on his first day back from vacation, obama will take part in what’s being billed as the “purpose-driven debate”.
this could be interesting:
McCain, Obama & Rick Warren – The “Purpose-Driven Debate”:
…tonight, we will see Barack Obama and John McCain on stage together for the first time this political season.
Brought together by the best-selling author and pastor of the fourth largest church in the U.S., pastor Rick Warren will talk to both candidates tonight for about an hour each.
The focus is on faith… questions will focus on how the candidates lead and make decisions and will cover five topics: leadership, stewardship, worldview, compassion issues, and their vision for America.
The format is somewhat similar to a game show…One candidate in a soundproof bubble (or room) while the other candidate is on stage. Obama is up first and then McCain. The order was determined by a coin-flip.
They will be asked the same questions and their personal life is on the table because “character matters,” Warren said.
l understand that following the conclusion of mccain’s session, they’ll both be on stage together…the contrast should be striking.
the “debate” is scheduled to be aired live by kdoc, faux news, and cnn. and can be viewed via live webcast from 5 – 7 pm/pdt.
we shall see.
So, you think McCain will have some sort of pack on his back and earbuds?
thanks dada
McCain should be frisked for hidden mics, hearing aids and no txt messaging devices.
then it should be fun to watch McCain give crude jokes whenever he does not have answers.
Do you really think he knows how to txt message? Imagining him reading aloud text messages without knowing how to re-encode them to standard English would be very funny.
Funny, I was thinking the same!
To add to your comment downthread…I heard Warren say something along the lines of this: that his questions would be on leadership, character and two other areas I can’t quite remember since I was just flippin’ thru the channels for more Olympic matches and therefore not really paying that much attention.
I also caught that this would not be a “debate” but that he’d ask them both the exact same questions.
I’d personally like someone to ask McCain why he thinks rape jokes are so funny, but that’s just me. I’d like someone to ask Warren why he’s so invested in the personal lives of women and why he thinks we’re so stupid as to not know how to make health decisions for ourselves, but again, that’s me.
I’d ask this audience why, when their pockets are lighter; we’re in debt; costs for everything are skyrocketing; and though we’ve allegedly “won’ the Iraq war on 5 different occasions yet we’re still there, why they are so exercised over abortion and stem cells? But again…well, you know.
At any rate, Chuck Todd assured the audience that this should all be over in time to watch Michael Phelps attempt his 8th gold medal in this Olympics. 🙂
to be honest, l really don’t know what to expect given the unorthodox nature of the format and no knowledge of whether or not warren has an ulterior motive.
colour me cynical, but there are certainly a lot of unanswered questions about the whole thing:
have the questions been submitted in advance and “vetted”?
is the “soundproof bubble” really that?
and more of that nature.
what l do suspect is that obama will take this opportunity to try and disperse with the “muslim” rumours, and will probably comport himself in a positive way.
mccain, on the other hand, l expect will come out in full “pander mode” and attempt to “play to the audience”.
warren, whatever his political leanings, commands a very large audience, and this has the potential to move that particular demographic in one direction or the other.
sometimes this stuff is fascinating to watch unfold, otheer times it’s like watching a train wreck in slo-mo, l hope this is one of those fascinating times.
we shall see.
I expect that Obama will come off better simply because he has been a lot more invested in his faith than McLame. He mentions faith quite a bit and has the faith based stuff down. McCain is pretty much an empty suit when it comes to religion-not that I give a damn but he just can’t cram all the right buzz words and phrases into his head to make himself sound sincere. McCain is lazy and I also suspect becoming senile and just won’t be up to any substantial in depth faith answers. I think he’ll try and rely on ‘big picture’ answers.
Then again as you said dada I don’t know if Warren will be an honest broker in this little shindig or not, we’ll see shortly.
Warren alerted his questions will be personal, whatever that means
I’m being purposely driven to distraction by the intersection of faith/politics myself. Character matters, yeah and the best way to judge the character of either Senator is to look at their voting records…it doesn’t matter so much what you say as how you vote-for or against bills that reveal where your interests lie.
If Warren wants to talk character he should be asking why they voted for or against various bills-let them defend their records. Something concrete to show where their values and voting records converge.
Instead we will probably get statements on importance of faith, family etc which everyone says anyway so what’s the point. Who can come across as sounding the most sincere or most christian or quote the most bible verses will be the winner I guess proving what?
Why do I also get the feeling that character will be tied to a question about gay people-given Warren’s statements concerning how unnatural that is. Purpose driven bigot makes for bad character in my book no matter else he does.
anyone noticed, McCain is not required to wear a flag lapel pin?
guess his patriotism is unquestioned. Solid, unlike Kerry eh?
Dada! Per the NYT today, McCain was NOT in a cone of silence during the initial round of questions, and the host didn’t even know that! Wow – see this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/us/politics/18mccain.html?ref=us