Tonights Presidential Debate

I agree that this debate has probably been the most boring and least eventful thus far.  Both candidates seemed to get off to somewhat of a rocky start - in the first debate their answers seemed more polished and thought-out.  I don't know if it was the setting or the questions or what. 

The more I hear each candidate speak, the more I feel like Obama is intelligently addressing the issues at hand, while McCain merely emphasizes his record and tries to discredit Obama.  I wish I knew what McCain actually plans to DO should he win the presidency - then I might be able to better form an opinion.  At this point my vote goes to Obama without a doubt.  His answers make sense.  McCain can't seem to get to the point.

Fox news is ridiculous.  It is honestly an embarassment to republicans.  Republicans have good points on many issues and as I have said before, I would rather be voting for Ron Paul than Barack Obama (unfortunately Paul did not make it out of the Republican primaries).  But Fox News ruins the good points that republicans are making because it makes it seem like republicans have to lie and fill people's minds with propaganda to get them to agree with them.  If Republicans ditched the Fox News propaganda machine and stuck to true journalism and thoughtful editorials, such as in the New york post, they might have gotten my vote.  And no, Fox News is not simply the republican version of other news channels that are "liberal."  Only people who watch Fox News think that!

I know!  I hate when he addresses us as "his friends."  It makes me feel dirty and used

Goodnight and goodluck with the clinical

Skylor wrote:

Didn't you are love how McCain kept saying "my friends"  ...he ain't my friend, hes big business and the super rich friends, lol.

That became our drinking line.

BUt yeah, I agree with those who said it was boring. The friend who was hosting our debate party actually fell asleep.

The overnight polls suggest Barack won it handily. CNN said 54 percent said Obama did better, only 30 percent picked McCain. And the Gallup daily tracking poll has Obama up by nearly 10 points: http://pollingreport.com/wh08gen.htm#Gallup

Last edited by wordgirl (10-08-2008 12:14)

I have to agree I really don't think they ahve a clue how to fix health care either.  I think they need to start to look  western EU coutnries and Australia and see if they can pick up the things that work and drop the stuff that doesn't work.  Though if the USA goes or the whole universial health system you then have to find a way to pay for it which I think is an even harder problem to figure out.

Stormy Nights wrote:

Yes the debate was boring. McCain keeps talking about his experience because at least he has it. Not just 3 yrs on the senate. And Obama just keeps talking about the last 8 years because that is all he knows about. Anyway.

Neither one has any idea how to fix healthcare. Im a insurance and billing manager maybe they should talk to people like us who see the problems every day. Insurance companies raise your rates every year and say its to keep up with the cost of healthcare. Then patients blame the doctors. Let me just tell you they are not paying your doctors more money. Most insurance companies make doctors sign contracts with set fees and they last from 3 to 5 years. OUR problem is the insurance companies.

That is a great point.  I also don't believe either of their health plans will work.  McCain's is absolutely ridiculous.  Obama's SOUNDS more plausible but likely won't work any better.  I wish there was a candidate left in the race who actually had plans to fix things, and not just plans that SOUND good so they can get elected (obama/mccain)...

also i have a question...if obama gives everyone government insurance, won't that mean the government controls the price of the insurance (i.e. the insurance companies couldn't keep raising their prices)?  would that fix the insurance company problem stormy nights or would there be a reason I haven't thought of why that would not work?  I don't know anything about insurance so please help me out

Now that you know Im from NC you see why I get so upset about everyone blaming Bush for our jobs going over seas. Clinton signed NAFTA and our jobs started leaving before Bush came in office. I do not agree with everything Bush has done but he did try to get jobs to stay. He gave the huge tax breaks here but with free traded, lower wages and no safety regulations in other places it didnt help. But Bush did try.

Sorry I know that was off topic. I wont do it again.

Yes. Thats it. Thats all we need. But at the same time the government likes to go over board with regulations.

Skylor wrote:

Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bushie Jr have all been poor presidents, IMO. I think Clinton might have been the best out of the bunch but he too was a "dummy" in many ways--besides not keeping his pants up 

I can't believe people are still judging Clinton regarding whether or not he "kept his pants" up. It's so totally beyond irrelevant, and if it were relevent, I think we all need to re-evaluate many of the so-called great presidents of the past.

The problems with regulating what drug companies earn is that you really DO want them to make a profit. Let me explain. If they spend millions of dollars to create a drug, then the gov't tells them they can only make hundreds of thousands on it before their patent runs out, then that would deter them from creating all of those live saving drugs in the first place. The patent for a drug is about 15 years, most of which it is in research and clinical trials. I have no problem with drug companies making a profit. The reason they are so cheap in Canada is because they don't do the research and development. American drug companies do . They invest all this money into drugs and their ideas are given to other countries. This is true for technology as well.  The world depends on us to create these machines that do it all. If you take away people's drive, which is profit, to create these things, they will just not create it. Then what happens to the cancer patient that doesn't get this new wonderful drug? Or the next generation of CT or U/S?

DISAYA wrote:

The problems with regulating what drug companies earn is that you really DO want them to make a profit. Let me explain. If they spend millions of dollars to create a drug, then the gov't tells them they can only make hundreds of thousands on it before their patent runs out, then that would deter them from creating all of those live saving drugs in the first place. The patent for a drug is about 15 years, most of which it is in research and clinical trials. I have no problem with drug companies making a profit. The reason they are so cheap in Canada is because they don't do the research and development. American drug companies do . They invest all this money into drugs and their ideas are given to other countries. This is true for technology as well.  The world depends on us to create these machines that do it all. If you take away people's drive, which is profit, to create these things, they will just not create it. Then what happens to the cancer patient that doesn't get this new wonderful drug? Or the next generation of CT or U/S?

That's true, but I don't think anyone in politics wants to make the drug companies not make a profit (the insurance companies are another story).  And what stormy nights was saying was that the insurance companies are raising their prices beyond what the drugs cost and the doctors cost...that the insurance companies are the problem with the healthcare industry, and not the drug companies.  So while what you said is true, it isn't really relevant because neither obama nor mccain are saying that drug companies shouldn't be for-profit; only possibly that insurance companies shouldn't (and they waffled so much it was hard to tell if that was really even what they were saying).  Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think regulations on drug companies are part of either candidate's health care plan...

Stormy Nights wrote:

Yes the debate was boring. McCain keeps talking about his experience because at least he has it. Not just 3 yrs on the senate. And Obama just keeps talking about the last 8 years because that is all he knows about. Anyway.

Neither one has any idea how to fix healthcare. Im a insurance and billing manager maybe they should talk to people like us who see the problems every day. Insurance companies raise your rates every year and say its to keep up with the cost of healthcare. Then patients blame the doctors. Let me just tell you they are not paying your doctors more money. Most insurance companies make doctors sign contracts with set fees and they last from 3 to 5 years. OUR problem is the insurance companies.

I agree with you 100%. I was just telling someone the other day how much it bothers me that when I get my medical statments my ins. co pays only about 20% of the listed charge since that is the contract they have with the Dr's. I don't have to pay anything except my co-pay. However, if someone doesn't have insurance they're stuck paying the whole thing. It doesn't seem fair at all.
My husband is in advertising and he's done a lot of work on pharmaceuticals, they always try to make drugs available to those without insurance, but the people with crappy insurance seem to be caught in the middle unfortunately.