McCain/Palin v. Obama/Biden

[Araxen]

that lifeline part is classic stuff. lmao

[I'm Rich Bitch]

Originally Posted by Jedite

ROFLMAO

Poor Palin.

Tina Fey As Sarah Palin: Katie Couric SNL Skit (VIDEO)

Funny because it is true.

[Jabberwhacky]

And then it's not funny because it's true.

[chaos]

It's fun to laugh, but yeah, it's really not funny. We are so close to that woman being President. Of the United States. It's.... I really just don't have words to express my feelings on this. I did all the right things, I served my country and voted and volunteered and all that shit. And here we are. President Palin. It's frighteningly close to being a reality.

[Gilgamel]

I think she's clearly not overly intelligent, and she's not that experienced. But I wouldn't be any more confident with Biden in there as her. She scares me because she doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about; he scares me because he thinks he knows it all better than anyone else. I think both candidates made terrible selections.

[Celebrindal]

Obama Outlines Science Spending Boost

Obama outlines science spending boost

Nobel laureates endorse Democratic candidate and his plans for science.

Alexandra Witze

As political and financial leaders in the United States struggled on Thursday to contain the meltdown on Wall Street, presidential contender Barack Obama released an 11-page "plan for science and innovation" that outlined aggressive investments in science and technology. The proposal includes a doubling of funding over ten years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed funding increases for science and technology.Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed funding increases for science and technology.

At the same time, 61 US Nobel science laureates endorsed Obama — the largest number ever to make their voices heard during a presidential campaign. In 2004, 48 science Nobelists threw their weight behind John Kerry, then the Democratic presidential contender.

The Obama supporters range from James Watson, a 1962 Nobel prize winner in physiology or medicine, to two of last year's winners in physiology or medicine, Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies. In an "open letter to the American people," they write: "The country urgently needs a visionary leader who can ensure the future of our traditional strengths in science and technology and who can harness those strengths to address many of our greatest problems: energy, disease, climate change, security, and economic competitiveness. We are convinced that Senator Barack Obama is such a leader."

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has not yet laid out his plans for science and technology in such detail, and his campaign did not return a request for comment.
Fleshed out

The Obama plan contains more specific details on science policies than had been released previously (see the questions he answered for Nature on related topics here: http://www.nature.com/news/2008/0809.../455446a.html). For instance, he plans to restore the presidential science advisor to a position that reports directly to the president; details a "fast track" system to permit international students who study at US universities to begin working in the United States without having to return home first; emphasizes research into "smart grids" to improve efficiency in the nation's electrical distribution system; and talks of strengthening the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon's hub for cutting-edge research.

Besides the NIH, agencies that would benefit from funding increases would include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's Office of Science and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. As a senator, John McCain has voted in favour of such increases in the physical sciences, under the rubric of the popular America COMPETES Act.

Some of the Nobelists supporting Obama say they did so because they want change after eight years of President George W. Bush's administration, during which researchers have complained of manipulation of science for political ends. "We need new and visionary leadership," says Bob Horvitz, a biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "Senator Obama will engage top scientists in our nation's great challenges."

Securing the proposed funding increases may itself be a great challenge, particularly given the present fiscal crisis. The NIH's $29-billion annual budget has already been stagnating over the past few years.

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Biologist Harold Varmus, head of Obama's science advisory team and former head of the NIH, says that Obama shows a commitment to increasing funding for the sciences, whereas McCain has proposed a one-year spending freeze to cope with blooming deficits. Yet whoever the next president is, he will ultimately have to rely on Congress to pass spending bills — and on Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed by a wide margin a 'continuing resolution' funding bill that leaves both NIH and NSF flat-funded into 2009.

[chaos]

Originally Posted by Gilgamel

I think she's clearly not overly intelligent, and she's not that experienced. But I wouldn't be any more confident with Biden in there as her. She scares me because she doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about; he scares me because he thinks he knows it all better than anyone else. I think both candidates made terrible selections.

I can understand how people wouldn't like Biden. He's pretty smug, especially when the subject rolls around to foreign policy, but at least he is coming from a position based on his knowledge. But I don't think it's the same. I think if Biden were President, by and large the country would be the same as if Obama were President and I think that his diplomatic experience would be really helpful, especially with our current position in the world. With Palin being President, I really just can't imagine a worse choice that would have any kind of realistic shot. She has no concept what she is talking about, or what she is being asked in these interviews. I have no confidence that she understands anything about foreign policy, energy, economics, shit anything. That woman, stewarding our economy through the worst crisis since the Great Depression.

I consider myself a realist. I can picture either McCain or Obama or even biden in the Presidency and doing at least as well as Bush has done, on the low end. I can't imagine a scale to measure Palin on.

[Lleauaric~EW]

If Biden shows up and displays contempt and demeans Palin, she might win on sympathy.

If Biden treats her nicely, like some kid from Make A Wish who's dream was to be in a VP debate, then he will utterly destroy her, not just in the debate, but politically.

[Vandyn]

The bar is set so low for her that if she comes across as somewhat intelligent on what she's talking about, even if for the most part its canned responses that she's been fed by the campaign, most will see that as a win. Biden himself said that he knows that she can debate so it's not something she's never done before.

Her biggest problem with any of these interviews is not once did it feel like she was offering her own opinion, just some canned campaign line.

[Tuco]

ibtl

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/gener...cain-poll.html

[Millie]

Originally Posted by Sharmai

Actually the opposite is true... Where did you come to believe what you said above?

As far as I have ever heard it has always been said that McCain is a great and experienced debater but not a great motivating large crowd speaker.

I have heard that in small crowds and meetings McCain is EXCELLENT at connecting with the people but not so much on a larger stage.


At no point have i ever heard that McCain was a bad debater..

He was god-awful in the Republican primaries. I mean, near-incoherent awful. He would just smirk that arrogant little smirk of his, stutter and stumble across his words, and at times lose his train of thought mid-sentence. I'd also heard a lot of analysts (CNN, etc.) always talking about how he's very inarticulate when speaking in public. I'd heard a little bit about his supposed strength in "town hall" style settings -- something I'll admit I have very little idea about, but I'm guessing "town hall" is a euphemism for small crowd with no live coverage? Like I said, I don't know.

At any rate, everything I'd seen and heard of and about McCain leading up to these debates led me to believe he was a terrible speaker and a terrible debater. He surprised me a great deal in this last debate. I still think every single point he made was ridiculous, if not outright and objectively wrong. But he was much better at debating than I thought he'd be.