, especially the first one but Kerry had a much tougher task of taking on an incumbent president. I certainly noticed his body language but I was a bit distracted by my lousy internet connection. Some pundit picked up the same think I noticed about McCain’s make-up. I was worried it was just my TV.
I definitely need to rewatch the debate. I like watching it again after seeing the reactions to see if I can pick up some of the things that are mentioned.
One of the things that McCain can’t quite overcome is that there is a huge disconnect between the “Hero” he wanted to sell (and was part of the goodwill he had everywhere) and the way he has conducted himself and his campaign. He’s been angry, flailing and uncertain in a way you just don’t associate with someone you might think of as a “Hero”. He’s been consistently negative and negative by straight out lying and resorting to stupid character attacks (celebrity?). There is absolutely nothing of the persistent taker of the high road that he so successfully sold for so long. And in many ways, all of this has served to demonstrate just how doctrinaire a conservative McCain is — the very little moderate stuff that was actually on his resume was just for show.