Daily Archives: September 26, 2008

John McCain’s Al Gore Huffing and Puffing Moment? Did John McCain’s Visible Contempt for Barack Obama in Debate #1 Function Like Al Gore’s Huffing and Puffing Moments in His 2000 Debate with George Bush?

Not making eye contact (McCain) and huffing and puffing (Gore)? Back in 2000, people noticed that Al Gore had a lot of impatience and contempt for George Bush’s answers during their first presidential debate. Gore displayed this contempt by huffing and … Continue reading

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Who’s Presidential Now?: In the First 2008 Presidential Debate, McCain Suggests that Obama’s Imprudent to Say Publicly That He Would Go After Terrorists Over the Pakistani Border, and Obama Zings McCain for His Lack of Seriousness

Barack Obama appeared very presidential throughout the first debate, and I thought that this was an especially effective moment for him: And here’s McCain singing “Bomb Bomb Iran”:

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2008 Presidential Debate 1.0: See John McCain Sing “Bomb Bomb Iran”—and Barack Obama Call McCain on It

Below was a rather memorable moment in the first presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. McCain suggested that Obama was imprudent to say aloud that the United States must make incursions into Pakistan to get terrorists, even if … Continue reading

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Near This (Russia) Therefore Know That (Foreign Policy): The Sarah Palin Logical Fallacy

For the 2008 election season, I hereby propose that a new informal fallacy be added to all college textbooks devoted to philosophy, composition, rhetoric, propaganda studies, and law: “The Sarah Palin logical fallacy,” or simply “The Palin fallacy.” It can … Continue reading

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Another Change v. Experience Presidential Election: A Clip from the Debate, in 1960, Between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon That Seems to Mirror Issues Swirling Around Obama and McCain

Some curious parallels between then and now. Like Obama, Kennedy is youthful, articulate, and telegenic, but also dogged by questions about his experience. And like Nixon being hounded with the question—“What good idea have you ever given President Eisenhower?”—so McCain … Continue reading

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The Great Divorce?: Is the GOP in the Process of Alienating Wall Street?

Over at US News and World Report today, James Pethokoukis, one of the magazine’s Money & Business section editors, gets a nasty email from a lifetime Republican and Wall Street money manager: Economic conservatives may be horrified at the thought of a trillion-dollar … Continue reading

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Great Depression 2.0: Is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson a 2008 Version of 1929’s Thomas Lamont? (Lamont Was a Banker Who Put Together a Briefly Successful Luqidity Deal Before the Market Fully Collapsed.)

Thomas Lamont was an American banker, a fascist sympathizer, and someone who made use of a private yacht as part of his daily commute to Wall Street. In Ocober of 1929 he was a central player in putting together a liquidity … Continue reading

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