Debates of all ilk

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Amazing about the North Korean malnutrition problem. Wow.

One of Kim Jong Il's loonier moves was when someone from Britain gave North Korea a dozen rabbits, very large rabbits, so North Korea could attempt to start a population to use as food for the country. Instead, Il ate them at a banquet for his birthday.

[CoasterMatt]

[mousepod]

There weren't any strikeouts, nor were there home runs, but I really liked the debate. I think that both of the candidates did a good job of expressing their opinions and represented their differences in a clear way. I'm still voting for Obama, but like scaeagles, if the other guy wins, I'm not going to give up on America. Now if they'd both dump their VP choices...

[tracilicious]

Just curious...why would you want Obama to dump Biden?

So this opinion has nothing to do with either of their politics, but if one were deciding purely on what body language and the ability to look sincere Obama won by a landslide. McCain kept chuckling at him. At one point Obama looked at someone off camera and gave them a lovely smile. After the debate when they both greeted their wives it seemed that there is actual intimacy between Obama and Michelle while McCain and wife's greeting seemed very forced.

Say what you will about all politicians being the same, but I think Obama has McCain trumped on character and heart.

Sleepyjeff: If by "media conditioning" you mean televising what Palin actually says, you are so right. Maybe they should start over-dubbing with someone who actually knows what she's talking about?

I do think the VP debate will be tricky stuff. Biden's going to have to try not to make it look like a complete bloodbath. Palin's going to be pure slime in avoidance of answering actual questions.

[mousepod]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

Just curious...why would you want Obama to dump Biden?

Well, I'm not against Biden per se. I think his experience, especially his foreign policy experience, will make him a fine Vice President. However, if it were up to me to pick Obama's running mate, I would have chosen Richardson, Kucinich, or even Clinton - but that's just because that's who I liked in the primaries. Others have picked up on Biden's apparent arrogance, and his gaffes over the last couple of weeks add fodder to the nasty ad campaigns that are sure to continue over the next month. But if it's Biden, I'm OK with him. Just as I hope that the people choosing to vote Republican are OK with Palin.

[scaeagles]

Anyone who voted for John Kerrey or thinks Joe Biden is a great pick and is offended by the arrogance of McCain and how he talks down to people...well, it's probably an issue of prefering the candidate and their policies more than an issue of arrogance. I find Obama to be incredibly arrogant as well, and have voiced that, but McCains bothers me less because he's my candidate of choice.

[scaeagles]

I completely disagree, GD. For every source you can cite, I can cite just as many lauded economics professors and experts who say the opposite of what you have said. You're right - we've been over this, and we've each cited our sources, and you have one school of thought, and I have another school of thought.

If you'd like I can go into other reasons why high corporate taxes are a bad idea, but I doubt it would make a difference.

[Scrooge McSam]

Have you ever owned a business, Leo?

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Scrooge McSam

Have you ever owned a business, Leo?

Actually, yes. But not in the way you might think. Fully distributed partnership. 10 years. A fully distributed partnership pays no corporate taxes.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Whatever. The fact remains that Obama made the most salient point in that discussion. On paper we have one of the highest corporate tax rates. But because we let them write anything and everything off, they don't actually pay anywhere close to that rate and the effective rate is actually one of the lowest. That's effed up no matter how you look at it.