Thursday, October 02, 2008
The Debate dilemma - which to watch...
Tonight the Canadian federal leaders debate coincided with the Joe Biden/Sarah Palin debate. I'm Canadian and want to follow my democratic process... but Geez, the US election is interesting. What to do? What to do?
What any modern man would do. Hold the channel changer firmly and watch both. Well, mostly the Canucks, but a good bit of the Veep wanabees.
I'm interested in your take on either or both - here's mine:
Canadian:
Stephen Harper called the election so probably shouldn't whine about being ganged up on (he was). The other four leaders occasionally snipped at each other (Layton and Dion for example), but it was all Harper all the time for the most part.
How did they do according to Gary?
- Stephen Harper Conservative: stayed cool, kept to the message "Now let's be clear.." but didn't win over many undecided. Nothing new and a lack of anything to say about the current financial crisis. Nice hair.
- Stephane Dion, Liberal: I suspect he exceeded most people's expectations, even his own party. He's always earnest and nerdy (in a rather cute way really), but he also made good points, and at times was even a little moving. His response to cuts to arts and culture was from the heart. He may have pulled a few wandering Liberals home. Decent suit.
- Jack Layton, NDP: Jack, Jack, Jack. I'm voting NDP this time. I like many of their policies and really like our local candidate. Jack was on the Jack Attack and did pretty well keeping his laser beam on Harper. Why do I find him a little grating or annoying? Help me. Nice tie.
- Gilles Duceppe, Bloq (a Quebec separatist party): Gilles is cool. He's suave, flexible, seems honest and makes points with care. He's emotional sometime. Too bad he's the leader of the party that wants to split the country in two. He may have secured his base, which will kill a Conservative majority. I'd like to go for a beer with Gilles. Nice eyes.
- Elizabeth May, Green: She was terrific and did two things well - made it clear that the Greens aren't only a one-issue show and second, showed that she's a smart, articulate politician. The Greens will get more votes, but I'm not sure where they'll come from - wouldn't it be wonderful if it was from Conservatives? Will she win her seat in Nova Scotia? Long shot still, but I hope so. Nice jewellery.
Biden/Palin
She's a brave one and speaks well generally. Joe won the debate - hands down. On CNN they had a little graph following the ratings (ongoing) of a bunch of undecided voters. When she talked about family, local stuff, American flag-waving stuff - her rating went up. For Joe it was about issues, particularly international. He kicked.
Best moment: When Joe talked about being a dad and not knowing if a child was going to make it. He teared up. So did I.
Two Predictions
- Obama/Biden by a safe margin in November
- Conservative minority government in Canada again, with more NDP seats and one or two Greens (he hopes).
What any modern man would do. Hold the channel changer firmly and watch both. Well, mostly the Canucks, but a good bit of the Veep wanabees.
I'm interested in your take on either or both - here's mine:
Canadian:
Stephen Harper called the election so probably shouldn't whine about being ganged up on (he was). The other four leaders occasionally snipped at each other (Layton and Dion for example), but it was all Harper all the time for the most part.
How did they do according to Gary?
- Stephen Harper Conservative: stayed cool, kept to the message "Now let's be clear.." but didn't win over many undecided. Nothing new and a lack of anything to say about the current financial crisis. Nice hair.
- Stephane Dion, Liberal: I suspect he exceeded most people's expectations, even his own party. He's always earnest and nerdy (in a rather cute way really), but he also made good points, and at times was even a little moving. His response to cuts to arts and culture was from the heart. He may have pulled a few wandering Liberals home. Decent suit.
- Jack Layton, NDP: Jack, Jack, Jack. I'm voting NDP this time. I like many of their policies and really like our local candidate. Jack was on the Jack Attack and did pretty well keeping his laser beam on Harper. Why do I find him a little grating or annoying? Help me. Nice tie.
- Gilles Duceppe, Bloq (a Quebec separatist party): Gilles is cool. He's suave, flexible, seems honest and makes points with care. He's emotional sometime. Too bad he's the leader of the party that wants to split the country in two. He may have secured his base, which will kill a Conservative majority. I'd like to go for a beer with Gilles. Nice eyes.
- Elizabeth May, Green: She was terrific and did two things well - made it clear that the Greens aren't only a one-issue show and second, showed that she's a smart, articulate politician. The Greens will get more votes, but I'm not sure where they'll come from - wouldn't it be wonderful if it was from Conservatives? Will she win her seat in Nova Scotia? Long shot still, but I hope so. Nice jewellery.
Biden/Palin
She's a brave one and speaks well generally. Joe won the debate - hands down. On CNN they had a little graph following the ratings (ongoing) of a bunch of undecided voters. When she talked about family, local stuff, American flag-waving stuff - her rating went up. For Joe it was about issues, particularly international. He kicked.
Best moment: When Joe talked about being a dad and not knowing if a child was going to make it. He teared up. So did I.
Two Predictions
- Obama/Biden by a safe margin in November
- Conservative minority government in Canada again, with more NDP seats and one or two Greens (he hopes).
Comments:
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thank you gary for your debate updates. i've been wondering how it went up there.
# posted by 
: 1:10 pm
: 1:10 pm
I got an email from the Canadian Green Party saying that Elizabeth May won the debate. That was nice news.
I hope you're right in your projections. I'm afraid for the world if McCain and Palin win (or steal) the election here. Obama is no Dennis Kucinich but that's still too much to hope for in this country.
I hope you're right in your projections. I'm afraid for the world if McCain and Palin win (or steal) the election here. Obama is no Dennis Kucinich but that's still too much to hope for in this country.
Winning a debate is one thing, plowing through masses of ignorance an other. Thanks for the update Gary, it's hard for me to get to a computer and info theses days...
"plowing through the masses of ignorance" is a great expression, zee. i'll try to remember that one.
# posted by : 11:09 am
: 11:09 am
Obama/Biden by a safe margin in November
- Conservative minority government in Canada again, with more NDP seats and one or two Greens (he hopes).
Sounds like you will be right on both counts, but I notice Canadian banks are now considered the safest in the world, hence you may find in the current world turmoil a late conservative factor influencing voter intentions.
I watched the Palin / Biden debate with interest and thought Biden gave the performance of his life!!. I don’t think he could have asked for more and handled himself well. I would give him 67 and Sarah 33.
But then you would expect that, on a weight for age basis Biden needed to do well.
She was much better than I had anticipated, using a folksy populace style which was respectful towards her obviously more experienced opponent, by paying tribute to his family , by paying homage to his son…… like mine he is serving ………as if we’re meant to read between the lines a certain bond exists.
She took added time to emphasize their points of agreement and didn’t make any obvious mistakes. She even glossed her way over not bothering to answer one of the questions; better to hope in alert voters wouldn’t notice rather than to struggle over unfamiliar ground.
Best wishes
- Conservative minority government in Canada again, with more NDP seats and one or two Greens (he hopes).
Sounds like you will be right on both counts, but I notice Canadian banks are now considered the safest in the world, hence you may find in the current world turmoil a late conservative factor influencing voter intentions.
I watched the Palin / Biden debate with interest and thought Biden gave the performance of his life!!. I don’t think he could have asked for more and handled himself well. I would give him 67 and Sarah 33.
But then you would expect that, on a weight for age basis Biden needed to do well.
She was much better than I had anticipated, using a folksy populace style which was respectful towards her obviously more experienced opponent, by paying tribute to his family , by paying homage to his son…… like mine he is serving ………as if we’re meant to read between the lines a certain bond exists.
She took added time to emphasize their points of agreement and didn’t make any obvious mistakes. She even glossed her way over not bothering to answer one of the questions; better to hope in alert voters wouldn’t notice rather than to struggle over unfamiliar ground.
Best wishes
Gary! I'm so mad at these ridiculous politicians right now. It's unbelievable what they're doing, trying to make Obama out to be a terrorist! There are crazy people out there would could end up doing some crazy stuff if they get enough people to fuel the frenzy. I find myself yelling at the TV all the time. It's so frustrating!
I'm in agreement with all of the women who claim Palin would be far more interesting to have across the table than Obama. It's true - we probably relate better to her than Obama. And it makes sense that she'd make a better PTA President than Obama. But I haven't yet quite figured out how that makes her qualified to be Vice President of the United States of America.
# posted by : 12:32 am
: 12:32 am
Thanks all. I posted some more political tidbits today.
Lindsay, the economic crisis is pulling people away from the Conservatives because Harper has appeared so callous about it. Also it was discovered (and aired) recently that one of his major speeches on Iraq was lifted word for word from your former PM, his buddy.
Don't give up in the States. There is no reason Obama won't be elected. Get out the votes.
Lindsay, the economic crisis is pulling people away from the Conservatives because Harper has appeared so callous about it. Also it was discovered (and aired) recently that one of his major speeches on Iraq was lifted word for word from your former PM, his buddy.
Don't give up in the States. There is no reason Obama won't be elected. Get out the votes.
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