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Obama Won't Cruise To Win In Debates (Hurl alert)
IBD Editorial ^ | September 19, 2008 | DAVID S. BRODER

Posted on 09/19/2008 6:30:38 PM PDT by Kaslin

Friday evening in Oxford, Miss., Barack Obama and John McCain will meet in the first presidential debate of 2008, and this dramatic campaign will in all likelihood reach another turning point.

The matchup could have come much earlier, but Obama turned down McCain's invitation to join in a series of joint town hall meetings during the summer. That would have allowed both men to ease into personal confrontation with relatively small audiences and similarly modest stakes.

Now they meet with terribly high expectations on both of them, and little room for error. McCain, after enjoying a brief boost in his fortunes from the Republican convention and the unveiling of Sarah Palin, has fallen back into his pre-convention position, lagging slightly behind. Obama still is unable to lock down 270 electoral votes, because he is falling well short of the lead that Democrats enjoy generically over the Republican opposition this year.

Obama is known for his eloquence, while McCain often struggles even when given a decent script to read. That creates an expectation that the Democrat ought to dominate when the two men are directly compared.

But when I discussed the coming debate with one of the Democrats' most experienced debate handlers — a man who helped prepare Hillary Clinton for the primary debates and now is advising Obama — he said, "No matter what others say, I think this is a very even matchup."

(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; debates; downplayexpectations; mccain; mccainpalin; obama; obamabiden
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To: Kaslin

Obama has yet to win a debate but Broder says he will win.

Its an unapologetic statement that we the Media will decide that he won regardless of his performance.


21 posted on 09/19/2008 7:27:09 PM PDT by lonestar67 (Its time to withdraw from the War on Bush-- your side is hopelessly lost in a quagmire.)
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To: blueyon

Friday Sept 26th.

VP debate following Thursday, Oct. 2. This is the one I’m looking forward to.


22 posted on 09/19/2008 7:34:16 PM PDT by wayoverthehill
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To: roses of sharon
Why do only Democrat hacks get to moderate debates?
Because ever since the 1968 liberal takeover of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party has been the political wing of Big Journalism. Thus, the only difference between a "liberal Democrat" and an "objective journalist" is that the latter has a job as a reporter and the former does not.

23 posted on 09/19/2008 7:36:54 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The conceit of journalistic objectivity is profoundly subversive of democratic principle.)
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To: Kaslin

McCain has always been more than solid in debates. Obama, without a teleprompter, is far from eloquent. He stammers and stutters and wracks his brain for what to say next.

The only chance Obama has to outdo McCain is if the slimeballs in the Obama friendly media leak him the questions in advance and fire loaded questions at McCain.


24 posted on 09/19/2008 7:45:14 PM PDT by GeeMoney (Hey Obama, it's God BLESS America!)
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To: Kaslin
<<>> Yeah, I believe that quote. Although maybe the "Republican" was Gergen. Did Obama win a single debate during the Dem primaries? I thought he got his clock cleaned by Hillary in every one I saw. And his performance at Saddleback relative to McCain's certainly doesn't show that Uhhhbama is in another league when he doesn't have his teleprompter.
25 posted on 09/19/2008 7:46:37 PM PDT by nyc1
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To: Kaslin
All you need to know about David Broder is this:

In the first year of Clinton's Presidency, when Bill was saying "we may be able to balance the budget in 10 years," and his budget director was saying "deficit reduction is really not our priority." Mr Broder rushed to the defense of the Dems to shore up support among the Perotistas who'd gotten Bill elected by writing (and I am not making this up) There really is no such thing as a deficit, because assets and liabilities, at the end of the day always have to balance on the sheet.

Howzat again?

That's right. This bonehead actually believes that because there must be a mathematical balance of positives and negatives, there is a net zero flow of actual cash in every budget. This is why liberals think you don't need to stop at gas stations: just go and inflate your tires.

26 posted on 09/19/2008 8:14:37 PM PDT by FredZarguna (Don't tase me, Pa!)
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To: Kaslin

Obama got beat by a girl in the Democratic debates.


27 posted on 09/19/2008 8:19:16 PM PDT by happygrl
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To: supercat

>>>I’d much rather see a debate where questions are selected or drafted by openly-partisan people. Things would be much more interesting that way. <<<

I’m with you. The moderators for the next debate should be Keith Olberman and Rush Limbaugh, each providing questions for the candidate on the other side of their ideology. That would be a real eye-opener.

The other idea I’ve always had is a real debate in the old-fashioned style, with two candidates squaring off in the Lincoln-Douglas style.

What we have now is just a chance for the candidates to BS their way through gotcha questions and softballs for the homeboy. In the real world, the president will have to confront some pretty tough characters; it would be appreciated if we could see how they handle pressure and an aggressive foe.


28 posted on 09/19/2008 9:26:35 PM PDT by redpoll
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To: redpoll
The moderators for the next debate should be Keith Olberman and Rush Limbaugh, each providing questions for the candidate on the other side of their ideology. That would be a real eye-opener.

Makes it sound like the two are comparable, which they are not.

29 posted on 09/19/2008 9:30:50 PM PDT by NutCrackerBoy
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To: NutCrackerBoy

>>>The moderators for the next debate should be Keith Olberman and Rush Limbaugh, each providing questions for the candidate on the other side of their ideology. That would be a real eye-opener.<<<

{{{Makes it sound like the two are comparable, which they are not.}}}

I just got in from harvesting the carrots and turnips and potatoes; I’m all wet from a hard driving rain; it looks like snow is coming in a few days; and you’re right - I had a hard time coming up with the leftist guy to balance Rush, and I’m cold and tired, so I picked Olberman instead of Alan Colmes and pressed the “post” button. On the other hand, the spectacle of Olberman sputtering and pontificating in his typical loud stupid manner would be grand entertainment. I agree that the two aren’t comparable.


30 posted on 09/19/2008 9:35:36 PM PDT by redpoll
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To: Kaslin

The only way Obama bin Biden loses debate in eyes of MSM
is if he arrives dressed as a muslim.


31 posted on 09/19/2008 11:06:29 PM PDT by ajay_kumar (Obama liked EVERY tax increase...he voted 94 times for tax increases!)
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To: IllumiNaughtyByNature
See you all in February. /s

February of which year? I'm thinking 2019 at the earliest. :)

32 posted on 09/20/2008 12:16:45 AM PDT by GOP_Raider (If I wanted a Chicago politician as my President, I'd vote for Richard Daley)
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To: wayoverthehill

thanks


33 posted on 09/20/2008 3:18:15 AM PDT by blueyon (Every one should get their 15 mins under the bus)
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To: Kaslin
Obama is known for his eloquence...

"Uh..uh...uh...you know" is eloquence? Who knew?

34 posted on 09/20/2008 3:27:47 AM PDT by Allegra (Hang in there, Houston. I love ya.)
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