McCain And Obama Slug It Out

Candidates Clash On Economy, Taxes, Energy Policy And Character In Lively Final Debate

(CBS/ AP)  Republican candidate John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama slugged it out over the faltering U.S. economy, taxes, energy policy and character in their third and final presidential debate on Wednesday night.

McCain took an aggressive approach, but once again, neither man landed a knockout punch nor committed a major gaffe.

"John McCain turned in an energetic, focused and, at times, emotional performance," said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "But he needed something more in order to change the underlying dynamics of this race. Obama was solid, on-message and mostly mistake free, likely stunting any major gains for the Republican. McCain may have righted the ship to some extent, but time is running out for him to make up ground." (Read Ververs' full analysis of the debate)

A CBS News instant poll of uncommitted voters who viewed the debate gave the edge to Obama by a margin of 53-22 percent. Twenty-five percent said the debate was a draw. Uncommitted voters also thought Obama won the first and second debates.

Before the debate, 54 percent thought Obama shared their values. That percentage rose to 64 percent after the debate. For McCain, 52 percent thought he shared their values before the debate, and 55 percent thought so afterwards. (Read the full poll.)

The crucial encounter began with an exchange on the economy. Both men said the $700 billion bailout was not enough.

McCain said Americans are hurting and they're angry. He said they are the innocent victims of greed on Wall Street. McCain said, "We've got to put the homeowners first."

Obama said what the nation hasn't seen yet is a rescue plan for the middle class. He said the top focus should be on jobs.

As the debate unfolded, McCain accused Obama of waging class warfare by advocating tax increases designed to "spread the wealth around." The Democrat denied it, and countered that he favors tax reductions for 95 percent of all Americans.

"Nobody likes taxes," Obama said in an exchange early in the third and final presidential debate of a campaign nearing its end. "But ultimately we've got to pay for the core investments" necessary for the economy.

"If nobody likes taxes, let's not raise anybody's, OK?" McCain retorted with a laugh. (Read the full debate transcript)

The 90-minute debate at Hofstra University focused on the economy and domestic policy. The candidates were seated at a table with moderator Bob Schieffer, CBS News' chief Washington correspondent.

McCain, eager to stress his differences with an unpopular president, also said he was disappointed that the Bush administration has not embraced his $300 billion proposal to renegotiate mortgagees so homeowners can remain in their homes.

"Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush," he declared at another point. "If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."

Obama said he agreed the government must help homeowners trapped in the current economic crisis, but he said, "The way Sen. McCain has designed his plan, it could be a giveaway to banks."

The two men also traded charges that departed from the core issues of the economy, energy and taxes.

"One hundred percent, John, of your ads, 100 percent of them have been negative," Obama told his rival, seated only a few feet away at a round table.

"That's not true," McCain retorted.

"It is true," said Obama, seeking the last word.

McCain is currently running all negative ads, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But he has run a number of positive ads during the campaign.

Behind in the polls, McCain played the aggressor early and often.

He demanded to know the full extent of Obama's relationship with William Ayres, a 1960s-era terrorist, the Democrat's ties with ACORN, a liberal group accused of violating federal law as it seeks to register voters, and insisted Obama disavow last week's remarks by Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat, who accused the Republican ticket of playing racial politics along the same lines as segregationists of the past.

Obama returned each volley, and brushed aside McCain's claim to full political independence.

"If I've occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people - on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities - you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush," he said.

Asked about running mates, both presidential candidates said Democrat Joseph Biden was qualified to become president, although McCain qualified his judgment by adding the words "in many respects."

McCain passed up a chance to say his own running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was qualified to sit in the Oval Office, though he praised her performance as governor.

Obama sidestepped when asked about Palin's qualifications to serve as president, and he, too, praised her advocacy for special needs children.

But he quickly sought to turn the issue to his advantage by noting McCain favors a spending freeze on government programs.

"I do want to just point out that autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding if we're going to get serious in terms of research. ... And if we have an across-the-board spending freeze, we're not going to be able to do it," he said.

In addition to differences on taxes and spending, McCain said Obama advocated trade policies that recalled those of Herbert Hoover, who presided over the start of the Great Depression.

Obama has called for tougher provisions in trade negotiations, arguing that is necessary to avoid undercutting the wages paid American workers.

McCain also said Obama has aligned himself with "the extreme aspect of the pro-abortion movement in America" and had voted present while in the Illinois Legislature on a measure to ban one type of procedure late in a woman's pregnancy.

Obama said the bill would have undermined Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that granted abortion rights, and had been opposed by the Illinois Medical Society.

"I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception," he added.

McCain sarcastically paid tribute to "the eloquence of Senator Obama. He's (for) health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything."

McCain's allegation about class warfare stemmed from one of Obama's campaign appearances last weekend.

In Ohio on Sunday, Obama was approached by a man who said, "Your new tax plan's going to tax me more."

A video clip caught by Fox News shows Obama replying, "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success, too. And I think that when we spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

McCain referred repeatedly to that voter, Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Toledo, Ohio.

After the debate, CBS News anchor Katie Couric talked with Wurzelbacher, who was repeatedly called "Joe The Plumber" by the candidates. He said the experience was "surreal."

"Surreal's a good word to use for it," Wurzelbacher said on the CBSNews.com Debate Webcast. "It was - you know, I was glad I was able to act as some type of point, you know, to where they could sit there and hammer out what they both think, what they want to say. But ultimately, you know, the important part was the debate." (Read more of Couric's interview with "Joe The Plumber")

Obama entered the debate with a wide lead over McCain nationally, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows. The Obama-Biden ticket now leads the McCain-Palin ticket 53 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, a 14-point margin, according to the poll.

[kis123-2009]

Main thing that made me turn for Obama was hiss stanse on the Iraq War. When did 9/11 become a chase for Saddam Hussien when our main target has always been Bin Laden and continues to be an extremely huge threat. Second, how can you impose a spending free when this is the time when the government needs to inject money into the economy? Does McCain do his homework before a debate, seriously?????

[dopelgangera]

I am so glad that the debates are over and that Election Day will soon be here. Yes, I will vote; I do care. But, still am VERY happy it''s nearly OVER!

[misha128-2009]

"tex" is mccains doormat.
wipe your feet on him when you enter the room, and ignore him the rest of the time.

Posted by BBinFla at 10:47 A

Do you think he will actually learn that before he is exposed as the next McCain stooge -- like Joe the Plumber.

[fzy1hc]

I would to Attend Obama''s church and listen to the serments who brings up White people are bad for over 20 years and he was in the marines and got a college education from the US goverment. Gee that''s why we have racial issues. I go to church and we are ask to help out people no matter who they are.

[fzy1hc]

PEOPLE across THE US VOTE FOR NEW BLOOD. Get rid of your Senators in your State who been in congress to long. Look who is running for your State bring in new blood and you''ll see a change in Goverment.

[fzy1hc]

Wake up America. Obama is pushing for the goverment to handle Health insurnance that''s what put us in the situation we are in. Get rid of the Senators who been in for 20 - 30 years doing nothing except enjoying the parting in DC. Wall Street screwed us with stocks and the gas. They knew the dallor was low and they brought up the gas prices. Right know after Wall street fell gas prices are coming down. Like McCain said wake up the people in congress. I say vote for new blood in congress. And Wall Street pay back the money you earned to the American people.

[abbe91]

"Ayers and Obama have moved in some of the same circles. Ayers was a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school-reform group. Obama chaired its board from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Ayers hosted a brunch for Obama, who was running for the Illinois Senate. In 1997, they were on a juvenile justice panel sponsored by the University of Chicago. Ayers gave $200 to Obama''''''''s 2001 state Senate campaign, and the two were on a 2002 panel on intellectualism that was co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library.
Posted by Rocca777 at 02:45 AM : Oct 17, 2008"

Check who is Annenberg and who''''s president of the Annenberg foundation. She is in the very top list of McCain endorsers. So, McCain is endorsed by terrorists ?

Now, who said

"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government", "and I won''''t be buried under their *** flag." ?

[rocca777]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/el
ection2008/2008-10-15-fact-check_N.htm


Bill Ayers

The claim: McCain criticized Obama''''s association with former Chicago radical Bill Ayers, whom McCain called "a guy who in 2001 said he wished he would have bombed more."

The facts: Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that engaged in domestic bombings to protest the Vietnam War. He was in hiding for years after three Weathermen died in 1970 when bombs they were making exploded. Federal charges against him for crossing state lines to incite riots and conspiracy were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.

In a New York Times story published by coincidence on Sept. 11, 2001, about his memoirs, Fugitive Days, he said, "I don''''t regret setting bombs %u2026 I feel we didn''''t do enough."

These days, Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has drawn kind words from the city''''s mayor.

Ayers and Obama have moved in some of the same circles. Ayers was a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school-reform group. Obama chaired its board from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Ayers hosted a brunch for Obama, who was running for the Illinois Senate. In 1997, they were on a juvenile justice panel sponsored by the University of Chicago. Ayers gave $200 to Obama''''s 2001 state Senate campaign, and the two were on a 2002 panel on intellectualism that was co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library.

[rocca777]

Presidents of the United States:
1.George Washington
2.John Adams
3.Thomas Jefferson
4.James Madison
5.James Monroe
6.John Quincy Adams
7.Andrew Jackson
8.Martin Van Buren
9.William Henry Harrison
10.John Tyler
11.James K. Polk
12.Zachary Taylor
13.Millard Fillmore
14.Franklin Pierce
15.James Buchanan
16.Abraham Lincoln
17.Andrew Johnson
18.Ulysses S. Grant
19.Rutherford B. Hayes
20.James A. Garfield
21.Chester A. Arthur
22.Grover Cleveland
23.Benjamin Harrison
24.Grover Cleveland (again)
25.William McKinley
26.Theodore Roosevelt
27.William Howard Taft
28.Woodrow Wilson
29.Warren G. Harding
30.Calvin Coolidge
31.Herbert Hoover
32.Franklin Delano Roosevelt
33.Harry S. Truman
34.Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower
35.John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy
36.Lyndon Baines Johnson
37.Richard Milhous Nixon
38.Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.
39.James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr.
40.Ronald Wilson Reagan
41.George Herbert Walker Bush
42.William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton
43.George Walker Bush
44.Barack Hussein Obama or John Sidney McCain
Who do you want to be the next President of the United States of America?

[rocca777]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-15-fact-check_N.htm

Voter-registration fraud

The claim: McCain said the Obama campaign has contributed to an organization that is perpetrating "one of the greatest frauds" in American campaign history.

The facts: The organization %uFFFD the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN %uFFFD says it has registered 1.3 million people this year. Obama''s campaign paid an ACORN affiliate, Citizens Services Inc., $832,000 this year for get-out-the-vote efforts in the Democratic primaries, according to the non-partisan CQ MoneyLine, which tracks campaign spending. Republicans have repeatedly accused the group of submitting fraudulent registrations; Obama said it had hired some people who "just filled out a bunch of names."

[hmorrisonp]

From my perspective, McCain seemed uptight and condescending. He sat so erect, he seemed as if in a virtual straight jacket. At times he seemed like a snotty, cranky, disgruntled old man.

[ioweign]

Wave Of McCain Robocalls Reported, Some May Violate State Law

[ioweign]

So now you''''re saying that General Petraeus doesn''''t have the right to write about the success of his mission and good work of his men?

I''''ll swun! Rather communist of you, I''''d say.

Posted by FromTexwlove at 08:03 PM : Oct 16, 2008



I would say resign your commission or follow the law.

The Hatch Act...

[ioweign]

Secret Service Blocking Reporters At Palin Rallies: Milbank

Washington Post''s Dana Milbank reveals in an online chat that the Secret Service is stopping people reporters from interviewing people at Palin rallies:

Arlington, Va.: The Secret Service has now labeled the "kill him" report as unfounded. Why isn''t The Post giving this report as much coverage as the original false report received?

Dana Milbank:

Glad you asked, because I saw this earlier. This is actually about the incident in Scranton, not the one in Clearwater, Fla, that I wrote about here.

I wasn''t at the Scranton event, but I have to say the Secret Service is in dangerous territory here. In cooperation with the Palin campaign, they''ve started preventing reporters from leaving the press section to interview people in the crowd. This is a serious violation of their duty -- protecting the protectee -- and gets into assisting with the political aspirations of the candidate. It also often makes it impossible for reporters to get into the crowd to question the people who say vulgar things. So they prevent reporters from getting near the people doing the shouting, then claim it''s unfounded because the reporters can''t get close enough to identify the person.

[ioweign]

I would think that General Petraeus only concentrates on keeping the US safe and doesn''''t opine about it. He''''s not a politician, he''''s a General responsible for our troops doing their jobs!


Posted by FromTexwlove at 07:23 PM : Oct 16, 2008

If he isn''t a politician then he should not write OP-ED in the Washington Post on the eve of an election as on 9/25/04 giving an upbeat portrait of the progress he was making in getting Iraqi troops ready to stand up, so U.S. troops could stand down. So much for the Hatch Act...

Admiral Fallon was right about Petraeus !

[ioweign]

Thank God, today, we have a strong generation of young soldiers who know exactly who they are and what they must do to protect our freedom and our democracy. And we have the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, who has brought hope and stability to Iraq and prevented the terrorists from establishing a base in that country. Our soldiers are lifting us to an example of patriotism at a time when we%u2019ve almost forgotten who we are and what is at stake.


Posted by FromTexwlove at 06:52 PM : Oct 16, 2008

The same Gen. Petraeus when asked by Sen. Warner on 9/11/2007 if being in Iraq made the United States safer answered - "He did not know!"

[sayfud-deen]

hey jr303pe, no more drugs for you! aside from being a racist,you are stupid! obama is not a blackman! he is of mixed race! half african and half caucasian. now, since he was raised by his white mother and white grandparents,(who by the way made sure he received a good education),don''t you think it is a little insulting to that side of his family to constantly negate their imput? it''s funny, that you failed to mention the trillion dollars and counting spent on an illegal war,or the needless loss of life,or the fact that many if not all of bush''s cronies have gotten extremely rich off the war while the tax payers foot the bill. you failed to mention that the u.s. is in debt to china to the tune of about 80 billion dollars a day intrest on borrowed money. i could go on but with people like you running around it''s no wonder the country is in a mess! nobody is going to riot,that is a figment of your drug induced imagination!

[sayfud-deen]

hey jr303pe, no more drugs for you! aside from being a racist,you are stupid! obama is not a blackman! he is of mixed race! half african and half caucasian. now, since he was raised by his white mother and white grandparents,(who by the way made sure he received a good education),don''t you think it is a little insulting to that side of his family to constantly negate their imput? it''s funny, that you failed to mention the trillion dollars and counting spent on an illegal war,or the needless loss of life,or the fact that many if not all of bush''s cronies have gotten extremely rich off the war while the tax payers foot the bill. you failed to mention that the u.s. is in debt to china to the tune of about 80 billion dollars a day intrest on borrowed money. i could go on but with people like you running around it''s no wonder the country is in a mess! nobody is going to riot,that is a figment of your drug induced imagination!

[ioweign]

Joe the Plumber has now had more press conferences than Sarah Palin.

[helonwheels1]

This "Joe Plumber" is a plant by the McCain team. He''s related to Charles Keating, who McCain took money from and then allowed the taxpayers to pay for their swindle to the tune of 2mil.

I got this from talkingpointsmemo.com. McCain planted him. The guy isn''t even a plumber.

Joe: Tax cheat, unlicensed and Keating family member
October 16, 2008, 2:48PM


So, let me get this straight. Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher has no license to practice plumbing, has neglected to pay his taxes and is a relative of the Keating family. The first two points are largely irrelevant, though they will no doubt be studied by the media for hours. But the question the media should be asking is this: Is Wurzelbacher a McCain campaign plant, who was deliberately placed in Obama''s path in Ohio? And if so, what does this say about John McCain''s relationship with the Keatings, which he insists ended years ago? And if they say he wasn''t a plant, is this just too much of a coincidence to believe?