Who won the second presidential debate, McCain or Obama?

McCain

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by LK Hunsaker

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The man who said, "You don't want to listen to us point fingers" did that in the first thing he said during the October 7th debate, attacking President Bush with his first words of the night. Both before and after Obama told us we didn't want finger pointing, he did so. Yes, both sides did, but then McCain didn't stand there and say, "you don't want us to point fingers" and continue regardless.

For me, McCain won the debate. I don't care how comfortable someone is speaking. I'm uncomfortable speaking, but it does not make my message less important. No, he didn't give details of certain military related plans. He has the experience and knowledge to know that is not a good idea. Too much of that is already put out in the media to the detriment of our national security. McCain was absolutely right when he told Obama he should not mention attacking Pakistan publicly. It sounded like a threat. That's not what we need right now in the midst of such a tense situation in Pakistan.

The message is what matters. So let's look at the messages each candidate supplied during the debate:

IRAQ

- McCain stated we have to stay in Iraq until it's stable so all of the work over the past five years wasn't for nothing, and so our national interests are better protected and our troops can come home victorious.

- Obama will bring them home on a timeline, regardless of the effects, possibly in defeat. He says we shouldn't have been there, anyway, which at this time is completely besides the point. We are there.

Defeat of our forces is not acceptable. It weakens us as a nation, and we can't afford any further weakening. Bringing them out of Iraq and putting them into Afghanistan would be like trying to empty one half of a bathtub while the other is still full. It won't work. If we pull them out of Iraq before the terror cells are defeated or controlled, the terrorists will move from Afghanistan and everywhere else and right back into Iraq, securing an overwhelmingly strong hold and depriving the population of the benefits and freedoms they are now starting to see. There is more good going on there than the media lets us know. Check this article as evidence.

Can anyone honestly still think, as Obama suggested, that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11? Please. Iraq did have biological weapons. There were components of WMD found around the country. There were swarms of terrorist cells there, ready to jump in and try to help annihilate us. Going after Bin Ladin in Afghanistan while having all of those terrorist cells in Iraq building WMDs would have been dangerous, indeed. You take away backup support, and you weaken the whole thing. Whether or not they helped plan that particular attack is besides the point. Prevention is worth much more than revenge. Going into Iraq was prevention of a similar attack. It is all related. Saying otherwise is naive rhetoric.

HEALTH CARE

- McCain would allow tax breaks to help us buy our health insurance, giving us choice to go wherever we wish.

- Obama would FINE parents for not having health insurance for their children, which he feels is fair because it's "relatively affordable." He would also FINE small businesses for not providing it.

Is he serious? Could his mother on food stamps have been able to afford health insurance? Of course, that wouldn't matter, since those on free government assistance already have free health care. Would they be fined, also, for not buying their own? Saying it's relatively affordable for low income families is like those commercials that tell us something is "affordable for anyone" - well, I guess that depends on whether you have money for anything over food, clothing, and shelter. Otherwise, "affordable" isn't.

Guess what? Most small businesses CAN'T afford it, either. So all he's doing is making a bad situation worse. He's going to lower premiums for those already paying insurance. But what about those who don't have it? Other than being fined. How is his plan helping them? I never heard that answered. He also wouldn't answer McCain about what that fine would be. If they can't afford insurance in the first place, how can they afford fines? Where is the logic?

TAXES

- McCain wants to leave the tax rate alone for the wealthier tax brackets and provide even more tax credits for the middle class (much of which President Bush has already done that has seriously helped the middle class, but we tend to forget that)

- Obama wants to lower taxes for the middle class and raise them on the higher brackets.

Raising taxes on the higher brackets is insane. He says anyone making over $200,000 a year will have even higher taxes. Do we, as Americans who believe in democracy and having the right to better ourselves through our work, really think that's fair?

Right now, a family making $200,000 a year pays $50,000 in taxes.

Yes, that's absolutely true. I have a family full of tax preparers and I've been one. It is true. They may have certain deductions to lower that a touch, but it doesn't lower a lot. So, that's 1/4 th of what they make during the year that has to be given to the government. And it should be higher?

No, I don't think so. For those making more than that, it's even worse. That doesn't count social security and medicare, which those tax brackets will likely never get back. Why should you care? What if it were you? What if you sacrified and did whatever it took to train yourself to be able to make that kind of money and worked harder for it than many do, and had to give a whole fourth of it to the government? Should we make it half? Those making $200,000 and more are already supporting those who make nothing or next to nothing. Should they have to give up more than that for people who won't bother to even work a full year? No. I've seen that, too ... people coming into the tax office saying they worked for 4 months just to make enough to get earned income credit and then quit so they wouldn't make too much to get the full allotted amount. It's disgusting. But it happens. And that's much of what those higher taxes are paying for. No, it's not okay to raise their taxes even higher.

I would like to see a president stand up and say, hey, we're making things more fair. No full year job = no earned income credit, no welfare, no food stamps. If you're not even trying to support yourself, we don't want to support you, either. You're draining us. If you can't find one on your own, we'll give you one. There are tons of things that need to be done in this country. Earn what you're getting. Don't have 6 kids if you have no job. And we're lowering taxes for those paying way more than their share already. .... Of course it won't happen, but wouldn't that be fair? Why are we punishing Americans who are working that hard and sacrificing to put their own savings in the bank so they won't have to rely on government assistance when they retire just to give it to those who don't? Is this a democratic or communist country?

It really comes down to:

- one candidate being supported by the government during his life, first on food stamps, then on scholarships (as he said during the debate), and

- one candidate supporting his country all his life, first as a military child and then in the military, and then 26 years as a senator:

one with more idealism than experience and the other with too much experience to be idealistic, living instead in reality.

I don't honestly believe Obama has done enough FOR this country to be able to have the honor of representing it. One hundred and some days of actual work as a senator is next to nothing. Being a lawyer only means he knows how to smooth talk. Getting where he is because of the special interest groups pushing him there is despicable. Is that really what we want in the White House?

I hope the Chicago planetarium is enjoying that multi-million dollar equipment we all paid for. And I sure hope they are a non-profit, no entrance fee business to have the right to receive free government money.

By the way, when President Bush told us to "Go out and shop" (which were not his exact words, I don't believe), he meant to go about our business and show the world we will NOT lie down and cower just because the terrorists are trying to make us do so. We will stand up and go on and continue our way of life that they hate and want to destroy. So yes, let's go out and shop.

"America is the greatest force for good in the history of the world." John McCain

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