9/11 Presidential Forum

Anyone catching this? It's on Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. And, you can catch it live, streaming on CNN.com.

This provides a good forum for us to rate the candidates on the issues, their positions.....right as it comes out of their mouths.

McCain's first up, Obama to follow.

I think this is focusing on national service.

[edit on 9/11/2008 by skeptic1]

"Let's not have the government do something that the private sector can do". One of McCain's quotes responding to Obama's national service initiative.

I agree.

I watched the entire thing and really enjoyed it. I am consistently surprised at how similar some of the ideas are between the candidates. I loved both of their plans on service to country. They have some really good ideas and suggested they'd even work together on some of it, regardless who got elected.

It was good to see them in full agreement on something. And I was pleasantly surprised at how much I "liked" McCain. He was funny and personable.

Here is a write-up on the session and some video highlights.

Story and Videos

McCain:
"I'd be glad to reward [volunteers] them as much as possible. But you want to be careful that the reason is not the reward of financial or other reasons, but the reward is the satisfaction of serving a cause greater than yourself. ... Finding new ways to serve. That's what this next few years should be all about."

Obama:
"Part of what makes America work is the fact that we believe in individual responsibility and self-reliance, but we also believe in mutual responsibility, in neighborliness, in a sense that we are committed to something larger than ourselves."

[edit on 12-9-2008 by Benevolent Heretic]

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I watched it too and I gotta tell ya' it was the most boring piece of **** I have seen. I was in a living room full of folks who were really interested in seeing what the candidates had to say. Everyone was really surprised how it was set up. Everyone agreed that it should have been in "debate" format. Nearly half fell asleep during McCain's interview. During Barack's, people began to talk about other things...

Nobody could focus on it. There was no interest half way through it. It was totally worthless in my opinion.

Will they ever debate?

I doubt they will ever have a "real" debate where they face each other and ask each other questions. They will probably appear on stage together and be asked pre-viewed questions by a moderator and talk TO the moderator, but probably not too much to each other. (I think the first "debate" is Sept 23 or 29)

But this particular show was not meant to be a debate. In fact, it was meant to be a common point of interest (national service) and they were supposed to expand on their ideas. I don't think I would have watched it in a room full of people. My husband and I found it quite good.

I'm sorry to say that I think too many people's attention span dies out and they get bored to sleep if it's not set up like a football game with attacks and defense. THAT is one of the biggest problems with the US population right now. They have come to expect to be entertained and can't sit still for a couple hours and listen without the excitement of competition to hold their interest.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I see your point and agree to a point/ to a degree...however, both candidates were very monotone sounding with zilch excitement in their delivery. They sounded totally scripted and rehearsed and that is why it was boring. In a debate where there is interaction between the two on the "issues", they can't hide behind something a speech writer helped them with and something they practiced before the telecast over and over again. In a debate often it's "impromptu" and this frankly tells us more about the person and how they truly think than any thing else.

By the way, for clarification, the room of people didn't assemble specifically for the show. What occurred was that we all happened to be there when it came on, and someone said something like "oh I wanted to watch this" and so it was put on and it seemed initially that everyone had some interest in it, but when it became apparent that it was not going to be a debate but rather more of the same ole' politician, "they talk and we listen" pucky people began to start their own conversations, or simply tune it out. I mean this election thing has been going on now for several years--it's the most drawn out election I can remember, and we all are getting tired of it.

I still can't believe they won't actually debate. I feel like someone who just got taken at a used car lot with this thing. I mean isn't this America where there is "choices" and a real "democratic" process? If we don't stand up and yell for things here anymore, we don't get it! I'm sick of getting the shaft in the USA and more and more it looks like we are going to get it in November.

It was pretty boring. I was disappointed that Obama used it to take a couple cheap shots at Bush.