2012 US Presidential Election discussion.

jackliu said:

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Absolutely pathetic, both party trying to pander to the ignorant masses, play on people's hatred to gain votes.

Yes... democracy is working.

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tphuang said:

I think I'm probably going to sound like a nutcase answering this one, so please do excuse me a little bit as I express my frustrations.

Keep in mind as you read my thoughts, I only watched that debate for about 30 minutes last night due to my work schedule. I'm basing on what I saw and also a couple of other sources. And I also believed that Mitt Romney won the debate hands down. And that if he gets elected, it will probably benefit me more than most people.

When I first listened to Romney talking about the conservative ideals, I was thinking that this guy is actually quite on the point. He is presenting a really good case of what conservatism is. And then, when it actually came down to the specifics of what he will actually do, that's when it all fell apart for me. What really happened last night is that while he made a general case for conservative principles to the public, his actual stated policies is a huge move to the center. In my opinion, he was trying to out-liberal Obama. He was afraid to talk about cutting anything. Let's not touching the behemoth also known as medicare. Let's not touch social security at all. Let's not touch this education funding. Let's cut PBS.

His method of cutting down deficit is to cut some taxes for the rich, increase military spending, cutting some discretionary funding like PBS, magically close tax loop holes. Somehow that and increased tax revenue from economic growth with really reduce the deficit.

Does he not see what's going on around this country and around the world? There are serious economic problems in Europe and Asia, so you are not going to be able export your way out. The interest rate has already been cut to as low as you can get. The country still hasn't finished de-leveraging from the excessive debts of Bush years. Banks have plenty of money but can't find suitable lenders, so you can't grow that way either. Where is this magical economic growth coming from? You have to plan on cutting down deficit without expecting magical growth.

Currently, if you add up social security + medicare + medicaid + interest on the debts, that's equal to the entire national revenue base. If interest rate goes up at all to even 3%, the deficit will be unmanageable. Anything beyond that, you have to borrow from foreigners, your own people and all the savings fund around the country. Or you can just have Bernanke print even more money.

Anyhow, that's my $0.02.

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solarz said:

In other words, make empty promises to as many people as possible, and hope that they will believe you.

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Romney, Obama campaigns concerned about Crowley’s role as moderator

By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 6 hrs ago.. .


Romney and Obama shake hands at their debate in Denver on Oct. 3, 2012. (Getty)

The moderators of the 2012 presidential and vice presidential debates have been under considerable scrutiny, perhaps more than in any other election cycle.

Now, according to Time magazine, the campaigns of both GOP challenger Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have expressed concern over how CNN's Candy Crowley, the moderator of Tuesday's town hall debate in Hempstead, N.Y., is approaching her role. In an interview on the news network on Oct. 5, Crowley said she would not be afraid to ask follow-up questions if necessary.

"Once the table is kind of set by the town hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, 'Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?'" Crowley said.

The campaigns sent a memo to the Commission on Presidential Debates claiming they were under the impression that the moderator would play a limited role in the debate's town hall format, as the commission announced in July:


The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.

From the campaigns' memo:


In managing the two-minute comment periods, the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic. … The moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the audience or the answers of the candidates during the debate or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits, and invite candidate comments during the two-minute response period.

Through a CNN spokeswoman, Crowley declined to comment. "Any questions about debate format should be directed to the Commission on Presidential Debates," the spokeswoman wrote in an email to Yahoo News.

"There are discussions around every debate," Jen Psaki, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, told reporters on Monday. "I'm not going to get into the specifics of those. I will say that the president is looking forward to the debate tomorrow night, looking forward to answering questions from the American people who will be in the audience. But he's prepared for and ready to take questions from wherever they come. And I'll leave it at that."

"This is a town hall, which means the questions will be coming from the American people in the audience," Psaki said. "But if questions come from other sources, he's happy to address those questions as well."

In an email to TechPresident.com, CPD co-chairman Mike McCurry wrote that while Crowley has "sole editorial control," the commission's "only issue is that the citizen questioners get their chance to pose the question without reinterpretation from the moderator."

Crowley is the first woman in 20 years to moderate a presidential debate. Last week, ABC News' Martha Raddatz was praised by critics for her moderation of the vice presidential debate. PBS' Jim Lehrer, who moderated the first presidential debate of 2012, was widely criticized for losing control and allowing both candidates—Romney in particular—to "steamroll" him.

Two days later, the commission defended Lehrer's performance in a statement on its website:


The format for the first and fourth presidential debates calls for six 15-minute segments on topics selected and announced in advance by the moderators. After the moderator asks a question, the candidates each have two minutes to answer. After their answers, the moderator's job is to facilitate a conversation on the topic for the balance of the 15 minutes before moving to the next topic. ... Jim Lehrer implemented the format exactly as it was designed by the CPD and announced in July.

The format for the third presidential debate, to be held Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla., will be identical to the first and will focus on foreign policy. CBS' Bob Schieffer will moderate.

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jackliu said:

Democracy(TM) at work.

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