THE Final debate . . . won by Joe the Plumber?
- By l.t. Dravis
- Published 10/16/2008
l.t. Dravis
I created and have written the nationally distributed marketing newsletter, BOTH SIDES NOW, since 2003. I authored two books, BOTH SIDES NOW, Sell Like Professional Athletes Win and DEATH OF A SALES MANAGER. In 2008, I introduced a daily column for national syndication to newspapers.
By l.t. Dravis
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, Hempstead, New York – Wednesday,
October 15, 2008 – Let’s answer the first question first . . . did Senator McCain say
anything in this debate to change his position in the polls?
No.
Second question . . .
did Senator Obama say anything in this debate to change his position in the
polls?
No.
So, what happened?
Senator John McCain
started out talking about the anger of American voters but he spent most of the
debate showing his anger toward Senator Obama . . . as if McCain is more
against Obama becoming President than he is for McCain becoming President.
In response to Obama’s
point about McCain policies being the same as Bush policies, McCain said, “Senator
Obama, I’m not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you
should have run four years ago.”
Senator Obama apologized
for confusing McCain with George W. Bush but pointed out it was hard to tell
the difference because McCain voted so often with Bush policies.
John McCain attacked,
attacked, and then attacked some more, working hard, playing catch up, trying
his best to bad-mouth
When McCain brought the
old Weatherman Bill Ayres into the debate, CNN audience reaction dropped
dramatically . . . making it clear that the ‘guilt-by-association’ tactic used
so often by McCain and Palin may well have backfired.
Obama simply explained
the Ayres relationship for what it was: He served on a board with William Ayres
along with a number of other people like the President of the Chicago Tribune
and the President of Northwestern University and that was that.
The McCain campaign failed
to ask and answer an important question: On a day when the Dow Jones average
dropped more than 700 points, were people watching this debate really concerned
about Senator Obama’s ‘relationship’ with a man who committed crimes when Obama
was eight years old?
Though he tried to
explain his health care plan through gritted teeth, McCain did not say anything
specific to convince anyone that his plan was superior to the Obama plan.
While Senator McCain
rolled his eyes and scowled, Senator Obama calmly detailed his health care plan
and assured voters that the McCain claim that the Obama health care plan fines
small business and individuals was totally false.
While Senator McCain was
busy trying to score ideological points to please the Republican base, Senator
Obama talked about how his economic plan would create jobs, eliminate penalties
for early withdrawals from IRA and KEOGH accounts, increase federal assistance
to cities and states, and postpone foreclosures for ninety days.
By the way, what am I
talking about when I say that ‘Joe the
plumber’ won the debate?
I’m talking about Joe
Wurzelbacher (referred to as Joe Wurzberger
by John McCain), a plumber who caught up with
McCain used ‘Joe the plumber’ to accuse Senator Obama
of proposing tax increases and a health care plan that would prevent working
men and women from becoming entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, the fact checkers
have proven that the Obama tax and health care plans do nothing to increase the
cost of doing business for all the ‘Joe
the plumbers’ of this country.
Who spent more time
attacking in tonight’s debate?
Eighty percent of voters
surveyed by CNN said John McCain spent more time attacking while only seven
percent said Obama spent more time attacking.
And did the attacks help
or hurt the candidates?
According to a CBS poll
of uncommitted voters, 53% said Obama won, 24% said the candidates tied, while
22% said McCain won.
I’m reminded of the
infamous Al Gore/George W. Bush debate where Gore lost the edge with a sigh; in
fact, I’m thinking that McCain lost all three 2008 presidential debates because
of affect . . . the scowls, the eye rolls, the grumpy grunts, etc.
And now, I’m wondering,
did John McCain seem more like a ‘President’ tonight or did he seem more like the
grumpy old man next door who used to shout at you to get off his lawn?
Huh?
Copyright
© 2008 by LTD Associates West, Ltd. All rights reserved.
