Joe the Plumber Is Focus of Third Debate

The third and final debate spent more than a half hour on Joe the Plumber. It was indicative of the lack of attention to key issues, the inadequate moderation, and the lack of substance which has been key problems for all three presidential debates.

Many claims were made about Joe the Plumber that should be looked into because chances are neither properly addressed the plight of Joe the Plumber.

The stock market plunged today, but neither McCain nor Obama came out with populist rhetoric to oppose the bailout of Wall Street. Neither mentioned the injection of equity that the federal government is engaging in and what it will mean for the future of our economy.

Much time was spent talking about homeowners, but the right things weren’t said. Why do I feel like McCain addressed this better than Obama?

McCain set the tone of this debate quickly and he did it with this line: “I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run for president four years ago.”

McCain proceeded to lay into Obama repeatedly (which he had to do) and highlighted how Obama will not stand up to the leadership of his party, Obama’s campaign has been out of line (for example, Rep. John Lewis compared him to the KKK), Obama turned down his proposal for town hall meetings, and Obama refused public financing.

McCain claimed that he only has put together “truthful ads” and forced Obama to respond. Obama thought 100% of the ads have been negative but conceded that “Americans do not care about hurt feelings” and they want to hear talk about real issues such as the economy.

If only McCain could control his demeanor, he might have been perceived a bit better in his attempts to “expose” Obama. However, he sat back in his sinister-like posture and blinked rapidly and stumbled over words as he worked to chip away at Obama’s lead.

McCain made a great decision to push Obama on the issues of race and segregation and fringe people which have arose in this election. Obama claims to be a “post-racial” candidate, which should be everyone’s fear.

Obama did not want to respond but had to. And he called out Lewis saying that what he said was inappropriate. And he vehemently stated that Bill Ayers will not be advising him when he is president.

The McCain campaign and Republicans have successfully gotten Obama to distance himself from former colleagues and friends. Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, and John Lewis (among others) are now notables that have received statements from Obama detailing how inappropriate their thoughts were.

McCain really didn’t let up ever. He successfully pushed Obama to state exactly who would inform him---Warren Buffett and Paul Volcker would advise him on the economy and Joe Biden, Dick Lugar, and Jim Jones would advise him on foreign policy.

Change was defined. Are these people individuals who will bring forth the change we need?

The debate meandered into talk of spending, health care, and abortion.

Abortion, in particular, was a touchy subject, another issue McCain forced Obama to explain himself on.

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