1st Presidential Debate - 9/26 - Will John McCain refer to his time as a POW?

September 26, 2008:
Presidential debate with domestic policy focus,
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

More likely that he would mention his time as a POW during foreign policy focus,
instead of domestic policy focus.

That's not his pattern so far :)
"At several points over the past two weeks, the McCain campaign has raised his military service in efforts to defuse political attacks, even when it seemed to have little if any bearing on the issue at hand." http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837074,00.html

@deelilley: Maybe John F. Kerry showed him how? :-)

Oh, that brings back memories... the French looking candidate from Vietnam!

OMG! He tried to defuse political attacks! That bastard! How dare he! Its not like Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Hilliary Clinton, and many many more famous politicians tried to defuse political attacks! Oh wait... They all do! Thats part of being a politican! At least McCain differs in the fact that he actually has something substancial to back it up with. Time spent in a POW camp in service to the US is significantly more impressive than being a community organizer dont you think?

That community organizer thing is actually scary. It is fun to joke about it, but he actually worked for ACORN (the 'CO' in ACORN stands for Community Organization) - this is not an association that Barack should be proud to have.

He left this job to go to school & get his law degree.

this is his bread and butter. If i were McCain i would wear a POW emblem/pin on my jacket to every debate.

His military experience is the only thing McSame has to run on. He's like a sad, tired, oldman who can only talk about one thing. I'll put up $2,000 that he mentions it if someone agrees to put $1,000 against it. Any takers?

@Jsevigny
I will accept your wager, although I am not sure who will win.

My wager will be a public wager.
Best wishes. . .

2000 on the barrel now

Hmmmm... ACORN huh? Is SQUIRELL a group to? Maybe TREE?

@jsevigny i think your forgetting his 30 years in congress. Thats the kind of experience that acorn gathering Community Planners dont have. How much experience does Sadam hussein Obama have? 4 years in congress huh? And didnt he submit his application 6 months into his term? So lets see..... 6 months vrs 30 years and a military background of dedication and servitude to this country..... tough choice! i dont see why we just hand McCain the presidency right now and get these formalitys out of the way.

30 years in a Congress that let Bush ruin America.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

POW is McCain's little black dress...he uses it the way Bush uses 9/11.
Bush/McCain, just more of the same.

Look, heres the deal. Bush didnt ruin America. Those fools in the democratic congress ruined america. I know, i know,McCain wis part of that congress however he was one of the few sane parts that kept this country together as long as it did. Heres a little lesson on the way government works, the president does not have a lot of power. Our founding fathers made it very clear that they didnt want one man with a lot of power. He makes military decisions, is a diplomatic voice, and can veto bills. Thats pretty much all he can do. He doesnt have the power to ruin a country. The democratic congess however have been extremly inactive. They dont respond to the American peoples problems. We need another Republican to make sure that when they do take action, it isnt the wrong action.

Fear is used very effectively by Bush/McCain. Facts fly *right* out the window.

ICYDK, The Founding Fathers tried to make provision for a lot less executive power than Bushie has claimed.

2 other branches of government:

The Judicial? Nailed down. Abu Gonzales, etc. Firing US Prosecutors for political reasons doesn't sound very American, but Republicans did that.

And tell me, how can Congress get past a Bush veto?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/us/politics/17torture.html

Heh. Not blinking is a kindergarten thang...

"Liberals flinch less, conservatives more, study finds"

In an interview last week, U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin talked a lot about
blinking. "You can't blink" and "we must not blink," Republican John McCain's nominee told ABC News anchor Charles Gibson in response to questions about her readiness for office and the fight against terrorists. But a new study in the prestigious journal Science says that people with right wing views blink and flinch far harder than liberals when confronted with startling stimuli.

In the first study to directly link politics and physiology, the University of Nebraska led study suggests that people who hold conservative views on things like foreign policy and gun control, are more frightened than those with a more left-leaning bent on those issues.
"We're not trying to say that your church and your family and your school and the people you hang out with don't matter," says Doug Oxley, the lead study author. "What we're introducing to the field of political science is this notion that there is a physical basis to these beliefs as well." http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/501578

Quite a diatribe.
Sadly, not one word of it is related to the question at the top of the page.

@ chattara Thank yew, thank yew verra much.
I should have put @ dragonfangxl, but I'm happy to translate the posts for you..

\\ Look, heres the deal. Bush didnt ruin America. Those fools in the democratic congress ruined america.

Reply: Fear is used very effectively by Bush/McCain. Facts fly *right* out the window.

\\ I know, i know,McCain wis part of that congress however he was one of the few sane parts that kept this country together as long as it did. Heres a little lesson on the way government works, the president does not have a lot of power. Our founding fathers made it very clear that they didnt want one man with a lot of power.

Reply: ICYDK, The Founding Fathers tried to make provision for a lot less executive power than Bushie has claimed. 2 other branches of government: The Judicial? Nailed down. Abu Gonzales, etc. Firing US Prosecutors for political reasons doesn't sound very American, but Republicans did that.

And tell me, how can Congress get past a Bush veto?

\\ He makes military decisions, is a diplomatic voice, and can veto bills. Thats pretty much all he can do. He doesnt have the power to ruin a country. The democratic congess however have been extremly inactive. They dont respond to the American peoples problems. We need another Republican to make sure that when they do take action, it isnt the wrong action.

Reply: Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

So. There it is.
If you care to address the points that we've raised here...feel free.

Ummm, @dragon:
the congress has only been democratic for part of Bush's miserable tyrancy. The rest of the time, it was controlled by vast right wing conspirators....

Chatarra -- I bet you don't have the guts to put up another $500 (said in a friendly way, of course)

@jsevigny - I will go head to head with you on wagers if you would like. I think he will try to avoid saying anything about it during the debate.

I am in for 2,000 on No.

hmm...tempting

Yes amd ever since the democratic congress got in the econemy has gone down on a historic rate. The housing crisis, oil prices, lehman banks, aig, all happened while the democratic congress sat on there asses. Congress is the most powerful branch. More powerful than judicial and more powerful then executive. They can overide a veto from the president and the judicial branch doesnt have much (if any) of a say. Those "Right wing conspirators" Were with us through a very successful time in american histroy and the liberal congress managed to tear them down.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" when something doesnt work in the government we change it. when our policys in iraq wernt very successful we adapted and made a new policy which was hugly successful and allows us to move our troops to other areas like vietnam. Even if the judicial branch was in bushes pocket they still wouldnt be able to control the most powerful branch. Congress.

When something doesnt work, bush is the only change you can believe in. That is until he loses his power to a liberal republcian or a liberal liberal.

@deelilley...And tell me, how can Congress get past a Bush veto? - they have a vote. they have already overriddin one veto.

The Judicial? Nailed down. Abu Gonzales, etc. Firing US Prosecutors for political reasons doesn't sound very American, but Republicans did that. - bill clinton fired all but one when he took office.

Technically, the democrats took over the house in the 2006 election, and remained tied in the senate. Two independents "caucus" with the democrats, but clearly you can give lieberman to the republicans, now, and jeffords is a toss up......so, what you are saying is that all the evil in the world was created by the democrats in less than 2 years by having only a slight advantage in the House? Dragon, that is ridiculous...

At the end of the day, we're not talking about branches of government but rather party values. As far as I'm concerned, the Democrats are scared to fight for anything. I'm not talking about war. I'm talking about principles. And as far as I'm concerned, McCain is the guy who voted against MLK day, made that nasty comment about gooks, thinks Spain is in Latin America, and has voted with the GOP 90 percent of the time. If you're poor, or working class and vote for a Republican, you're probably beyond help. If you're rich, well you're just protecting your ass-etts.

However, I'm far more interested in those who are interested in wagering. Anyone else want to match me dollar for dollar?

I've got 2,200 on yes.

I didnt say they ruined it in two years. Im saying that there attempts at dealing with it have been rediculous and well frankly small! The only people who seem to know what they are doing is that think tank from the federal reserve who are handling the buyouts. Were they assembled by the powerful senate? No. They just sat on there asses while someone else dealt with the problem. As for jsevigny.... well i dont acknowledge comments made by communists normally but for you ill make an exception. "At the end of the day, we're not talking about branches of government but rather values." McCain is all about values. He has a clean history (unlike obama. A shady chicago real estate company, a anti white church, a close friend who was associated with communists. Hows that for values?) lots of experience and he knows the plight of the common soldier. Those are the kinds of things that you dont get from being a community organizer. So go back to your ass.....etts and think that one over. (Sorry however it was such a good line i had to steal it)

I will concede that more could have been done, by BOTH parties. Politicians in general are selfish lying opportunists, I just like the Democratic liars better than the Republican liars because they're not evil.

Inre: shady real estate company, you should read about the transaction, and you will find that Obama did nothing wrong. Anti-white church? Come on, now, that ship sailed long ago... Communists? Are you really bringing Mcarthy into this election?
Personally, I think this country just took a scary turn into Socialism by bailing out AIG and the big financial comapnies.... How's that for values?

Exactly! And this Freddy Mac pays Barack Obama more than $120,000.00 among other people, and its senior executives take home millions of dollars, then they turn around and ask us tax payers to pay for their bad judgment... this is just like being robbed, only there is nobody to turn to for justice!

You know what theonecalledmichael, i think your right! Well not that first part.... or the middle part... but that second to last sentence has some merit to it. What happens when the economy gets better and the government bought all those companys which turn successful. I dont think that the government should have that much power over our day to day lives! There going to have power over our insurance (aig), our houses (freddie mac) and our money (banks). That sounds like socialism to me! And no i am not bringing up Mcarthy. Im talking about the other communist in the us. Jsevigny. And i dont care how old that anti white church topic is. He still attended a anti white church for 20 years throughout his child hood and even when he had the choice to attend whatever church he wanted to go to he went to the anti white church. And as a White man, i have a problem with that! And yes admitidly there is no evidence but thats never stopped you democrats before!

If you have time to do some reading, Google the names Franklin Raines, Penny Pritzker, and Jim Johnson - see who Barack Obama has giving him advice about these financial issues.

@dragonfangxl, you said McCain is clean...how about googling the Keating Five?

@jsevigny, I'm poor or I'd wager. Can you loan me some?

@emmag
I googled it and i found this line: "Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised "poor judgment"." Wow! 17 years ago McCain made a mistake! Holy crap! That WAY overshadows the fact that Obamas close friend was a large scale terrorist! You know John McCain is a good guy when all the opposition has against him is a small mistake that ended with no harm to anyone (except the actual criminals) 17 years ago. Anything else you got against him? Perhaps a lunch detention he got when he was 15?

Does he ever speak without mentioning he was a POW, it's his answer to everything.

@dragonfangxs - "Obamas close friend was a large scale terrorist!" Huh?

@emmag: That would be the Weather Underground. They started riots, declared "war against the United States", bombed banks, police stations, and other government buildings, including the Capitol Building and the Pentagon.

@notablenotices...and the close friend is?

@emmag: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are close friends with Barack Obama (although recently he has tried to distance himself, rather understandably),

@notablenotices....Try factcheck.org

What about his "joke" inre: insulting the drunken sailor.....that one never gets old........;p.....

Looks like the first debate is going to revolve around non-domestic issues so don't cry when McCain starts waving his little POW flag, effectively giving me all of YOUR MONEY:)

FYI: The Weathermen operated from 1969 to 1976 -- Barack Obama was eight years old and living in Honolulu or Jakarta when those guys were setting off bombs. He was like 14 when the group disintegrated.

It would appear that Ayers, like all old hippies, grew up. He's now a professor at the largest university in Chicago, and according to Wiki ...

Ayers worked with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in shaping the city's school reform program,[33] and was one of three co-authors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge grant proposal that in 1995 won $49.2 million over five years for public school reform.[34] Since 1999 he has served on the nine-member[35] board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an anti-poverty, philanthropic foundation established in 1941.

Ayers' contacts with the 2008 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States, Barack Obama, became controversial in the 2008 United States presidential election. The two served together on the Woods Fund Board from 1999 until Obama left in 2002. Ayers had other contact with Obama as a resident of Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, hosting a meet-and-greet at his house to introduce Obama to his neighbors during Obama's first Illinois state Senate campaign in 1995, appearing on education panels together, and donating $200 to Obama's campaign in April 2001.

As for his wife Dohn, wiki says ...

Dohrn now serves on the board of numerous human rights committees and teaches comparative law. Since 2002, she has served as Visiting Law Faculty at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Her legal work has focused on reforming the much criticized juvenile court system in Chicago and on advocating for human rights at the international level. Dohrn is director and founder of the Children and Family Justice Center which supports the legal needs of adolescents and their families.

@drangonfangle Yooohoooo!
__Congress has had a Republican Majority for 16 out of the last 18 years.__
http://tinyurl.com/45l595
"For better or worse, the candidacy of Barack Obama, a senator-come-lately, must be evaluated on his judgment, ideas and potential to lead. McCain, by contrast, has been chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, where he claims to have overseen “every part of our economy.” He didn’t, thank heavens, but he does have a long and relevant economic record that begins with the Keating Five scandal of 1989 and extends to this campaign, where his fiscal policies bear the fingerprints of Phil Gramm and Carly Fiorina. It’s not the résumé that a presidential candidate wants to advertise as America faces its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. That’s why the main thrust of the McCain campaign has been to cover up his history of economic malpractice."
http://tinyurl.com/4cly56

As for a separate Judiciary:
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
...unless Benito Mussolini is more your style....

@jsevigny You shouldnt trust information you get from wikipedia.
@Deelilley If you listened to what i said earlier you would understand that during the time the democratic congress have been in power theve let this economy go to hell. read comment 31 for more info.

McCain values? Gooks? Tar babies? Hmmmm.

Hey! Why shouldn't I trust the Wikipedia article? I WROTE it. jk

Wikipedia on Wikipedia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

@deelilley:
__Congress has had a Republican Majority for 16 out of the last 18 years.__

Republicans couldn't do anything, since conservative congressmen were outnumbered when "Republicans" such as John McCain, Lincoln Chafee, Olympia Snow, Arlen Specter &c, kept wandering across the isle to support such travesties as "McCain-Fiengold", "McCain-Kennedy", "McCain-Lieberman", "McCain-Kennedy-Edwards", Gang of fourteen, and so forth.

Well i think we won here, dont you notable?

We will find out November 4th! :-)

I'm not saying we won the problem, i'm saying we won the debate.

meant to say question not problem

hmmm...how do you figure, dragon?

Well, we refuted all your points, youve stopped even attempting to argue my defence, and basically its a battle of brains therefore i was gaurenteed to win eventually at least.

best laugh of the day dragon....you guaranteed a win due to a battle of brains...I ask whose brains? your brain is not showing too well these days and your spelling stinks

@ dragonfangxl FYI, the economy didn't collapse yesterday; all that house-buying and house-flipping wasn't a boom, it was a bubble.
Funded largely by the Chinese, BTW, to whom you owe Billions.
Bush/McCain have consistently voted against regulation for Wall Street, claiming erroneously that the market could regulate itself. Because of Bush/McCain laxity, what rules there were weren't strictly enforced.
They are complicit in this mess; and you haven't defended a thing.
What *about* The Keating 5, hmm?

@ notables McCain voted Bush 90%.
...when on earth did he have time to play with the other guys?

darn i thought the battle was over.
@deelily I know it didnt collapse yesterday. Its been collapsing for two years. And did congress do anything about it during its early stages to ease the damage it was going to cause to the economy? Of course not! They sat on there asses while the treasury, who isnt supposed to be dealing with these kinds of things, handled it for them with limited power and funds. What thanks does the treasury get when they do a near impossible feat and actually help the economy? Congress gets mad because there not being notified about the situation. You want to know a real easy way to be notifed congress? Actaully start helping the treasury instead of ju'st sitting around signing checks while someone else rushes out to do your job. I have researched keating 5, and do you know what i have found? "Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised "poor judgment"." HOLY CRAP! John McCain had a minor lapse in judgement 17 years ago! Lets not vote for him! Are you seriously kidding me with that? McCain didnt actually do anything wrong! He wasnt corrupt! He wasnt bribed! He made a minor mistake! Thats all! And heres a "fyi" for you, the actual "voting against" you are speaking of was an effort to stop pointless bureaucracy that would not have done the slightest good if passed! We would be in the same situation we are in now! Well notable i made my arguments against this guy. Your turn.

@deelilley: uh, I hate to break it to you, but Mr Bush is our President, not a Senator. McCain voted in the Senate, President Bush did not.

I think your figure comes from the fact that President Bush did not veto much legislation - especially in his first term. Remember how Kennedy put the "No child left behind" legislation together? President Bush signed that too. Hardly a "conservative" thing for him to do. I could say the same thing about McCain-Feingold too. He signed almost everything that came across his desk for a long time.

I wish you cowards would stop arguing like partisans and BET!

Unfortunetly i cant. All my money is locked up tell oct 1st. Im just sitting around, going to questions that seem intresesting and making a few comments with notable here.

Group hug time ;-)

I'm truly non-partisan... I criticize both John the Lettuce-Cross-the-Aisle McWalnuts and the Most Merciful Messiah, Lord Barack Hussein Obama. 8^)

Well i guess its not that i really like McCain, its that i dont like barack huessien Obama.(where did you get the lord from). So the first thing i did was hire a community organizer to help me plan my insults but then i realized that the community organizer i hired was dumb, unexperienced, and corrupt. He is running for president 2012. Slogan: "Change We WILL Believe In! I prefer Huckabee to McCain however i do think mccain would make a good president despite his somewhat liberal views

I've got to differ with you on that one, dragon. This is sincerely not a partisan comment, but McCain is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and always has been. He wears the maverick mask in order to draw votes from the reported 18 percent of undecided voters, probably half of whom side with one party or the other.

That said, how can any American, left, right, black, straight, white, NRA, gay, Republican, Libertarian or Democrat NOT know who they're going to vote for just two months before the election? Are we that stupid or just that wishy washy? I mean, it's not as if these two candidates are even remotely close on the issues.

Can someone explain this to me?

@jsevigny - I think it is mostly *because* they are so different on many issues that many people are still conflicted. If you're number two issues are pro-guns and pro-choice you might feel torn between the two parties. People who agree neatly with one of the party lines or who disagree vehemently with the other party will have an easy decision. But, often people may find themselves trying to weight the pluses and minuses issue by issue... (for anyone in that spot, I highly recommend http://glassbooth.org/ )

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93D8TDO0&show_article=1

hmmmmm...afraid to debate on the economy? I think so

I was just thinking, if there's no debate Friday, do we get a refund?

good question....

oh johnny boy send Sarah to the debate....lol

I wonder if McCain has a Hubdub profile? That would be interesting to watch! Of course he could be convicted of "gaming the questions". "Will McCain mention his time as pow" for example! He could put 200000 on here then mention it with a smile on his face.

@jenni - that glassbooth.org is seriously cool... Thank You!!!

I scored:
74% similarity with Bob Barr (I know very little of Barr but not surprised I lean Libertarian)
59% similarity with John McCain (I expected this one to be closer to 30%)
30% similarity with Barack Obama (Huh?!?! I expected this one to be closer to 0.01%)

I did that to! Then, i tried it again but this time i put no opinion on everything. Amazingly i scored a 100% similarity with obama! Jk jk but seriously i scored..
74% similarity to McCain(wow scary)
56% similarity to Bob Barr (i also know very little about him but i guess he cant be that bad considering he scores similar with me)
50% similarity to Obama (WHAT THE HELL??????????)

@ notables McCain voted with the Bush agenda and supported the Bush position (90%!) most of the time. If you liked Bush, vote McCain.
Bleech.

@ jenni great site! LOL I'm 84% Ralph Nader...but I thought he was an idiot for running..

yea mccain is afraid to debate the economy. thats why he turned down obama's offer to hold town hall meetings all across the country..oh wait i think thats backwards :O)

@deelilley, if you like what Bush has done for us, vote for McCain.

@jenni mcKinney 76 Barr 65 Obama 58 lol about mcKinney

Here's mine:
86% Obama
76% McKinney (who??)
0% Fingers of Fury :) (just kidding!)

I do really like the site and spent a lot of time here earlier in the year when I was trying to get a feel for all the primary candidates. Too bad they can't put this in the actual voting booth and force people to make an informed choice!

I still dont get it. I dont agree with NObama on anything and yet accourding to this website it says i agree with him on 50% of things! Maybe there using yesterdays opinions from barack. After all he flip flops so many times its impossible to follow!
@emmag original.....

Dragon,

McCain has admitted he has never sent an e-mail. Navigating the subtleties of hubdub would be far above the capabilities of his gook-hating, torture-addled brain.

OoO? Insulting someone for there dedication to this country in the military. Whats next, a joke against George Washington? Possibly a line such as "Your lamer than FDR!"

@ enmag that's wot I said! and *I* won't be voting for either of them.

@ dragon not very long ago (last week, last month, whatever) Bush/McCain said that economy was sound. Either they were lying, or they didn't have clue what was going on.
I suspect the latter...

@deelilley - Very true... said that they did.

This is a weird night... I agree with my ideological opponents on this bail-out... I'm against it for different reasons, but hey, we found something we agree on :-)

Very few people could predict the impending disaster. Giant corperations that people thought were crash proof were toppled in days. Many people said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were recession proof and a top invester cashed out all his other stocks and put 20 million into the two companys a week before they crashed. You cant blame people for not being able to predict the future. Im sure NObama thought the same thing when McCain made that statement. He was just lucky he kept his mouth shut.

Just a thought...how much do the Obamas have invested in the stock market.... I think they're still paying off student loans....

Well considering he got paid like a 110,000 from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac i think they are safe on student loans. They must owe 50k each tops. Those bribes.... i mean pay checks from Fannie and Freddie should be able to pay those off.

Yo, dragon, their *employees* have donated to Obama; people who answer the phone and file papers: http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/727/
"The New York Times looked at contributions from Fannie and Freddie's boards of directors and lobbyists, who are technically not employees.

That analysis found Fannie and Freddie-related contributors gave $169,000 to John McCain and his related committees, compared with $16,000 to Obama and his related committees."
So there.

Hey, fingers :) funny how the *free* market ideology flew out teh window when reality set in.

That "169000" number was from people who wernt employed by freddie mae and fannie mac. They were done by people who were totally separate. So basically in a nutshell what you are saying is that a group of people with little connection to Fannie and Freddie gave McCain more money than Obama. WOW! AMAZING! Someone donated money to McCain! Strange (in your mind at least) but nothing illegal about it. The only connection freddie and fannie had with this group is that these people manage and lobby for a large group of companys in which fannie and freddie are only one of. Not to mention these werent done by any company but rather individuals on there own with only the thought of donating money to the RNC in mind. Corrupt? No. Strange? Hardly. Does this in any way discredit what McCain said? Not in the least. They brought up a totally different group of donaters with a very small connection to F & F and assume that this means that McCains wrong. I dont think so.

Great closing statement...We didn't see that coming at all <---sarcasm

McCain's refusal to make eye contact with Obama was disrespectful of democracy in my opinion. Does he hold the same hatred towards the Americans who support Obama?

He didn't use the term "POW" but he did reference after he got out of "prison". Does this settle as a yes?

I know you enjoyed my saying this mork so i think ill say this again.
@emmag, I dont think so.

WHAT? How could this settle as yes!!!! He didnt actually mention his time in the pow camp! He reffered to after he left it. This sucks

I got your money you fascist sobs, and you're not getting it back :)

George Washington wore little girl panties.

OOO! Damn commy. thats it fork over my money. I want it back. Give it over or ill take it by force!