McCain, Obama Grilled On Issues

As Election Day nears and the presidential candidates prepare for their first debate this coming Friday, a special 40th anniversary broadcast of 60 Minutes presents a revealing side-by-side look at the candidates and their positions.

The candidates were interviewed within a 24 hour period - Sen. Barack Obama in Nevada on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and Sen. John McCain in Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon.

Steve Kroft interviews Obama and Scott Pelley interviews McCain, both of whom have been covering the candidates for over a year.

Candidate McCain

(CBS)

Speaking to correspondent Scott Pelley, Sen. McCain talks about the current Wall Street crisis, names a surprising choice he'd like to see head the Securities and Exchange Commission, discusses his proposed tax cut and budgets cuts, mentions his disapproval of a political office in the White House, and points out differences between himself and President George W. Bush. He also opens up about his faith, and talks about his "rebellious" time as a young man. Watch/Read the interview.

Candidate Obama

(CBS)

Sen. Obama, speaking to correspondent Steve Kroft in Elko, Nev., talks about the economy, health care, his list of top priorities should he be elected, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the threat of a nuclear Iran. He also addresses questions about his experience, and talks about how race is impacting - or could impact - this election. Watch/Read the interview.

[jp0953]

Mcain is lying and CBS was too easy on him. It is obvious that McCain cannot control his temper as he offered without provacation that he should not have had a long conversation with CBS. How is this a defense for saying stupid things like he isn''t knowledgeable about the economy which is obvious when he said "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" after the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddic Mac, the bankruptcy of Lehman, the loan of AIG and CBS did not challenge him on it and that the day before he said the government should not bail out companies the day before the government bailed out AIG and announced the biggest bail out.? With his 9 houses, 13 cars and lies, McCain has lost all integrity in my opinion. He also looked very uncomfortable during the interview which is another sign of not telling the truth because he had to remember what to say. He voted yes for the Gramm Lach Biley bill of 1999 which removed the regulation from the banks and investment banks so he helped to create this problem. There is no way Palin is ready to be president when she isn''t ready to do an interview by herself. She didn''t sell a plane on ebay and she did support the bridge to nowhere. More lies as exposed by the View.

[hjay5]

McCain quoting Adam Smith is hilarious. His camp must have been feeding him that one for sometime. He''s lucky Scott Pelley didn''t follow up.

[hjay5]

McCain quoting Adam Smith is hilarious. His camp must have been feeding him that one for sometime. He''s lucky Scott Pelley didn''t follow up.

[debinva1]

I can''t believe what I just saw. You folks in the media never stop. In the middle of the boring interview with McCain, you tried to stick in a McCain commercial with veterans talking about Obama. I can''t believe it. When does the maddness stop! No matter how many ticks the media tries during this campaign and Obama is still the one to lead the nation, thus he will win the election. So my advise to the media. Give us Obama supporters your best shot. Can''t wait to wipe the smug looks off your faces the day after election day!

[tawpdawg111]

The fact that McCain camp fought to restrict the VP debate with Palin speaks volumes....does it not?

[oldertoo]

Let''s face it: there''s enough blame for this economic mess to go around. How we got here is important because we (hopefully) learn from our history, but we don''t need a knee-jerk reaction nor a long wait to plug the leaks. What we have are two differing philosophies of what government is supposed to be. For me, it is a body of representatives who have my best interest at heart and mind. My best interest is my town''s ability to receive help for updating a crumbling sewer system and roads, education in my town''s school that is falling further behind and a leg up for people who just can''t keep up. My town should have access to the state gov''t that has access to the Feds. Call it grants, earmarks or whatever, it is what I expect and what I require. It seems to me that when our representatives stay too long in the higher levels of gov''t, they reach a level of expertise and power, but they don''t always use it for the people who made it possible -- me and my neighbors. I will always vote for the new guy (male or female) who exhibits a sense of history, curiosity, and guts for changing the status quo. That is why I will vote for Sen. Obama -- because he''s smart and his slate is relatively clean. Why repeat the past when it plain stinks?

[concernedmil]

Its been going so fast and furious that many of you may not really know what it is that makes you feel so drained right now. Alot of you have fought in campaigns before, but this seems like more than the usual 4th quarter blues.

I think it is safe to say that the Democratic party was generally happy and energized after their convention. Glowing, crying, hopeful.

Almost immediately after, Gustav was brewing out in the Caribbean and had already killed some people. The storm was bearing in on the coast of the U.S. and millions were evacuated. You couldn''t be human, or part of the movement to elect Obama, if you didn''t identify with all the unfortunate people that had to pack up, leave, and spend money just to find a space to sleep, find gas, etc.

Then, with that low lying anxiety, and with Ike on the way, Bush jumped out of the circle and ran to Texas as the Republican convention started to "oversee things from there." We were robbed of our ability to see the incumbent standing next to one of his biggest supporters, proving to everyone watching that McCain would be more of the same.

Instead, we got a surprise distraction and a rollercoaster ride. An unprecedented number of people started very actively arguing about politics. It wasn''t a fair fight. They''re shorter, so there were alot of low blows.

For the complete article, see: http://concernedmilf.blogspot.com/2008/09/our-historic-two-weeks.html

ConcernedMilf
www.TheSarahPalinPortal.com

[artgurrl]

Obama has had an economic plan all along. Geesuz people, McCain is just more of the same old Bush & Phil Gramm, supply side deregulation policies that have gotten the U.S into this mess in the first place.
Wake up. McCain''s plan is much more of the same neo-con plan that has created this disaster. Now we have corporate socialism because the GOP and the neo-cons don''t know how to run an economy.
Wake up people, we also don''t need moosehuntress for VP. The woman is a religious fanatic and is 100 times worse than Rev. Wright. My god, she sought blessings from her minister who is a witch hunter from Africa. This woman is crazy and she would be one heartbeat away from the presidency. BTW, if the media was doing it''s job, you would all know as I do that McCain''s father died in his early to mid 60''s and so did his uncle. And, McCain has already had 4 operations to try to get rid of melanoma. We deserve a better president after 4 years of Bush. We don''t deserve McCain/Palin. We can''t afford their policies or another 100 years of war. Wake Up America.

[jmmalone2]

If You were The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, multiple war fronts,
stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high
prison population, skyrocketing Federal spending, mortgage
crises, bank foreclosures, etc. etc., this is an unusually
critical election year.

Let''s look at the educational background of the
candidates and see what they bring to the job:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a
specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna *** Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in
political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899
(meaning that, like George Bush, McCain was at the bottom of
his class)


Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire to lead the most
influential nation in the world?

[RuthCalabria]

The communists used to say that the capitalists would sell them the rope they needed to hang them. This has proved to be unnecessary. Instead we have seen our greedy pig ruling class hang themselves with their mortgage scam that backfired, and hang all of us in the process. To highlight their lunatic decadence and stupidity, we note the dribbling remarks of an upper class jerk by the name of Wayne Angel, a retired Fed Board member who owns his own seven homes and blames the economic meltdown on unions demanding more money for the workers! Did we really hear him say that!? Such callousness and the fact that he truly believes it (!) borders on a criminality that calls for the forced feeding of cake to Marie Antoinette%u2019s severed head. This bailout grand theft, soft peddled and hidden by media shills whose employment is at the discretion of said ruling class, the same crew of peppy liars who helped sell the War in Iraq that has been used as an excuse for the taking away of our freedom, fairness and justice in America, must be reversed. The upper class must go!

Mrs. Ruth and Dr. Peter V. Calabria
Lubbock, TX