The live presidential debate was a town hall style event, moderated my NBC’s Tom Brokaw, and in which I have to say seemed to have John McCain very at ease.

The economy of course was a central issue as Wall Street took another unheard of plunge today, and had MSNBC’s Jim Kramer suggest that at this time it might be prudent to take your money out of the market.

Tax cuts were talked about and deregulation was bandied about in reference to why this crisis has happened.

Both candidates felt that the economy would turn around, but the two candidates have different approaches and both seem to agree that it will be a slow process to turn the economy around.

Obama is able to put much of the budget deficits squarely on the Bush administration and is able to tie senator McCain to all of the votes for the Bush budgets.

Senator McCain’s response is aimed toward bipartisanship across the isle, in reference to getting us out of the budget crisis, but does not refute Obama’s claims about McCain’s votes for the Bush budgets in the past few years.

He also focused his attention toward alternative energy sources to lower our demand on foreign energy, so that our economy could be strengthened.

I have tended to hear from senator McCain a lot of wishful thinking as far as what America can accomplish in a very short time span ( and frankly, a four year term is a relatively short time span ) to try to get our children out of Iraq ( not that was mentioned here ), along with cutting the deficit, and shoring up the economy, while senator Obama was a bit more realistic as far as what programs would have to be cut in order to cut the deficit, rather than cuts across the board that would effect more than just a few programs.

I think senator McCain scores some points as far as his stance toward taxes and has just scored very big here, including stating his plans toward giving tax incentives to small business, but senator Obama was not able to respond to the statement due to time considerations.

Obama’s tax statement is simple, if you make $200,000 per year or less, you will not see a tax increase.

Climate change and the idea of green jobs were brought up and senator McCain’s answer had to do with nuclear power, while senator Obama’s response seemed to focus on generating new jobs, but did not just mention using nuclear power to order to do this. He also mentioned the oil consumption issue here in the US.

One question was asked should health care be treated as a commodity? Both senators Obama and McCain spoke of their different approaches to this issue.

Okay, I did the best I could with trying to follow this but I missed a lot of important points here so, I will end this with the question of America’s Foreign Policy and I have to say here that I feel that both candidates are very sincere with their separate answers to this question and of course their very different approaches and feelings toward American Foreign Policy.

While I feel that senator McCain is a bit naive about what he might be able to accomplish in his presidency, while I feel that senator Obama, while being accused of having no real experience in anything that would be close to foreign policy experience, just seems to have a better grasp of what needs to be done as far as the Iraq/ Afghanistan affair, and how that pertains to our present compliment of American Soldiers, and how that compliment could handle present and future problems abroad.

There was a bit more to this debate happening as I write this, but I think I got the best of the debate before it started to wind down, and I have to say that I honestly felt that both candidates have made valid points on several issues, and I will take what I also read from others tomorrow and do a follow up to this so stay tuned for some more on this debate.

The actual debate has just ended at about 10:35pm

And remember that there is one more debate on October 15th at Hofsta University, and please if you are still an undecided voter, than you need to see the last debate on the 15th.

Is this ” Guilt by Association? “

You bet it is, and aren’t the conservative talk show hosts and the candidate running for vice president just chomping at the bit to exploit this bit of noir information?

Yes, lets just take this bit of social interaction and snowball it into a mountain of conjecture that can be spoon fed to us by a right wing media that is starting to see the McCain/Palin campaign starting to do the proverbial nosedive?

One fact…by the time that Obama had met Ayers, Ayers was a teacher, an Education Professor…probably one of those professors that conservatives are always saying use our children as left wing repositories, one of those professors who spew their left wing agendas to a captive audience.

I guess the real question here is can’t a person change? Can’t a person grow and leave their past behind them? Can’t they have a fresh start? You would think that the answer here is yes right?

Not in a political race for the highest office in the land…the presidency…no trespasses forgiven….no past deeds overlooked ( and make no mistake this is equal for both sides of the isle ), and even if the answer is no, does a person become guilty of association because of chance meetings?

Apparently, the answer here, in this case, under these circumstances is a resounding yes!

And just to end this little rant on a high note, the aforementioned Bill Ayers and his wife are both professors, Bill who teaches at the University of Illinois, and his wife Bernardine Dohrn, teaches at Northwestern University.

Two terrorists of the mind.

I will be watching the debate and either have a report later tonight or tomorrow night depending on my schedule and how I’m feeling.

But let me just state right now…if you are undecided at this point in time as to who you are voting for, this second debate will more than likely help you make up your mind.

I predict that tonight will bring a lot of muck raking, act calling, and a lot of accusation from both podiums…but only one of the candidates will win out tonight if they focus in on the most important issue that America is facing right now…and that is a lagging ( almost fatal ) economy.

While the subject of Iraq will surely be touched upon, this is not a major election issue at this particular point in time and if both candidates waste time on this issue, than the candidacy will all of a sudden become a toss up between two out of touch candidates rather than just one.

Watch the debate tonight, I guarantee it will be interesting and possibly even a bit explosive.

that is featuring an email from someone named Wick Allison. I’ll take a closer look at this tonight and have another post about this sometime this week.

http://demablogue.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/a-response-to-leading-off-by-wick-allison/

I ask this question more in the rhetorical vein due to what I have heard almost all of this year…

I have heard a term used by most conservative talk show hosts on the radio for most of this year when speaking of the Democrats and that term is Political Expediency…

And what I find about this term, is that it has been used against the Dems whenever it has been convenient for conservative talk radio to point out something that they consider to be wrong toward any Democratic action.

And this term was used very often by Shawn Hannity, during the Clinton years..so my question becomes…Does the Republican Party have any kind of Political Agenda?

And the answer of course is …Yes they do!

I shouldn’t even have to ask the question!

Of course they do!

Just look at the current administration now…President Bush…Republican…took us into Iraq under the premise of WMD’s…did we ever find these WMD’s?

No!

But what is the Republican mantra towards the Iraqi War at this time?…Stay the course…we can still win and bring democracy to this dustbowl of a country…whether they want one or not…and that is a mixed bag also!

And lets not even mention the 700 billion baleout, because this is something that while needed, shouldn’t have happened in the first place and I think equal blame should be placed with both parties on this one.

So, in closing this first post that I have done in a loooooooong time….both parties have political agendas, and it’s up to us as american citizens to decide what we feel is right for us and our country…and as always we should look at both sides of any issue in order to make an educated decision or even just a half assed comment…and we should especially know the issues on both sides of the isle in this election year, not just the rantings of one side or the other.

Lew

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Everyone thought that Obama had New Hampshire all but a lock, which just goes to show you that this race is very early and that anything is possible.

Senator McCaine was definitely a surprise winner here, but if you listen to conservative talk radio, they say that McCain won due to the libertarian vote, while Clinton won because of more women coming out to vote for the candidate.

And in other developments, Senator Bill Richardson is dropping out of the race on the Democrat side, and could there be an even later entry into the race for the white house from another mayor?

I know that mayor Mike Bloomburg is quietly doing some polling to see if he might be a viable candidate running under a Libertarian ticket, but no definite plans at this time.

And the race continues for our pleasure and at times, our amusement.

Sorry I was gone for so long, but I’m here again, and after a long hiatus, I am back and so is Burn The Candle, so let’s get to it shall we…

I said this in the beginning of 2007, while talking about my picks for the Ten Most Important People of 2007, and again later, in another post later in the year, I said to look out for Barack Obama…

And I hate to say I told you so…but I told you so!

Obama wins Iowa, along with a come from no where win for Mike Huckabee

While the Iowa Caucus was just the first stop on the long road to the White House, this can only be viewed as a major upset to The Hillary Clinton camp and will most certainly place Obama squarely in the Clinton camp’s crosshairs.

Reported on talk radio station WABC by some reporter, ” George Bush wants to raise an ADDITIONAL 30 BILLION DOLLARS to help the African country of Darfur and to help fight the aids epidemic sweeping thru Africa in an effort to leave office with a LEGACY!”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!

While a genuine cause, I cannot understand how this schmuck thinks that we here in the US do not have serious issues that need to be addressed first!

How about we revisit Social Security and the Health Care system here in the US.

My mother who lives with me now, lives on a small pension from the state and a small check from Social Security. She has to pay for her Medical coverage, and has to pay for her own meds. She has no plan that allows her to get any type of cash back for her medical and prescription expenses.

I’ve got a thought here…how about instead of helping raise another 30 billion for darphur, we take that cash and infuse our social security program…

or how about we take that raised cash and just redistribute the wealth! I certainly could use a cool million ( well actually I could use three mill ) and just let that grow in a high earning savings account and just live off the interest!

What could be worse than a country that is able to raise this kind of cash for a good cause ( notice I did not say ” great cause ” ) when there are still people here who live in poverty, who live paycheck to paycheck, an elderly population that will continue to grow, and will more than likely not have retirement income, due to a mismanaged Social Security system.

If the president wants to leave office with a legacy, let him do more for his own, before he worries about a foreign nation and it’s people!

The title, ” Why are there piles of bodies at Virginia Tech ” talks about the epidemic of violence in our schools and broaches the subject of guns and gun control and very quickly pushes the subject to the side as just another subject to be filed under the term of ” Political Agenda .”

I get offended when I see that something as important as the debate about gun control get’s labeled as just someone’s way of moving a political agenda forward….well you know what…

with the tragedy of Virginia Tech, and the remembrance and comparison to Columbine, maybe it’s time to look at this so called ” Political Agenda ” topic with a very large microscope.

Is it the right of every red blooded American to bear arms?

The constitution lays out this right very clearly on paper, but is this right now becoming outdated?

The post that I referred to here mentions that this type of violence doen’t happen in other countries, and further that ” Terror has becomes an accepted form of political and social expression, that status granted by those who most profess to be non violent or peaceful “

Certainly, this statement represents a ” slighted ” point of view and really does not reflect how most Americans view terrorism. If this was a view we all shared, than there would be no outrage about the Iraq war and Bush’s ” War On Terror .”

What I feel is that we need to take another look at the so called ” Right to Bear Arms “, certainly an issue that has already sparked debate for many years, and after yet another tragic event, I do not think we can ignore the issue of gun control any longer.

I think the real question is, can we as a people , envision an America without guns? If we want a less violent America, at the very least, it’s time to have a change in direction, and for all you ” I have the right to bear arms, and I only have a gun because I hunt “

people , I say get a bow and arrow and do your hunting the hard way.

Oh, and for all of you gun owners who are ” Sportsmen “….

no, your not…

your just killers, and you can take your elk horns and shove em!

Al Sharpton has finally done it!

He has circumvented the constitution, and he didn’t even have to go to court to do it!

Watch what you say tomorrow at your job, at Shoprite, at your local Sunoco gas station, or any where else you have ( or had the right to )FREE SPEECH!

This is now way past an issue about Imus and his idiotic statement, this is about your constitutional right of ” Freedom of Speech ” and watch what is going to happen in the future to that right.

Where is the justice in this anyway? The only thing that Imus is guilty of …is being Don Imus!

Hello!!

CBS Radio, you really suck!

Another employer that caved into social pressure over a statement that was stupid, but not racist!

You know, if America really wants to be ” Politically Correct “, why don’t we just come down on other entertainers, I can name a few comedy performers, who fall into the ” Don Imus ” school of incorrectness…

how about Dave Chappell, Carlos Mencia, and ….dare I say Cartman from South Park!

Helloooo…..I could see the suspension that was originally planned for Imus from MSNBC, till they caved and pulled him off the TV, and now CBS ( who has been letting Imus do this for YEARS! ) has decided to fire him!

I am going to end this by saying what I have stated earlier in my other posts, while what Don said was just plain stupid and hurtful, I can’t see the justification for the actions from MSNBC and now from CBS Radio.

Oh, and one more thing, Al Sharpton, of all people, shouldn’t have the influence or the clout to get another person fired, just because they did a foolish thing…I will just utter the name of Tawana Brawley, that should be enough to remind people about who and what Al Sharpton is really all about…

Lies, Deception, and Falsehoods.