US/VA Government: Presidential Debate Response Paper
Watch at least 1/2 hour of a 2007-08 presidential debate. It may be Democratic or Republican. Write a response paper (i.e. proper sentences, paragraphs, correct spelling/punctuation, etc.) addressing what you viewed. Please include your name in your post in order to get credit. If you're concerned w/Internet safety and privacy, include your first name and last initial. To aid you in this task, address the following Qs:
1. What debate did you watch? (Date, channel, Dem/Rep, who was involved, who was the moderator, where was it, any interesting facts...)
2. What were some of the issues discussed? (Choose and discuss at least 3, no more than 5)
3. What candidate impressed you the most? Why? What candidate impressed you the least? Why?
4. What was your overall reaction? How did the debate make you feel? What did you learn? What would you like to know more about?
5. Read other people's posts. Comment on two other people's posts. Please include your name in your comment as well as the person who you are commenting to.
posted by M.D. Ford @ 1/26/2008 12:04:00 AM
76 Comments
76 Comments:
This project is due at 11:59PM FEBRUARY 11, 2008.
M.D. Ford
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Tim brown
2/3/08
Period 8th
I watched the democratic debate of 1/5/08 on abc. It was 4 candidates involved John Edwards, Barrack Obama, Bill Richardson, and Hilary Clinton. The moderator was Charlie Gibson. The debate was held in Manchester New Hampshire. Some interesting facts Barrack Obama wants to cooperate with the Pakistani government. Bill Richardson would ask the Pakistani to step aside. Hilary Clinton wants to share the security of the nuclear weapons. John Edwards wants to find out who is responsible for the nuclear weapons. Bin Laden might know something about those weapons.
Candidates were talking about terrorism and nuclear weapons. Trying to protect the United States from nuclear weapons but we don’t have away to spot nuclear weapons. The United States has to watch out for Bin Laden, because he is in the duty of getting nuclear weapons. Another problem is how much money the government is spending. By 2017 social security will run dry and taking in less tax will pay out in benefits. By 2013 Medicare and hospital insurance fund is expected to fall in the red. Candidates want to help the kids.
Hilary Clinton impressed me the most because she is lady and know a lot of things about problems the United States have. I like how she always talking and not jus listening like other candidates. Barrack Obama and Bill Richardson like to talks a lot. John Edwards didn’t impress me because don’t fight or talk as much as the other candidates. John is more relaxed and has too much patience. My overall reaction is I don’t really care about the debate or who’s president. The debate mad me feel like all them democratic candidates are crazy, so we should have a republican candidate for president. I learned that the candidates be lying about some of the things they say. They are not going to do the things they said they are. All they want to do is go to war and fight. I want know why are we still sending our people across seas to fight terrorism? We need to leave them crazy terrorist alone and let them be.
Debate Paper
I watched the democratic debate from January 31, 2008 in California on CNN. The participants were Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. The were several moderators including Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchor, Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times, and Jeanne Cummings, Senior Correspondent, POLITICO.COM. I found it interesting that Hillary wants to institute a universal health care system for our nation if she becomes the next president and that Obama has a plan that would allow families who don’t currently have health care to receive health provided by government programs.
One of the major topics discussed was health care. Both candidates, Obama and Clinton, explained their plans to better the health care system in America. Clinton wants to institute a universal health care system which would allow all Americans to receive health care free of cost. In order to enact such a program she would have to raise taxes to help pay for the high costs. Obama’s plan for health care would not call for such drastic tax increases. He would like to setup or make better use of government programs that would allow families, who currently cannot afford health care, to be able to afford it. Obama has been quoted saying that “if we make health care affordable and create subsidies to those who can’t afford it, they will buy it.” Another issue that the candidates debated about was immigration. Obama said that immigration is a substantial problem that we have in the United States and he would like to try and fix that problem by setting up pathways that would help immigrants attain citizenship. He says that it is not right for employers to hire illegal immigrants that can’t complain about their working conditions. Obama says that in order to help immigrants attain citizenship we must first teach them to speak English and give them the chance to understand our customs. Obama also said that this task will be difficult due to the problems that our educational system is currently having. Clinton on the other hand says that our country needs a comprehensive immigration reform solution. She doesn’t want to go about immigration reform in a way that would put people out of jobs and employers out of business but she does want to crack down illegal employment of immigrants. Clinton says that it would not be right to go around and round up immigrants and deport them, she wants to setup pathways, similar to those of Obama, that would allow immigrants to gain their citizenship. Another, not so important topic, was qualifications. The moderators asked the candidates what qualifications they had that make them better than the other candidate for the presidency. Clinton said that after she graduated from law school she didn’t want to go work in a law firm she wanted to do something that would help bring people together, She says that the job of the president is to bring everyone together as a nation as she claims that her experience with the Children’s Defense Fund is substantial enough to take on the task of bringing our country together. Obama claims that the skills he has, which he gained while working as Senator of Illinois, participating in reform throughout his state, depict his idea that the country needs change. Obama has put into the heads of many that if he is elected president he will bring about change that we can believe in.
Obama impressed me more than Clinton because the way he answered the questions was not inadequate but substantial. When questions about the other candidate arose he simply dodged answering them and professionally stated that it would not be appropriate for him to answer such a question. While Clinton did the same thing I was least impressed by her because I do not agree with some of her ideas. The idea of universal health care does not suit me because an increase in taxes would have to be done and I don’t think that increasing taxes would help better our economy. I would like to know more about the candidates plans to help prevent global warming.
I was really only observing today in class as to what went on in the presidential debate.... I don't normally follow these types of things, but when i do find the opportunity to watch them, i actually get quite a laugh at the public accusations they throw at each other, and the political fakeness that is projected at our society....
Hillary Clinton, in the Democratic debate did nothing but throw criticism after criticism at Barack Obama and slander his name saying that he was basically lying to everyone, which may be true, but she couldn't prove it... Even though Barack was accusing her right back, he had reasoning behind his decisions and Hillary was always left open to bleed when questioned. There is always going to be crazy debate in politics, otherwise those debates would be so freaking boring that nobody would care. However, the amount of constant bickering is enough to get on someones nerves....
In Hillary's speech about how she felt about the AIDS in America, i don't care if she completely did not mean to say she was glad about aids and meant something else, the fact that she was unable to factually prove any of her accusations against Barack, makes me wish she had never even ran for office so i wouldn't have to even think about voting for her. People who falsely accuse, and don't even have proof to back it up should not be in our government.
Barack was very imressive in stating that he wanted to help get kids to college and help the people et health care, and how he thought that the candidates should always be like this. He says he wants to make this presidency different than the corrupt presidencies in the past. Hillary again slams on the Republican side by bringing up Barack's record and past quotes. "He really liked the ideas of the republicans over the last ten to fifteen years, and we can give you the exact quote." Notice how she doesn't give the quote. She is all bark and no bite. She also asks how he plans on paying for the proposed programs. She makes light of the fact that there is no evidence as to how he does this. She claims that she thinks they need to look to the future, but she keeps looking back at the past of Obamas.
She also gets off topic and moves on to how Obama's progression on the war effort snowballed from being against the war to being all for the war. He then backs himself up with more information in how he spent his whole life fighting Reagan's policies.
In my eyes, the only person who seemed to gain any political points was Edwards because he was the only one who didn't really open his mouth constantly and say retarded things like thankfully aids has become a big thing in our society... I wont quote her because i don't know the exact wording she used. Edwards in the whole thing spends his whole time soaking this whole thing in, and finally getting time to speak, backing up the person who seemed to have the most collateral in their stand.
Over all, think that both of the candidates that are left in the debate are not cut for the job. However, since Edwards dropped out, i will have to go with Barack Obama as who i would vote for in the presidency. However i feel that neither of them will do as they are claiming they will do. These debates are useless because they always are complete talk and once they get voted, they could care less about what they were proposing to do in their presidency, because once they have the position, they don't need to gain peoples votes to get the job they want done.
Colin Kovacs
Reaction Paper
I watched the June 2007 democratic presidential debate held in New Hampshire. The democratics present at this debate were Hilary Clinton, Barrock Obama, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodo, and John Edwards. These candidates were very interesting when the cameras weren't on them, so they thought. Every time someone else was addressing an issue all the other debaters were looking around, stareing into space, and barley paying any attention.
They discussed a lot, but there were a few things that really made me think. First was; Is it acceptable to leave Iraq with civil war and a possible genocide brewing? second; Should English be designated as the offical language of the United States? and the last one was; boarder patrol. After thinking about each question, I have come up with what I think about each of these questions or subjects.
I don't think it's acceptable to leave when we're half the reason Iraq is mutilated. While trying to help them, we also helped in destroying half their country. I feel we haven't accomplished as much as we should, in contrast to the many lives that have been lost to this terrible war. I believe that before we even think about pulling out of Iraq we need to restore their country and give them the democracy that will make them a sucsessful country.
I think making English the designated language of the United States would make everything easier, and we all enjoy easy. I feel that anyone should have the oppurtunity to come over to America and make a living, but when we have people coming for every country it's hard to learn 10 different languages to understand each of them. That's why i think when entering the United States, if you plan to work, you must take English classes. It would also give people the oppurtunity to speak two or more languages easier. If you already know your native language and you come over to the United States, and learn English, it now makes you more eligable to go to a 4 year college.
I think boarder patrol is very good especially in places like california. California is right at the boarder, when illegal immigrants come into the area they take so many jobs. These illegal immigrants are working for less, which is not good for people living there, but also not good for them. These people have risked their lives to come over to have a better life for themselves and their families, which mean they will work for almost nothing. Most illegal immigrants work for slave wages which is very unhealthy for them. Boarder patrol needs to be done, not just for the United States protection and well being but also for the immigrants.
Out of all the candidates Hilary Clinton impressed me the most. Not only because she's the only woman to get this far, but because she has many good idea and hangs with the men no matter what the issue. I love that she sees things in her own way, i feel that some candidates have no idea whats going on so they jump on the "band wagon" just to make themselves look good. Hilary knows what shes talking about and I feel she would be a great president.
Bill Richardson impressed me the least, he didn't really have an opinion. he stayed in the background and didn't seem to confident about the issues at hand. I felt that he talked just to hear himself, but everything coming out of his mouth made no sense what so ever.
Over all i like watching it even if it was more personal attacks then actual presidential debating. I was a little disappointed, these people are running for PRESIDENT, and they still can't make it just about the issues at hand. They still attack each other as if they were being elected on their "come backs". Candidates running for president shouldn't even think about the competition, they should think about what they need to do, so they never have to face the competition.
I learned how democrats felt about the war in Iraq, Even though most of the democrats felt differnetly about it. I also learned that English is trying to be enforced as the first language in the United States. I would like to hear more about the war in Iraq and what they feel is acceptable to do at this time.
I have been watching the democratic debate in New Hampshire that was first aired on ABC but I picked it up on YouTube. The four candidates who attended the debate were John Edwards, Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson. The debate started off with a rousing forum on nuclear terrorism and Osama bin Ladens effect on Pakistan that was of specific interest to me, because as the moderator (Charles Gibson) said, it is a topic that hasen't been mentioned much at all in the recent debates. Barrack Obama was the first candidate to respond to this and he said that he would go after Osama bin Laden with or without the aid or permission of the Pakistan government although he hopes for the former of the two.
He thinks that this would help the people of Pakistan to rise against terrorist groups. John Edwards says that he would handle the short term threats effectively and he wishes to remove all nuclear weapons from the world for a long term solution and said he wants to "rid the world of nuclear weapons"* Bill Richardson wants to work diplomatically with the Pakistan government and avoid another war or conflict like the Iraq war. He also believes that Pakistan is a possible failing country and needs to be handled with care. Hillary Clinton said that we should handle the nuclear power on an international level with aid from NATO so that one nation doesnt have full control over nuclear arms.
The most catching of all the topics was the topic of nuclear weapons, Osama bin Laden and Pakistan. I thought that the candidate with the most appealing argument was John Edwards. The complete disarmament of all nuclear weapons in all countries seemed the best solution to me.
Other topics include social security and homeland security.
I think the most impressive candidate to me was John Edwards. He seemed like he really cared about the people and spoke from his heart, not from a prompter his PR people set up. He has good morales and I think his spectrum of beliefs resemble mine the most out of all the democratic candidates in the debate. Its a shame that he dropped out of the race. I really thought he had a good chance at being president and would have made a fine one.
-Sam D.
* At 6:40 on YouTube video.
Link to video::
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yr9RoZguG6w
I watched the 2008 democrats debate on MSNBC in New
Hampshire. The host Tim Russer and the canidates Mike Gravel,
Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich,
and Joe Biden. The debate was held at Dartmouth college.As I
watched this debate I had mixed feelings of all the debaters.
I feel that all of them had insightful answers to all
questions asked, but I did feel that some of the debaters
were indecisive and hesitant in there answers. The two that
stood out the most were Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton. Barak
i felt had the best answers to all the questions(in my
opinion).Speaking of Hilary I feel that she was the worst. I
feel that if someone cannot make up their mind I do not think
this person should not be allowed to run a country(but yet
again that is my opinion).In this debate there were many
questions worth talking about. Here are just a few that I
thought relevant. The first and foremost is the situation
Iraq.In the beginning of the debate the question was asked
(hypothetically)if you are elected president what will you do
with the troops in Iraq.The first to answer was Barak Obama,
and like i said he had the best answer.He said that he would
get 1-2 brigades a month(3500-5000 troops is a brigade).He
also said he would leave some troops for protection of the us
embassy, protection of us civilians, and to commence counter
terrorism.The second one that i found insightful. The
question was that it was believed that north Korea put
nuclear materials in Syria and Israel invaded Syria because
they felt threatened, "would you Hilary as president believe
they were justified in there actions". Hilary's answer was
shaky at best considering her belligerence towards the debate
questionnaire. After that she said that she supported Israel
in their actions.The next question I will talk about was from
a new england reporter. The question was many cities across
the country are so called safe havens to illegal aliens and
police are told to ignore immagration laws, and what would
the pres. do about this. The question was directed toward
Bill Richardson. He said that there should be more border
patrol, not just a wall. Also more laws against hiring
illegal aliens. Overall this was a fantastic debate and my
opinions of some of the canidates has changed.
I watched the Florida Republican Debate on October 21, 2007, with candidates Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain, and Duncan Hunter. The moderator for the debate was Chris Wallace and the debate was broadcasted on FoxNews. One thing discussed was that Thompson said that Giuliani was soft on abortion and on gun control. Giuliani came back saying that while being the mayor of New York he brought down gang violence and gun safety. He mentioned that he would do his best as president to do the same thing in the United States.
One of the issues discussed was trying to get congress support. Because of the democrats taking over the House and the Senate, the republicans have to try and there support. Especially on the war on Iraq and the other events happening over across seas. Another event discussed was national security. Each of the republicans waned to help improve national security in any way possible. Each one said that the people are the ones we have to help and keep safe along with our troops across seas. Another issue discussed was gay marriage. Mitt Romney says the he was in a state with gay marriage and that he would rather see kids with moms and dads, and not dad and dad or mom and mom. He mentioned that it should be up to the people to discuss weather gay marriage is to be legal or banned from all states.
The candidate I like the most was Rudy Giuliani because he stayed on the topic, he was giving positive answers, and he would stray here and there but then get right back on topic. He had some good ideas for the nation, what he would do about the war on Iraq, how to reduce green house gasses, and so much more. The candidate that I dislike the most was Mitt Romney. Most of the time he would get off subject and talk about the constitution, or the Declaration of Independence, and try to base a system off of those types of laws and government. Yes that government set up our nation but this is the 21st and I don’t think that that would be good for the nation that we have now.
My overall reaction of the debate was that everyone had there own ideas on the different subjects and to me that’s what made it very interesting. I laughed at some of the candidates just on some of jokes that they said about each other so that the debate wouldn’t always be so serious the whole time and it made feel pretty good that these people know what they’re doing and know what they’re talking about. I leaned that running for president could get pretty tense sometimes and that everyone has there own ideas and that none of them are the same. The one thing that I wanted to know more about was the Iraq war and what there plans were for helping it or getting our troops out.
I watch the democratic debate in school February , 9 and at my house awhile back. The candidates were Hilary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John Edwards. I think they were in Iowa and I wasn’t even paying attention to who the moderator was. They discussed the war in Iraq, healthcare, and illegal aliens coming into America. When Hilary talked about the war she said that she would get all the troops out of Iraq in 90 days. To me that is dumb because as soon as we get out of their it would go right back to being the same old Iraq and they would start blowing up people again. I know they are still doing it now but it would be an even bigger mess. Same thing with the government. They talked about health care. I don’t really care what the do about that as long as they don’t take a crapload of money out of my paycheck. The whole thing with all the illegal aliens ticks me off. I am for the president that will deport them all. I know that’s kind of mean but when they take all of the jobs and an American citizen cant get a job because of that, something’s wrong . None of the candidates imprested me because I tend to lean more on the republican side, and that the only debate I watched. My reaction was that I was confused because they argued like little kids about them selves instead of talking about the issues, don’t get me wrong the did talk about the issues but I would like a more cut and dry president. The debate made me feel like who ever we vote for next is going to play a major part in America’s history, and I know all the presidents do but all eyes are going to be on this one hard .The debate made me learn how much America or the economy was in the hole. I would like to know about boarder control. I agree with slick about America spending to much money especially over seas, we are the top super power off the world and were in debt, I mean seriously what happened did we buy too many toys from China? I agree with Jenna also about the whole language thing. Americans don’t go over to Mexico and start changing their classes in schools and make them learn English. The collage I am looking at it is required to take a spanish speaking cores. If any body wants to come over here and live and be a citizen they should know our language. I shouldn’t have to learn theirs. And by any means I am not racist I am just saying what I think whether its right or wrong.
Kourtney Landes wrote:
I watched the Californian, Democratic, Presidential Debate that CNN hosted on January 31, 2008. The Candidates were Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. The moderators included Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchor, Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times, and Jeanne Cummings, The 3 things that were discussed the most in this debate were Health Care, Immigration, and The War in Iraq/Foreign affairs.
The first one that the candidates talked about was the Health Care situation. Clinton believes that we should have universal health care, which would allow anyone to get health care for free; Clinton wants to raise taxes so that we can pay for the high costs, but in my opinion I don’t think that, that will go over very well with a lot of people. Obama says “if we make health care affordable and create subsidies to those who can’t afford it, they will buy it.” Obama doesn’t want to raise taxes; he wants to use government programs to help people who cannot afford it.
Immigration is one of the other topics that the candidates voiced their opinions about. Clinton thinks that we need a Comprehension Immigration Reform solution; she says that she doesn’t want to kick people out of their jobs and homes, and doesn’t want to go looking for illegal immigrants she just wants to help them understand America more and help them gain their citizenship. Obama feels the same way, he said that we should teach them how to speak English, and teach them about America’s background. He also wants to help them gain their citizenship, but says it may be hard due to the education problems we are having.
The last, but not least topic they talked about was Foreign Affairs/The War in Iraq. Clinton feels that we need to be not only realistic but optimistic. Realistically, she says that we do have serious threats, and feels that a President in his/her first year should not be having meetings with the 5 worst dictators in the world. She said that it could have been really bad for the president at the time and could have some very serious consequences. Obama is glad that we met with them because he feels that if we hadn’t met with them then we would be spending even more money then we are now, and losing thousands of more lives, which could easily hurt our reputation around the world. Obama never agreed with the war in the first place, but thinks that the next president needs to let the people know what we are doing so they know we are using our military wisely.
I liked Obama over Clinton because I feel that he really does know what he’s doing and has a lot of good changes that he would love to make. Clinton didn’t impress me at all in this debate she had some really lame ideas and ones that would hurt more then help. I would definitely like to know what their reaction is on Global Warming and Abortions, and their plans to help it. I really liked this debate because they talked about some things that I was unsure about and I like that it helped me realize which candidate I would want to vote for.
Kourtney L.
I watched the democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama on January thirty-first. It was in LA and covered by CNN at the Kodak Theatre. The moderator was Dole McManus. Both Obama and Clinton held a good composure throughout the debate. A few of the issues they covered were health care, immigration, and taxes.
Obama says that anyone who wants health care will get it. He says he will mandate coverage for all children and people up to twenty-five years old will still be on a parents plan. He will also lower premiums and believes that all political parties should be brought together on C. Span and broadcast the choices that Americans have concerning health care. To fulfill his plan, Obama will raise taxes, but only to the people who are wealthy and can afford it. He plans to make tax cuts for the individuals who need them. On immigration Obama says that children who were brought to the U.S. [by their parents] should get an education. He also stated that if immigrants go through the process and become a citizen there should be no problem. Obama says he wants to give parents the tools they need to have power over what their children see. Also, Obama was opposed to the war in Iraq from the start. He wants to elevate diplomacy and meet with Iraq to settle all the disputes.
On the other hand, Clinton would withdraw the troops within sixty days of being elected. On immigration, Clinton also wants to bring people together. She is a supporter of the comprehensive immigration reform and believes no illegal immigrants should be aloud driver’s licenses. She also believes in universal health care. Clinton says she will lower the cost of health care and improve the service people would receive. She says she will take the $250,000 from Bush tax cuts and put it into subsidies. She also wants to have electronic medical records which she believes will save $77 billion each year.
My overall reaction to this debate was that is was boring. Neither candidate impressed me more than the other. I would have liked to have known more about what they plan on doing for the environment and I didn’t really learn anything I hadn’t already known.
I watched the 2008 MSNB Florida Republican Debate. Featuring the following Republicans: Rudolph Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney. The Moderator was Ryan Williams, at Florida Atlantic University.
The first question to the Republicans: Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain, and Rudy Giuliani, was about the tax cuts, and if they supported them, they said that they supported tax cuts and also said they it should be improved more. I think that would be a great idea for the economy.
When Huckabee was asked about why the Republicans should be in charge after some of the problems Bush has caused, I thought it was funny when Mike Huckabee said. “Well Tim let me remind you, I wasn’t in Washington during all this time so that’s one of the reasons they ouda give me a chance since I wasn’t there messing this up.”
Mitt Romney was asked if he wanted to run on higher deficits, higher debts, higher unemployment, higher gas prices. He responded that he would run on his own record, which were of his accomplishments. He said that Washington has made promises to us over the past decade. I also think that Washington has been slacking on their promises.
I think Mitt Romney would make a good president because he has made many accomplishments while being governor, and he plans on changing the way Washington is running things.
I don’t really like John McCains way of doing things, because he want to keep the soldiers in Iraq, even thought I know it’s somewhat a good idea I don’t think McCain plans on leaving Iraq at all!
I think the Republicans did a better job at explaining how they would help the American economy. I understand just how bad the economy need to change. I learned that tax cuts helps boost the economy.
Will .F
I watched the democratic debate that occurred in South Carolina on Martin Luther King Day. The moderator was Wolfe Blitzer, and the people involved were Hilary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John Edwards. I feel that though this debate was interesting they kept getting off topic to create drama. One of the first questions that were asked in this debate was referring to how Clinton feels about obama’s decisions in his responsibilities? Does this really matter? Though I’d love to know what each candidate is doing and what goals they have set up for America I really don’t care how the candidates feel about each other. Everyone knows there not going to get along I mean come on their running against each other. One question that was asked to substain a reason was “is the subprime mortgage crisis a race issue? While Edwards had said yes, I disagree however he states that he wants to help low income people gain money. But my question is how? I love that he wants to help the people in this world but he hasn’t said how this is going to be done, where’s the money coming from? Is it really possible to do that? Another question that caught my attention was “does your health care take care of the illegal immigrants in America? While Clinton states that her plan does cover everyone Edwards helps us to realize that she later on changes it to say that she, like Obama and Edwards does not cover illegal immigrants. Obama states that his plan does however cover all children and other Americans that live here. While Clinton and Edwards Health plans are universal Obama’s however is not. Clinton was asked “Why an American women would be better off under her health care plan? She states that they would be better off because her plan is universal. She states that if her plan is put in place that she will be able to lower the cost of medicines in America. Well here is my question! HOW?? Though medicine is very important and keeps people healthy I don’t see how that is possible, when we can’t even lower the price of gas or any other important needs. Medicine is too important in this society and I really don’t see how the prices can go down when we need them so much. What I liked the most about this debate was that they discussed morages and health care 2 things that at this moment seem every important. However this was not my favorite debate I feel that it was based around Clinton and Obama arguing about whose better rather than debating on the important things like the war and money issues, health care, and things in those categories. I feel that though there were 3 people in this debate that it might as well have been 2. While Edward made a whole lot of good points he was not allowed much face time. Though I don’t know a lot about Edwards I wish he would of stayed in the competition so I was able to see really what he wanted for this country rather than as I did see him “ a third string”. Honestly at this moment if I were voting I wouldn’t have a clue on who to vote for though I like both Obama and Clinton they both have their flows and their immaturity I guess will just have to see what takes place.
I watched the presedential debate in UNLV in Las Vegas on November 13th.The candidates included Clinton,Obama,Edwards,Biden,Dodd,Richardson,and Kucinich.Most of the questioning was between Obama and Clinton.They went over a lot of the different outlooks that they had on things..such as health care,social security and immigration.John Edwards did explain how the issuse was whether there was a president who could restore trust..Hilary saying that she could bring change to Washington but she is still going for a system that isnt working.Over all I think that none of the other candidates are fit for the presidential debate besides Clinton and Obama(Obama being the much stronger candidate)Every issue that is adressed he is responses and ideas on everything are just more suitable to America.
I watched the democratic debate in california between senator Hilary Clinton and senator Barack Obama on CNN, Which took place on 1-31-08. There were a few moderaters including Doyle McManus, Wolf Blitzer, and Jeanne Cummings.
I feel that the hottest topic of discussion was their views on health care. Clinton's being a universal system, which would be everyone getting health care free of cost, which in return would raise taxes. Obama's plan in my opinion was the better of the two would make health care more affordable without raising taxes as high as Clinton's.
Another big topic discussed was immigration. Obama scored big points with me when he said the immigrants coming into this country is not attributable to inner-city unemployment. But Clinton hit it big when she told us how she had co-sponsered comprehensive immigration reform long before Obama had even come to the senate. On this subject Clinton won in the eyes of the public but not with me, GO OBAMA!!! Attack her flip-flopping on immigrants recieving driver's licences!!!
I feel the highlight of the debate was when both senators turned on the republicans and began Bush bashing. Obama talking about the republicans not being in a real strong position to argue about fiscal responsibilities. And Clinton saying that the country doesn't need a president with CEO expirience. The voters with a 60%-40% split declared Clinton the winner of the debate, but I was most impressed by Obama.
Neither on talked about global warming with any real depth, I would like to know more of their veiws on this subject.
My overall rection to this debate was I felt like I had a better feel for both of the candidates, and that if Clinton won the nomination I would be voting independant because I'll be damned if I vote Clinton or republican.
Not too many people did their paper on this debate, I only saw two who did and that was Kourtney Landis and Ben Gregory (I hope I spelled his last name right), both of whom seemed to favor Obama such as myself. I feel that Ben's was very well thought out and had allot of good points that I agree with. Kourtney's wasn't filled with allot of her own opinion I would have enjoyed reading more about her opinion.
-Gabe Taylor
I watched the California Democratic debate on January 31, 2008 on CNN. The two politicians involved were Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. The moderators of this debate included Wolf Blitzer, CNN Anchor, Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times, Jeanne Cummings, Senior Correspondent, and Politico.Com. This debate took place at Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
There were many issues discussed in this debate but one of the most important ones discussed would be the health care issue. Senator Clinton and Senator Obama had different views on this subject. Senator Clinton thinks that there should be universal health care. She wants health care to be free to everyone so that people who can not afford health insurance will be able too. The plan that she proposes for this will keep many people safe from disease, injuries, and any other sicknesses that will hurt people who can not afford treatment. Senator Obama does not think this is a very good plan. He thinks if everyone has free health care then people will use it way too much. He thinks that people will be going to the emergency rooms everyday for treatable causes like asthma. Instead of making health care completely free, he thinks the costs of health care should be lowered and made affordable for everyone, not just the middle and upper classes of our society. Another important issue was the housing crisis. There are 95,000 homes in foreclosure in California right now. Senator Clinton wants a moratorium on foreclosures for 90 days, so she can try to work out people keeping their homes, instead of losing them. She also wants to freeze interest rates for 5 years. Senator Obama also believes the housing crisis is a major problem. He has put forward a $10 billion home foreclosure prevention fund that would help to bridge the lender and the borrower so that people can stay in their homes. He thinks if we go through the freeze proposed by Senator Clinton, mortgage interest rates will go up across the board and you will have a lot of people who are currently trying to get mortgages who will actually have more of a difficult time. Another major issue is the national security problem in Iran and Iraq. Both Senators want to ensure that we are using our military wisely. Senator Obama wants to elevate diplomacy, saying that it is part of our arsenal to serve the American people's interests and to keep us safe. He also thinks that we should not meet with Iran opposed to Senator Clinton saying that we should. He thinks if we do meet with them, that it may change their behavior, and that we can do so in a different way that does not cost us billions of dollars, many lives, and does not hurt our reputation throughout the world.
Senator Obama impressed me the most. I just feel that his ways to help out the issues discussed in the debate are better options that will help our country out more. Although his plans and debates are similar to Senator Clinton’s, she impressed me the least. I just feel that Senator Obama has better ideas and plans to help out our country. I really liked this debate. I liked it more to the previous ones that I watched because there were only two politicians involved. With their there only being two politicians involved I felt like I got to hear there ideas and plans more in depth because there was less people. I learned that there are many problems in the U.S. and although these politicians are making plans to solve them, it will be very hard to help this country in a great way. I would like to know some other issues going on in the U.S. and I would like to hear what they have to say about them.
I watched the democratic debate that occurred in South Carolina on Martin Luther King Day. The moderator was Wolfe Blitzer, and the people involved were Hilary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John Edwards. I feel that though this debate was interesting they kept getting off topic to create drama. One of the first questions that were asked in this debate was referring to how Clinton feels about obama’s decisions in his responsibilities? Does this really matter? Though I’d love to know what each candidate is doing and what goals they have set up for America I really don’t care how the candidates feel about each other. Everyone knows there not going to get along I mean come on their running against each other. One question that was asked to substain a reason was “is the subprime mortgage crisis a race issue? While Edwards had said yes, I disagree however he states that he wants to help low income people gain money. But my question is how? I love that he wants to help the people in this world but he hasn’t said how this is going to be done, where’s the money coming from? Is it really possible to do that? Another question that caught my attention was “does your health care take care of the illegal immigrants in America? While Clinton states that her plan does cover everyone Edwards helps us to realize that she later on changes it to say that she, like Obama and Edwards does not cover illegal immigrants. Obama states that his plan does however cover all children and other Americans that live here. While Clinton and Edwards Health plans are universal Obama’s however is not. Clinton was asked “Why an American women would be better off under her health care plan? She states that they would be better off because her plan is universal. She states that if her plan is put in place that she will be able to lower the cost of medicines in America. Well here is my question! HOW?? Though medicine is very important and keeps people healthy I don’t see how that is possible, when we can’t even lower the price of gas or any other important needs. Medicine is too important in this society and I really don’t see how the prices can go down when we need them so much. What I liked the most about this debate was that they discussed morages and health care 2 things that at this moment seem every important. However this was not my favorite debate I feel that it was based around Clinton and Obama arguing about whose better rather than debating on the important things like the war and money issues, health care, and things in those categories. I feel that though there were 3 people in this debate that it might as well have been 2. While Edward made a whole lot of good points he was not allowed much face time. Though I don’t know a lot about Edwards I wish he would of stayed in the competition so I was able to see really what he wanted for this country rather than as I did see him “ a third string”. Honestly at this moment if I were voting I wouldn’t have a clue on who to vote for though I like both Obama and Clinton they both have their flows and their immaturity I guess will just have to see what takes place.
Nicole Fretwell
Mark Ostrander
2/07/08
p.8
The debate I selected to watch for this assignment was the Democratic debate held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on January 21, 2008. This debate was broadcasted on CNN and involved Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. The moderator for the debate was CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux and Joe Johns asked questions. Other then a “typical” debate, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama took shots at each other’s economic plans and criticized the accuracy of recent accusations the two campaigns have traded.
One issue the candidates talked about was the economy. Hilary Clinton spoke about mortgage plans to help people with paying for there homes. She believes that the economy needs to be stimulated. She wants to start off by giving people about $650 if they qualify. She also wants to “jumpstart” jobs for those who have none. Senator Obama somewhat agreed with Hilary Clinton on the plan about tax reform, however he added that the cut to be eligible is that you make $75,000 or less. He also quoted that the reform should be decreased to about $500. John Edwards somewhat took the issue a different way. He stated that his plan would be better than both Hilary and Obama in that it is a lon term plan.
Another issue that was discussed was that if lenders are specifically targeting African-Americans. Edwards speaks about how if you are African-American in this country today, you are likely to have a net worth of about 10 percent of what white families have. African-American families are more vulnerable. They're more vulnerable to payday lenders. They're more vulnerable to predatory lenders.
The last issue I chose was the issue of Health care towards African-American women. Clinton states that her health plan will cover everybody and that nobody is left out. Her plan is not government run. This means you do not have to pay for health care if you do not want it. “We need a universal health care system where we manage chronic diseases, where we get prices down because we can bargain with the drug companies, where we say to the health insurance companies that they must cover everyone, they have to do it at an affordable rate.” A branch of this topic that was addressed was if his health care covers the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Barack states that “it is important for us that, when we've got millions of U.S. citizens that aren't yet covered, it's important for us to make sure that they are provided coverage.” He has an obligation to make sure that children are covered. Edwards response to that question was a little more encouraging. He plans to strengthen the safety net of public health system so that our public health clinics, our public hospitals will always be available. “And if that is married to comprehensive immigration reform, so that people who are living here undocumented actually have a chance to become American citizens, then I think they've got the opportunity to become part of the plan.”
The Person that impressed me the most was Barack Obama. He impressed me because he was able to catch my attention the best. On top of Hilary ragging on Barack for his switching opinions, I think he did a good job converting the arguments to make himself look good. The person that didn’t impress me was John Edwards. Unfortunately, Edwards didn’t get any time to make an impression because the focus was all on Hilary and Obama “fighting.” It seems to me that John Edwards is ok with being 3rd place. I would like a leader who want to win and who is confident.
My overall reaction to this debate made me change my opinions towards some candidates. The candidates inspired me to keep up with political issues. I learned the candidates’ opinions on the economy and health care. I would like to learn more about the candidate’s background and more political views.
I watched the CNN Democratic Debate in South Carolina Jan 1st 2008. Wolf Blitzer was the moderator, and the candidates were Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and Sen. John Edwards. Some of the topics discussed in the debate were healthcare, the war in Iraq, and the economy.
Clinton and Edwards both support universal healthcare which would cover everyone, but Obama does not. He says that his plan does not cover illegal immigrants due to limited resources. Clinton’s healthcare plan is to lower prices and bargain with drug companies and offer tax cuts to low income people. Edward says he would not offer free healthcare to illegal immigrants either but would allow them to become legal citizens on order to get free healthcare.
Hillary’s stand on the Iraq war is that we should end it. She plans to remove all the troops and equipment from Iraq 60 days after her election. Edwards says that Sen. McCain is wrong about the military surge being a success because the whole reason behind the surge was to create an ‘environment for political progress’ but yet there has been little political progress at all. He states that his plan is to get all the troops out within a year of his election. Obama also promises to have the troops out by 2009.
I didn’t understand a lot of what they said about the economy, but what I got out of it was that they all knew that the economy was failing with Bush in charge and something needs to be done. There’s a lot of poverty and the prices of homes are rising and something needs to be done about that too.
I was a little amused and a little disturbed when Obama and Hillary started hurling the accusations at each other. Many of them (I thought) didn’t matter, like supporting Regan and the republican’s views. Edwards really impressed me with his patience and his overall plan, and I’m really let down that he dropped out of the race. I’d have to say I was least impressed with Hillary because she seemed to be throwing the most punches. But they all had good points and bad points to their campaign and I’m happy just as long as we don’t get another republican in office. I’m going to pull for Obama.
Hunter Hines
I saw and watched the February 2, 2008 "Super Dialogue" for MTV and Myspace, it was broad casted on MTV. So it was at the studio, which is in Times Square in NYC. Democractic candidates, Senators Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton spoke along with Republican candidates congressman Ron Paul and Governer Mike Huckabee. None of the candidates were actually there but it was a live broadcast. They were all in different states at the time as well, and weren't speaking at the same time, but were interviewed individually. The moderators were two MTV hosts, Sway and Gideon, along with a guy named Chris from Washington Post. It was interesting because all the people that were there (in the studio) were all younger college students and a lot of them first time voters.
The first speaker was Mike Huckabee and at the time he was in Alabama and he spoke on how faith would affect his desicions if he were president. He also talked about religion in general and how it is important for people with differnt views to be accpepted and appreciated. The second speaker was Ron Paul he was in Texas and his issue was Darfur and world hunger, and he spoke on how he'd help people and what he'd do if he were to become president. The thrid speaker was Barrack Obama and he disscussed tution rates for students and people who join the military and volunteer in the community. He also mentioned gay marriage vs. civil unions and how he wasn't in favor of it. The last speaker was Hillary Clinton she was in Arizona and she talked about money and health issues, along with health care and costs.
All the candidates did a good job speaking about the issues that were asked, and disscussing important ideas. The speaker or candidate who impressed me the most was probably Barack Obama (Hillary did a good job too). He went into detail the most and made some jokes about the topic. It seemed to me that he knew very well what was going on, and how to respond to the questions accuratly. My least favorite speaker would have to of been Ron Paul just because the topics weren't that appealing and he didn't answer the questions asked with a direct response, although he was sincere.
My overall reaction was that i liked how MTV/Myspace did the whole Super Dialogue because it makes younger people more interested in what is going on with politics. It was also very informative and i learned how students viewed the candidates and what types of topics interest them. It also helped me see what the four candidates were interested in and what they would do in certain situations and how they would react if they were to become president. I think it was good that so many younger people were interesed and wanting to make a difference by what types of issues matter the most. Maybe some other questions dealing with abortion and global warming should have been mentioned or some other candidates could have been involved (then it would have been much longer than what it already was).
I'm so pissssed this just deleted every thing i wrote!!!
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This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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Ben’s Comments
I read Tim’s post and I disagree with his opinion that Hillary is the best candidate. He says that she knows a lot about problems in the United States and I beg to differ. I have watched several debates and every time she is asked a question involving the economy, health care, war etc. she beats around the bush when she answers and she also adds facts that aren’t true. In the South Carolina debates she mentioned nuclear weapons and what she said was wrong.
I also read Jenna’s post and I disagree with what she said about making English the designated language for the United States. While it may seem easier I feel that doing so would cause many problems amongst the different races of people in America.
Kourtney Landes wrote:
I read Sam's paper, and I really liked that fact that he talked about Osama
Bin Laden. I personally agree with Obama, saying that he wants to go after
him! I believe that we should find him so that the fear of him attacking us
again will reside. I also am on the side of John Edwards and Sam, saying
that all the Nuclear Weapons need to be removed from the earth. Sam has a
good reason for liking Edwards, Sam says that Edwards "seemed like he really
cared about the people" and that "its a shame that he dropped out of the race."
I agree with Sam when he says that Edwards would have made a good president.
I also read Colin's paper, I agree with Colin when he talks about how the candidates seem to always shoot one another down, but when Hilary does she doesn't have the proof, so we don't know if she's telling the truth or not. I agree with Colin when he said that "People who falsely accuse, and don't even have proof to back it up should not be in our government." I really don't think that Hilary Clinton should be in our Government at all! I like the fact that Edwards just sat back and took everything that was going on, in but didn't say anything. I personally agree that Edwards should kept running, but now that he is not I also give my vote to Obama.
Aliisa
Your paper was sent to me for moderation. It looks good, so I published it. I hope you didn't lose anything else. May I suggest (again) that when you author large 'comments' (i.e. papers, posts, etc.) in the future, you use a word processing program and save it locally? In the event of a catastrophic failure, you always have a copy you can re-publish.
I hope this suggestion is helpful.
M.D. Ford
Debate Paper
For this assignment I decided to watch the democratic debate that took place in South Carolina on January 21, 2008 on CNN. Some of the issues they discussed included our national debt, the economy, the war in Iraq, and mostly healthcare. The moderator was Wolf Blitzer and the candidates were Hilary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama.
Healthcare is an important issue to me, because doctors are needed to keep us healthy and more medicinal research is necessary to keep us on top- of new diseases and cures. Clinton and Edwards both claimed to have “universal” free healthcare plans. However, I don’t think that is a good idea, because it means taxes will need to be raised, and it would also mean that illegal aliens who live here would get this benefit too, which wouldn’t be fair to American citizens. Obama claimed to have a healthcare plan that doesn’t cover illegal immigrants, because we simply don’t have the resources. I agree with his plan, because it isn’t fair to have extra money coming out of our paychecks that is going towards free benefits for illegal immigrants as well as ourselves.
Another issue that was talked about on the debate is putting a cap on credit card interest. Almost everyone uses credit cards, and high interest rates would put many people further in debt than they already are; this would also increase our national deficit. The bill that was presented to congress stated that credit card companies can not charge consumers more than eight to nine percent interest per month on their credit card bills. Hilary voted “yes” on this bill, as did Edwards. Obama abstained from voting on this bill, claming the presented rate wasn’t low enough. Edwards commented that by not voting on it, Obama is allowing the rates to keep increasing. Hilary interjected that on hundreds of good bills that would be beneficial to the people, Obama abstained from voting “yes” on them. He rebutted that he wasn’t necessarily voting against the bills, but all the “pork” that was added to them.
The third topic that probably interested me more than the others was when Obama was commenting on faith. He outwardly expressed that he is a Christian and that he thinks democrats, as a party, need to put more effort into reaching evangelicals. He thinks democrats need to be trying to win support from churches and not just ignoring those people just because they tend to have right-sided beliefs. When the moderator tried to bring up the topic of faith to discuss with the other candidates, Hilary abruptly cut him off and changed the subject. I was disappointed that she was not open to talk about this subject, because those issues are some of what’s most important to me.
On that note, I wish there would have been more discussion on topics such as abortion, homosexuality, and things of that nature, because they are important moral topics that although uncomfortable, are needed to be discussed.
I think mostly Obama impressed me because he took a lot of hits from Hilary and handled it with class by turning them around and getting his opinion out there for the American people to hear. Edwards didn’t get much face time and so I’m not too sure where he stands. (Although he has dropped out, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.) Obama made the comment about how the democratic race is “between a woman, a black man, and John.” Edwards just doesn’t have anything that makes him stand out as a candidate. I was least impressed by Hilary, because she claims to have political experience, yet she doesn’t seem to be prepared for the questions asked by the moderator, and made up bogus answers at the last minute. I want a president who is prepared for anything and knows what he’s talking about.
I read a buch of people's papers but i think Gabe's was my favorite because he really spoke out on what he thought about the candidates. Plus, I dont particularly like Clinton either so that wass pretty exciting.
I like that Colin brought up what Hilary said about AIDS because that was a horrible choice of words on her part, and words are everything in politics.
Cody Davis
I watched the January 31, 2008 California Democratic debate on CNN.The moderators were Doyal McManuse and Wolf Blitzer. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were the two fighting for the presidents seat. It happen in Los Angeles, California in the Kodak Theatre.The main topic the two competitors talked about was health care.Hillary Clinton thought that there should be universal health care. This means that she wants everyone to have health care for free. In order for this to happen they would have to raise taxes.Barack Obama did not agree with Hillary and he just wanted to lower health care and make it affordable for everyone. This means they wouldn't have to raise taxes that much more like Hillary was explaining.Barack Obama also stated that he wanted to elevate diplomacy. Obama also stated that the immigration is a problem and he wanted to fix that problem.Hillary didn't agree with Obama on that topic and said that it wasn't right to go get the immigrants and round them up.
In my opinion Barack Obama had most of the show. Barack Obama show that he wanted to help our country unlike Hillary Clinton.I thought that Hillary could of a had alittle more say in it but she let Obama steal the show from her hands.
I watched the January, 31, 2008 California Democatic Debate on CNN. The moderators were Doyal McManuse and Wolf Blitzer. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama was fighting for the presidents seat.The debate happened in Los Angeles, California in the Kodak Theatre.The main issue was health care. Hillary Clinton thought that there should be universal health care. This maens that she said that health care should be free to everyone. Barack Obama didn't agree and thought that health care should be lowered and affordable to everyone. If Hillary got the universal healthcare they would have to raise taxes. That is the least thing that people want.Barack Obama also wanted to elevate diplomacy. He also wanted to take care of the immigration problem and fix it.Hillary didn't agree with him on that and thought that it wasn't good to go round up all the immigrants. I thought that Obama showed more then Hillary in this debate.Hillary pretty much in my opinion let Obama run the show that night.
I watched the democratic debate that took place in Hollywood, Ca on January 31, 2008. The big issue turned out to be health care. Both candidates feel strongly of the subject matter, but support very different ideas for putting it all into play.Clinton believes that having universal health care is the best way to ensure that families are getting the appropriate care they need, but in order to have said health care, she'll have to raise taxes. Obama believes in making health care more affordable to all families who currently can't afford it. He plans to provide health care to these families
through government programs. Another issue discussed was qualifications of the two candidates. I think this is irrelevant because, of course one will say Hillary Clinton better qualifies for the job because she was in the white house for eight years. Neither candidate touched on global warming or other relating environmental issues, which I believe to be very important. It's a delicate subject matter that I feel often goes without recognition. At this time, I can't really say which candidate I am most impressed with. While both candidates have some good things to offer, they both also offer things I disagree with. Not touching on areas that I believe to be most important are crucial to my opinion as well and not having those what can I say? Overall, the experience was new to me. I'm still learning about the political side of things and that makes it a little difficult to hold a strong political standpoint. Although, I can say I am looking forward to finally having a voice in our government.
I enjoyed Kourtney's, Ashlee's, and Ben's papers. I really think we are all starting to pay more attention to the world around us and how we should make it better.
Thank Mr. Ford =]
it worked out!
I watched the democratic debate from California on January 31, 2008 broadcast on CNN. The participants were Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hilary Clinton. Three of the major issues that they discussed were Health care, Immigration, and the war in Iraq.
First off, I would like to say that they both have good ideas on these issues which made it difficult for me to decide which candidate was the best for this nation in my eyes. The topic of health care is a very serious issue because there are millions of people in America that simple can't afford it. Hilary would like to make it so everyone has health care. She made a point that if you already have health care and you like it keep it, but if you don't or your unhappy with the insurance that you have you will be eligible for her health care plan. To help pay for this she suggests that e-medical records should be used and this would save roughly $77 billion a year. Barack would like for health care to be availible to anyone who wants it, all children, and people under the age of 25 can be covered on their parents plan. He wants to reduce the cost of health care and lower premiums by $2500 per family per year. I think that both of these candidates have great ideas about health care because this is such a major issue and be taken care of now.
The next hot topic that they discussed was immigration. Hilary would like to have conditions to enter America. These conditions are paying a fine, pay back taxes, learn English, and wait in line like everyone else. Barack wants to crack down on the employers who don't comply with the immigration laws now and fix the problems with the current legal immigration system. I like the idea that Hilary has about the conditions to come here, but I have to agree more with Barack on this issue because I think if the immigration system was fixed or improved that there would be less problems with illegal immigrants.
The last topic I'm going to talk about that I watched in this debate is the war in Iraq. This issue is probably the most important to me considering i have family and friends that have or are currently serving in the middle east. Hilary said she is goin to withdraw troops within a year and the Iraqis who helped and sided with us will not be left behind. She also said that Iraq needs to take charge of there government that there is no time left. Barack says he is going to end the war and there will be no permanent bases in Iraq. He also stated that it is important to set a date that the troops will be pulled out and to be clear with the Iraqi government about how serious we are in leaving. I agree with both of them because i have family and friends that served/serving but over 3,000 Americans have died and that is just ridiculous.
Lori Wasik
2/11/2008
Period 6
I decided to watch the Democratic Debate that took place on January 31, 2008 on CNN. Wolfe Blitzer was the moderator for Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama, but the main questions were asked by three other moderators in coordination with the online site Politico.
I was impressed with both candidates, and felt enlightened after the debate because of the questions asked. The issues I felt most revealed the true natures of the candidates were Health Care, the Mortgage Crisis, Immigration, and The War in Iraq. Although some would argue that Hillary and Obama do not differ on these issues, this could not be farther from the truth. While Hillary argues for universal health care, Obama advocates his own health care policy that would significantly lower the price of health insurance and make it affordable for people who want it. Obama’s plan would also mandate that all children receive health care and that everyone less than 25 years of age can be covered with their parents’ health care plan. Although I think Obama’s plan is more realistic for the United States, I was impressed with Hillary’s ideas to convert all medical records from paper format to electronic files. According to Hillary, this would save a few million dollars which could be used to benefit the average American rather than a CEO of a rich drug company. I was also impressed with Hillary’s idea to get rid of the Bush administration’s tax giveaways to HMOs and drug companies. According to Hillary, these giveaways produce no results and are just wastes of money.
While I cannot entirely identify with the mortgage crisis, I can understand the need for a solution. Hillary argues that putting a motorium on foreclosures for 90 days would greatly help threatened families. Hillary also advocates freezing interest rates on homes for 5 years to help poorer families maintain their homes. Obama does not endorse this position, however, and argues that a freeze on interest rates will either cause banks to anticipate the freeze and thus raise the rates right before, or cause them to compensate for the loss of money right when the freeze is over. Obama states that the best way to get money back into the hands of the American people is to reduce the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups in Washington.
Although I was born in the United States and was therefore born into U.S. citizenship, I can sympathize with immigrants coming to the U.S. I think that everyone should have an opportunity to succeed in life, no matter where they were born. Although both Hillary and Obama said something different about immigration, I agree with both of them. Obama stated (concerning the accusations of immigrants taking jobs that belong to American citizens) that the problems with minorities not having jobs is not directly connected with immigrants, but rather our failing economy and lack of healthy trade. Hillary does not argue with this, but adds that in order to get the jobs back to American citizens, we need to pass legislation that protects immigrants from being exploited. This argument makes sense to me. If immigrants, even illegal ones, are not threatened by deportation, but a fine, they will be more likely to register, pay the fine, and file for citizenship. If they are made legal, crooked employers will not be able to exploit them because of increased legal consequences, and so all unskilled workers will be more equal when it comes to employment and pay.
The War in Iraq is, perhaps, the most controversial issue of the 2008 election. On this issue I have to say that I agree with and am most impressed by Senator Obama’s ideas. Obama was against the war from the start, which doesn’t impress me as much as his plans for ending the war. Unlike anyone in Washington, Obama states that he is willing to negotiate with all parties involved in the conflict. Obama says that the Bush administration has given America an arrogant name because of its refusal to communicate with some parties. Obama stresses diplomacy before war, which does not make him unpatriotic or weak, but rather the opposite in my opinion. Obama argues that if the United States were to set an exact date for the end of the war, all parties would become more willing to negotiate. This does not mean negotiation with terrorists, but rather the political parties in the Middle East who are so unwilling to cooperate with each other that Al Qaeda can continue to exist and even thrive. In fact, Obama argues that the U.S.’s continued occupation of the Middle East has caused dissent of its citizens and thus strengthened the numbers and support of terrorist groups. Hillary did not make this point but only said that she would try to pull the troops out within a year. Although I am not a huge fan of the Bush administration, Hillary did make a claim about it that bothered me. She claimed that “Bush sent people to war without body armor.” This might be true, but wasn’t this lack in funds due to the Clinton administration’s military budget cuts? I hardly like to defend the decisions of the Bush administration, but this claim was too outrageous not to comment on.
Overall, I was glad that I had the opportunity to watch this debate. It has actually strengthened my support of Barack Obama, and has opened my eyes to Hillary’s views as well. Although I plan to continue my research on each of the candidates, if the presidential election were to take place tomorrow, Obama would most likely have my vote.
Amanda Wilson
2/11/08
Period 8th
I decided to watch the Democratic Debate that took place on January 31, 2008 on CNN. Wolfe Blitzer was the moderator for Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama, but the main questions were asked by three other moderators in coordination with the online site Politico.
I was impressed with both candidates, and felt enlightened after the debate because of the questions asked. The issues I felt most revealed the true natures of the candidates were Health Care, the Mortgage Crisis, Immigration, and The War in Iraq. Although some would argue that Hillary and Obama do not differ on these issues, this could not be farther from the truth. While Hillary argues for universal health care, Obama advocates his own health care policy that would significantly lower the price of health insurance and make it affordable for people who want it. Obama’s plan would also mandate that all children receive health care and that everyone less than 25 years of age can be covered with their parents’ health care plan. Although I think Obama’s plan is more realistic for the United States, I was impressed with Hillary’s ideas to convert all medical records from paper format to electronic files. According to Hillary, this would save a few million dollars which could be used to benefit the average American rather than a CEO of a rich drug company. I was also impressed with Hillary’s idea to get rid of the Bush administration’s tax giveaways to HMOs and drug companies. According to Hillary, these giveaways produce no results and are just wastes of money.
While I cannot entirely identify with the mortgage crisis, I can understand the need for a solution. Hillary argues that putting a motorium on foreclosures for 90 days would greatly help threatened families. Hillary also advocates freezing interest rates on homes for 5 years to help poorer families maintain their homes. Obama does not endorse this position, however, and argues that a freeze on interest rates will either cause banks to anticipate the freeze and thus raise the rates right before, or cause them to compensate for the loss of money right when the freeze is over. Obama states that the best way to get money back into the hands of the American people is to reduce the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups in Washington.
Although I was born in the United States and was therefore born into U.S. citizenship, I can sympathize with immigrants coming to the U.S. I think that everyone should have an opportunity to succeed in life, no matter where they were born. Although both Hillary and Obama said something different about immigration, I agree with both of them. Obama stated (concerning the accusations of immigrants taking jobs that belong to American citizens) that the problems with minorities not having jobs is not directly connected with immigrants, but rather our failing economy and lack of healthy trade. Hillary does not argue with this, but adds that in order to get the jobs back to American citizens, we need to pass legislation that protects immigrants from being exploited. This argument makes sense to me. If immigrants, even illegal ones, are not threatened by deportation, but a fine, they will be more likely to register, pay the fine, and file for citizenship. If they are made legal, crooked employers will not be able to exploit them because of increased legal consequences, and so all unskilled workers will be more equal when it comes to employment and pay.
The War in Iraq is, perhaps, the most controversial issue of the 2008 election. On this issue I have to say that I agree with and am most impressed by Senator Obama’s ideas. Obama was against the war from the start, which doesn’t impress me as much as his plans for ending the war. Unlike anyone in Washington, Obama states that he is willing to negotiate with all parties involved in the conflict. Obama says that the Bush administration has given America an arrogant name because of its refusal to communicate with some parties. Obama stresses diplomacy before war, which does not make him unpatriotic or weak, but rather the opposite in my opinion. Obama argues that if the United States were to set an exact date for the end of the war, all parties would become more willing to negotiate. This does not mean negotiation with terrorists, but rather the political parties in the Middle East who are so unwilling to cooperate with each other that Al Qaeda can continue to exist and even thrive. In fact, Obama argues that the U.S.’s continued occupation of the Middle East has caused dissent of its citizens and thus strengthened the numbers and support of terrorist groups. Hillary did not make this point but only said that she would try to pull the troops out within a year. Although I am not a huge fan of the Bush administration, Hillary did make a claim about it that bothered me. She claimed that “Bush sent people to war without body armor.” This might be true, but wasn’t this lack in funds due to the Clinton administration’s military budget cuts? I hardly like to defend the decisions of the Bush administration, but this claim was too outrageous not to comment on.
Overall, I was glad that I had the opportunity to watch this debate. It has actually strengthened my support of Barack Obama, and has opened my eyes to Hillary’s views as well. Although I plan to continue my research on each of the candidates, if the presidential election were to take place tomorrow, Obama would most likely have my vote.
I watched the 2007 New Hampshire Democratic Debate on YouTube that was originally aired on CNN. The candidates in the debate were Mike Gravel, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, and Dennis Kucinich. The debate moderator was Wolfe Blitzer.
The main topic I focused on was the War in Iraq. The issues about the war were the negatives of the Bush Administration, the funding of the war, and the possibilities of civil war and genocide in Iraq after the withdrawal of troops. The democrats agree that the Bush Administration is not successful. Obama said that we need to phase out the war in Iraq and focus on Afghanistan; he thinks that Bush is failing to strengthen alliances which are much needed. Edwards said that the war is a “Bumper Sticker” war which Bush uses to justify everything he does. Hilary also agrees on the failure of the Bush administration, she thinks that we are safer, but we’re not safe enough. The second topic was that of the Funding of War, all democratic candidates opposed funding the war with the exception of Biden. Biden thinks that it is wrong to not fund the troops, they are in danger, and that truth is not being exposed. Other candidates such as Clinton , whom has supported all the other funding proposals except this one says that she does support the troops but thinks that by not supporting this one it shows that it’s time to get the troops home. Obama agreed with Clinton, he said that all fundings of the troops are a continuation of trying to make the military a solution of a political problem. The last issue I watched was on the concern of when we do get the troops out of Iraq, will there be major problems such as civil war and even genocide. Richardson says that we do need to leave immediately or else because our troops are the targets of the Iraq people. Gravel says that the war does need to be ended, and there is always the possibility of a bad outcome but we will never know until we leave, he is also firm in his idea that the insurgency o the people will be sustained so there will not be problems. Based on this debate it is clear that the Democrats do not support the war and believe that Bush is prolonging it.
To me the most impressive candidate was Hilary Clinton; she seems to have it all together. She always flows and is very poised. Hilary Clinton has a direct stance on all issues that are brought up. I think she also deserves a lot of respect since she is the only woman running in this election.
The least impressive to me was Gravel. Gravel just seemed like he was trying to be cool or something, his opening statement ended with “I’m running for president, for real”. Right after his opening statement I already knew he was trying too hard. He made it seem like he a big shot and it reality not many people probably know who he is.
I think the debates get to the point where it’s only cutting down other candidates. I think the candidates should focus more on the problems we have in this nation than the problems they have with each other. I would also like to see the candidates act like themselves; it feels like a lot of them put on a front and try to be something there not.
Megan S.
Republican Debate
2/11/08
Pd.6
By: Katilyn
I watched the republican debate January 30, 2008 on C-SPAN channel 18. The candidates involved in this debate were: Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee. The moderator was Anderson Cooper who was also joined by Janet Hook and Jim Vandehei. The debate took place at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. The thing that I thought was interesting was that in the background there was the Air Force One that served Reagan during his presidency and inside were his jelly beans and notepad.
Some of the issues discussed tonight were global warming, economy/standards of living, and income tax rebate. For the income tax rebate Huckabee would rather put that money towards widening a highway than have Americans go out and spend their money of Chinese products. Ron would like to cut spending and stop borrowing money from other countries. One of the candidates said that with global warming America is doing their part but we need to get others involved like China and France with the key word in global warming being GLOBAL.
The candidate that impressed me the most was John McCain. I don’t know what it is but for some reason it just seems like he really knows what he’s talking about. I also liked Ron Paul I think he was the one you mentioned the global warming saying that global was the key word. The candidate I didn’t really care for was Mitt Romney he never really seemed to get to the point and he kept going back to his term as governor in Massachusetts. Which one of the moderators asked “are you running for governor or president?”
After watching the debate I really don’t care who becomes president because they all seem to have a good idea of what they’d like to see and the need of the Americans are a great concern to them. I would like to know more on how each candidate would go about getting other countries involved in stopping global warming.
I agree with Sam, it's a big disappointment that John Edwards drop out of the race. I thought he was the only demoocratic worth voting for.
I also agree with Aylssa, neither of the other two democrats inpress me and they do seem to say the same things over and over again in different debates.
Dwight Wilson
2/11/08
6th period
I watched the presidential debate we watched in class, which was in South Carolina on 1/21/08, and that was really the only one I watched. Politics isn’t really something I’m normally interested in but watching Clinton and Obama throw insult after insult at each other was actually fairly amusing. It seemed to me that Hilary would come up with any and every insult she could muster, even if she had no prove. Barrock on the other hand actually had specific quotes and other proofs to back up his insults; when he managed to get them in. Barrock was very respectful and polite when it was Hilary’s chance to speak, but Hilary on the other hand was very disrespectful, cutting Barrock off every 5 to 10 seconds. This tells me she either wasn’t raised with manners or has no tolerance to insults and criticism, which is a horrible quality for a president to have. Also it seems that Hilary is only accepting Barrock as her opponent in this election, which seems like a big mistake to me. Although Barrock is probably the main concern she should worry about any other candidates. Edwards was also at the debate and to me he made an excellent statement, will all the bickering and fighting between the candidates really help the economy or society at all? Edwards was the most patient and polite candidate at this debate and it seemed to me that he unfairly didn’t get enough time to speak, which is a shame because although Edwards is less popular he seems to know more about how the economy is doing and what we as a country can do to make it better.
I watched the Demotratic debate 1/21/08 on CNN and it was between Hilary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John Edwards. Im not sure about who the moderator was they were in South Carolina when this was going on. Some of the things that they discussed were The War where both Obama and Hilary want the troops out of Iraq but if they do you never know how they would be if we left out of there to soon another was the Health Care which Clinton wants to cut taxes but Obama dosn't I don't think that we should then that would have to raise taxes and it would not make many people happy the last was Socail Security which I think is going to be gone soon so we should have to think about that. The canaidate that impressed me the most was Obama beacause he wants to end the war in Iraq and get Health Care for us to have. The canaidate that impressed me the least was Clinton because I think she says things that really would not happen and not be a good president. My reaction to this is good but i agree on alot of things but there are some cocerns too but fot the most part i like it.
Jesse Robinette
Period 8
I watched the democratic debate aired on 2/01/08 in Hollywood, California by CNN, in which Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the only candidates. Obama and Clinton have many similar policies concerning different issues, but they debate about their main differences on policies on topics such as the war in Iraq, health care, immigration, and their overall experience and preparedness of being the president. A lot of the questions were submitted and voted for by people's opinions through polls on a website called Politico, which is a really good idea to debate issues which the average citizen is concerned about.
It's pretty funny to see that both candidates regret having Bush as president the past 8 years, and it looks as if they are both completely disgusted by him when they talk about him. Clinton says he abused his authority as president by declaring a preemptive attack on Iraq under false pretenses. Obama makes a good point on the overall effect of Bush's presidency, saying "we have gone from intolerable levels of violence in a dysfunctional government, to spikes and horrific levels of violence in a dysfunctional government, and now two years later were back to intolerable levels of violence in a dysfunctional government, and in the mean time have spent billions of dollars, and lost thousands of lives" and citing the war as "a conceptually flawed mission". Thankfully they both hope to get America back on the right track after Bush concerning the war and removing the troops located in Iraq. They both realize and admit it that will be difficult and we need a very strategic plan to remove all of our soldiers and equipment . Obama says that "we need to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in" which I agree with completely, seeing how careless Bush really was in declaring the war in Iraq. Obama seems to have more answers concerning the war in Iraq and I think he would be a better choice for president concerning the removal of troops, saying he hopes to have most out within 16 months of his inauguration. Clinton didn't impress me as much with her responses on this issue, mainly because she didn't seem as confident with her answers.
Both Obama and Clinton believe in affordable health care for everybody, and would like to see a healthier population in America. The only downfall I see with obtaining universal health care is the expensive cost of doing so. Obama and Clinton have very similar views on this subject, and both of their plans are going to be expensive, especially Clinton's , which is estimated to cost up to $110 Billion, which she says can be paid for with subsidies, lowering overall cost by implementing electronic medical records, tax raises, and overall better planning of health care. I'd have to agree with Clinton on health care; she has extensive experience with it and I would be happier to see her dealing with the healthcare issues than Obama, mainly just because of her past experience involving health care, even if it does mean higher taxes.
I would side with Obama on the immigration issues. He beleives that immigration is a good thing, and believes it helps guide America with new ideas and opinions. This is obviously true because without immigration in the past where would America be? America was literally founded by immigration. However, he still believes there are problems with the immigration laws that needs to be fix. He says he wishes to implement tighter border control on illegal immigrants, find out exactly who is coming into and out of the country, and crack down on major corporations hiring cheap illegal immigrant labor. Once again Clinton didn't seem to impress me as much as Obama did, so I would have to side with Obama regarding immigration.
Overall, I would say that this debate turned me more in favor of Obama than Clinton. Obama seemed a lot more confident in his answers than Clinton did, and I favor more of Obama's points over Clinton's. Even though Clinton has more experience with politics, I feel Obama is America's best choice for the next president. This was a good debate that covered a wide range of topics and I feel it really pointed out the differences in both of the democrats views, which was needed because they both feel the same way on much of the topics.
I read Tims article and i agree with most of the things he said like what he said about Hillary being a women and knowing a lot about problems. I also agree with John Edwards being patient (even though he's not in the election anymore). I don't think that all of the democratic candidates are crazy, i like them. We should also leave the terrorists alone like he said.
For this assignment I watched the Democratic debate held on January 31, 2008. The debate was held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles and was broadcasted on CNN. The two Democratic candidates Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama were involved and the moderator was Wolf Blitzer.
The first issue discussed was healthcare and both candidates discussed the differences in each others policies for healthcare. Clinton believes in universal healthcare and to provide that she wants everyone to be required to buy health insurance. Obama also believes in healthcare for everyone but instead of forcing people to buy it he wants to make health insurance affordable to everyone. Another interesting thing Obama discussed was his opinion of the war which he has been opposed to since the beginning. I think Obama has a realistic view on how things in Iraq need to be handled he wants to use the military wisely, increase diplomacy, and stop further meetings with Iran. Another topic both candidates approached was the mortgage crisis. Each candidate recognized the problem with housing costs and Hilary’s solution was the freeze interest rate for 5 years which Barack disagreed with because he believes mortgages interest rates will go up and it will be harder to get a mortgage.
In this debate Obama definitely impressed me more than Hilary. Obama seemed to have better well thought out solutions to our problems than Senator Clinton had prepared. Every solution that Clinton mentioned Obama could find a problem with, but she could not do the same to his solutions.
My overall reaction of this debate was that it was better than any of the other debates I have seen with these two candidates. Usually when Obama and Clinton debate it is more of a dual than an intelligent conversation. I learned more about each of their policies in this debate than I have in watching any of the other debates. I would like to learn more about Hilary’s plans for the war and also each of the candidate’s plans for illegal immigration and education in the United States.
I watched the debate in class with Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John Edwards. I think i have to say this is my first debate I have ever watched and was surpised that I enjoyed it. But the part I enjoyed shouldn't be what the debate was about, I should be siding with one candidate on their views, not there negatory comments and swift jokes and comebacks. I thought i was watching a little 12 year old catfight the way Hillary and Obama were going at it. It was quite childish and it scares me because im almost 100% sure that one of them is going to get it and to see how childish both of them are.
As far as views go I side with mostly Barrack and I feel that he will do a good job. Although I think anybody would look good following up after Bush. The line he said when he talked about something that Bill Clinton said and Hillary said "He's not here, I am" and then he retorted "Sorry, I just cant tell who im runnning against sometimes" was great because thats exactly how I feel. I feel that yea Hillary is out there speaking but its mostly Bill whispering in her ear telling her what to say.
I wish I could have more on specific views but there was so little talk about that and so much bickering, theres not a whole lot of views to talk about. I felt kind of bad watching John Edwards. He's trying to make a point but instead hes got two bickering adults going cutthroat on eachother. However the few times he did get a chance to speak, he made some good points and made sense when he talked and his sole purpose wasnt to make the other two candidates look bad, but to show that his views were better. He's right when he said that how much is all this bickering going to save starvation and homelessness, none!
As far as a conclusion goes I enjoyed and disliked this debate because for once it was entertaing but on the other hand nothing was really discussed, no crucial topics were covered and the only think I learned was how much Hillary and Obama hate eachother.
Brandon Marshall
I also agree with Sam, I was disappointed to see John Edwards dropped out of the race I thought he made a nice buffer betweeen the two high profile candidates of Clinton and Obama in the debates.
I also agree with Lori's view on the war in Iraq and think it is a good idea that Obama wants to set an exact date to pull troops out.
Jesse
Period 8
I liked Tim Brown's paper and agree that "We need to leave them crazy terrorist alone and let them be." we just need to put aside our differences and live in peace, and we can't really do that if we're shooting at each other all the time.
i also really liked Ben's paper on the same debate, it looks like we agreed on a lot of things
The debate I chose to watch was The California Democratic Debate, which aired on CNN on January 31, 2008. The participants were senator Hilary Clinton and senator Barack Obama. The debate took place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The moderators for the debate were Wolf Blitzer, Doyle McManus, and Jeanne Cummings. Some interesting facts were that this was their last debate before next Tuesdays contest.
Some of the issues discussed in the debate were the war in Iraq, health car, and immigration. On the war in Iraq Obama thinks that he is more able to end the war because he has opposed it from the beginning. He also said that if Hilary authorized the use of force in Iraq that it wouldn’t help bring the war to an end. Senator Obama and Clinton both said that they support ending the war. On health care Obama talked about a plan that would be affordable for everyone to buy, but not require everyone to buy it. The plan would require that all children are covered and children could remain on their parents plan until the age of 25. Hilary talked a lot about her husbands attempt at a better health care plan, but she also said that she wanted to create a plan that can withstand insurance and the prescription drug companies. On immigration Obama said that he doesn’t think immigration is the main reason a lot of people are unemployed, he thinks its because of scapegoating. He also said that we need to crack down on our boarders because we cant just have a bunch of people coming into the U.S. that we don’t know who they are. Senator Clinton said that she opposes allowing illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses. She says this because she is worried about how many American citizens are losing their jobs to illegal immigrants.
Senator Barack Obama impressed me the most in this debate. His answers for the questions asked about the issues today were more thought out and more prepared than Hilary. Senator Clinton impressed me the least because she was the only other person in the debate besides Obama.
My overall reaction from watching this debate was that it made me think that a democrat is going to be the next president. I feel good about this too because there are two very good senators running for the democrats. After watching this debate I learned that both of the senators have a lot of the same opinions on major issues. In conclusion senator Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States.
Vote Obama.
I watched the democratic debate from january 21, 2008 on CNN. The debate included 8 democatic candidates which are Joseph Biden, Dennis Kucinich,Bill Richardson, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Christopher Dodd, and Mike Gravel. The debate took place in South Carolina. The moderator of the debate was Dean Borg. The two main people of the debate were Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They were the two that debated the most over the important issues throughout the debate.
There were many different issues discussed throughout the debate. They talked about health care, the economy, education, the war in Irag and lots of other things in between. The issue of the economy and taxes really caught my eye when Barack Obama was real negative towards Bush and had many different of ideas to reform. One of his ideas was for tax reforms and other things to go not just to the wealthy but to everyone. One of Hillary Clintons idea was to have 70 billion dollars in spending to help rebuild the economy. Another topic brought up was on the war on terrorism. Barack stood strong in saying that we should have never been in there and deffinately need to remove troops as soon as possible. Another big topic brought up was the issue of health care. Sen. Edwards got strong support when he stated that Barack took the most money from the drug companies and Hillary took the most money from the issurance companies. He was clear when he said he didnt need to do that. Barack also brought up the idea of universal coverage but stated all of its flaws like taking money out of paychecks and raising taxes. He wants a more affordable plan.
The candidate that impressed me the most was Barack Obama. The reason he impressed me the most was because we almost agreed with every issue. For example, I liked his idea of a more affordable health care, and how we should of never been involved in the war on terrorism. I also liked the fact how he would just get right to the point and said things direct so he was well understood and his concepts were well looked upon. The candidate the impressed me the least was John Edwards. He didnt impress me much because it seemed like instead of stating his ideas he just brought up flaws in other candidates ideas.
My overall reaction to the presidential democratic debate was shock because i never knew there were so many different ideas from many different candidates within the major topics. I learned a lot about our nations economy and how there deffinately needs to be change made in the United States economy. I would really like to know more about the issue of crime and well-being in our nations society. The topics of violence, drugs, and other small things that occur within different cities was not really spoken of to much.
I somewhat agree with you Will, just next time try to be a little more suttle about your response!
Tim I disagree with you about Hillary's profromance during the debate. Hillary was weak and unsure about her ideas!
I watched the Democratic debate on January, 31 2008 in California on CNN. The Democrats involved were Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barock Obama. There were lots of moderators present but the ones that really stood out were the CNN anchor and Wolf Blitzer. The most interesting facts were the senators opposing views on health care, illegal immigrants, and there views on how the country should be won.
Healthcare was by far one of the most talked about discussions during the whole debate. Hillary Clinton started the debate with her ideal of everyone having healthcare. This remark came as a surprise to many, because the idea of everyone in the U.S.A having full free healthcare sounds too good to be true! There are over millions of people in the U.S and are population is constantly growing, having everyone insured would cost well over billions of dollars to support. Obama countered this idea with one of his own; he proposed that instead of everyone having it, lowering the cost so more people can afford it. The two ideas have both there positive and negative effects, but I would have to agree with Obama’s idea. The U.S.A is already in a huge amount of debt already and the billions of dollars it would take to cover everyone would greatly hurt the economy.
Illegal immigrants were a hot topic at the Democratic debate. Obama started on his views on illegal immigrants effects on the American people. There are millions of people left jobless in the U.S, and more and more illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from U.S citizens. His proposal was to increase boarder patrol; Obama was more concerned about the U.S citizens then the immigrants. Hillary responded with the problem not being so much the immigrants but the laziness of U.S citizens. In my opinion I don’t think its right to have illegal immigrants deported, American ancestors came here as immigrants, what right do we have to turn them away?
In the end the two Democrats voiced there views on how the country should be run. Obama started saying that the key is to show other country’s that America is not afraid of terrorism and will find new ways to negotiate. Hillary Clinton’s views were different in which she thinks America should never negotiate with terrorists and we should defend America with fear in the terrorist leaders against America.
Obama impressed me the most with his debate skills. While I was watching him on TV you could feel a strong feeling of confidence in the words he would speak about his plans for America. His ideas are more realistic and more appealing to the citizens of the U.S.A. Obama’s plans are set to take place immendly, right when the people need it. Obama brings about an air of change that America is desperately begging for, with strong liberal ideas that are long over due in America, he will make a better day and a stronger tomorrow!
Hillary impressed me the least. Although it’s true that her ideas come from the heart and love for America, her ideas are not very realistic. She was constantly stopping and pausing and taking sips from her glass of water. America is in need of a stronger leader that believes boldly to the end that this is the best move for America; and Hillary Clinton is not it!
My overall reaction to the debates was in fact an air of uncertainty in itself. Although I’m very excited about the statements that have been made, I will not make the mistake of getting my hopes up for a better America. George Bush lied of changes that are still yet to come like money for the suffering and houses for the homeless. He continued to blind the American citizens with a black cloud of smoke that surrounded there eyes to select him for another term! So in conclusion I’ll stick with the old saying “I’ll believe it when I see it”
I read Will Walter's paper, i agree with him because i think right when we pull out of Iraq it's just going to return to being the multilating city it was when we got there.
I read Nicole's paper i agree with her about the subprime mortgage crisis, i don't think it is a race issue. I also agree with her when she asks where the money is going to come from, cause i have heard Edwards say what he wants to do, but not how he is going to do it. Thats what i would like to hear.
I read Kourtney and Gabe's papers. I liked both of them, but Gabe's was more fun to read because he did a better job of catching my attention. I enjoyed reading both of their opinions on the debate even though they were both basically the same.
I read Tim's paper and i would dissagree about Hillary knowing a lot about the problems in the United States. She does'nt even know what her husband is up to most of the time.
I also read Katilyn's paper and i would have to agree with the global warming part, because other nations besides us need to be helping out to this earth so w can live on it.
Mark Ostrander
2/17/08
8th Period
The first paper I read was Will Walter’s paper on the democratic debate with Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. One major point that Will discussed that I liked was the issue on the war in Iraq. Will pointed out that Hilary wants to get all the troops out of Iraq within 90 days. He said it was dumb because as soon as we get the troops out of Iraq, they might try to harm us again and turn into a bigger mess. I agree with Will’s statement because now that we are there in Iraq we need to stay until the problem is solved. One resolution could be that we can decrease the number of troops there. The second paper I read was Gabe’s paper. His paper was on the democratic debate in California. This debate was between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. A topic Gabe discussed was immigration. A valid point Barack Obama pointed out that Gabe talked about was that the immigrants were receiving driver’s licenses. Barack Obama stated that in response to Clinton’s co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform. I like the fact that Barack Obama was able to turn the table against Hilary even though she was the one trying to bash Barack.
alright here is my 2 comments......I agree with slick, we are spending way to much money and yes were already billions of dollars in debt so that should tell us something...and yeah I think all of our candidates are just worried about war and need to focus on other importnat issues and not just rebuilding iraq....its already destroyed so why bother its not our problem....I also agree with will walter we need to keep control of who enters our country.....many jobs are being taken by illegal immigrants and it's leaving many Americans jobless and I dont think that is fair.
I read gabes paper and I agree with him when he said that obamas health care plan was better than hilarys because ridiculously raising taxes so that everyone can have free health care is not a good idea.
I also read sams paper, and i agree with him when he said that john edwards had the best solution for nuclear weapons, because if you disarmed all the nuclear weapons we just wouldnt have problems any more.
I watched the democratic debate of January 22, 2008 in my government class; although I don’t watch debates I found this one in particular to be very interesting. The debate was against four candidates, John Edwards, Barrack Obama, Bill Richardson, and Hilary Clinton. I never heard John Edwards talk so I don’t have much to say about him accept he is very quiet and patient. Barrack Obama I’m very, very interested in him because for one he is our first black president, for two he is always talking about how he wants to help people and how he wants to cooperate with the Pakistani government. Bill Richardson I have never heard him talk either so I wouldn’t know. Hilary Clinton I don’t know about her either accept that she was the wife of former president Bill Clinton. And that she cares about our health and started her own program.
The issues that where discussed was health care, mortgage and many other different topics. Hilary Clinton had her own Health Care Program for women, which would allow all Americans to receive health care for free.Obama talked about how he would help immigrants get citizenships.
The candidate that impressed me the most I would have to say Obama just because he answered the questions with not saying what he wanted them to hear but what he thought was right and I like that about him. Lets me know as a citizen that he is real and that he should I think be the next president of the United States.
The candidate that least impressed me was John Edwards. For one he never talked or even tried to argue his opinion. That tells me that he is very weak. I think it should have been just against Obama and Clinton.
I DO NOT AGREE WITH TIM SAYING THAT CLINTON WAS THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ONE.BECAUSE I THINK SHE IS A FAKE.
I DO OF COURSE AGREE WITH BEN BECAUSE, Obama IS THE ONE WHO IMPRESSED ME MOST BECAUSE HE ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS WITH WHAT HE THOUGHT WA S RIGHT NOT WHAT HE WANTED PEOPLE TO HEAR.
Ashley
Are you yelling or was CAPS LOCK stuck?
I have to say I agree with Dwight. Through out the whole debate in South Carolina Hilary and barrack were throwing many insults and in most cases Obama was backing up his information more than Clinton was. I also agree that Edward was the most patient through out the whole debate and didn’t get enough time to explain his side on things. The other persons paper I read was ashlee's and though I didn’t watch the same one as her she makes some good points about global warming and I have to agree with her, as were getting closer to being able to vote we are able to understand more things within the government and like her I am excited to be able to be apart of that soon.
i agree with my boy will we need control the people that comes in the country. They are the ones blowing up everything and taking ova the USA by getting all the jobs. And the USA citizens cant even get a job. Its a shame.
i agree wit nicole about obama and clinton fighting. And poor old edwards was just listening really didn't here much from him. Clinton an obama need to fix this country forget fighting we do to much of that know in the USA. there just trying to get after each other. they need to make up and kiss and just be friends.
I agree with what Jenna said about the debate being more about personal attacks than about the political issues at hand. As much as it amuses me, it terrifies me a little as well that our options for a democratic president were limited to...well...these bickering politicians!
On the same note, I also agree with Nicole about the South Carolina debates being more about drama than figuring out what their stance on certain issues is. I watched the same polictical debate and I agree that the first question was extremely irrevelant.
I agree with what Jenna said about the debate being more about personal attacks than about the political issues at hand. As much as it amuses me, it terrifies me a little as well that our options for a democratic president were limited to...well...these bickering politicians!
On the same note, I also agree with Nicole about the South Carolina debates being more about drama than figuring out what their stance on certain issues is. I watched the same polictical debate and I agree that the first question was extremely irrevelant.
Presidential Debate Response Paper
I watched the Democratic debate between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards. The event was televised from South Carolina in late January of 2008. Interestingly, John Edwards was hardly recognized, because the debate focused primarily on Hillary versus Obama. The Reagan administration was mentioned numerous times by both Obama and Hillary.
Accusations flew fast and furiously between Hillary and Obama. She accused him of supporting a “slum lord in an apartment complex in Chicago.” Obama then accused Hillary of saying that “bunker bombs are nuclear weapons.” Of course, everyone knows that bunker bombs are not nuclear weapons. Hillary responded by claiming that Obama did not back any of the bills in Congress that were being voted upon. Unfortunately, Edwards hardly was able to get in even a word. I doubt that many people watching paid any attention at all to John Edwards.
The candidate that impressed me the most was Obama. He is a good motivational speaker, and he is extremely intelligent. He does not get angry easily, thinks before he speaks, and then wisely answers with a smile on his face. The candidate who impressed me the least was John Edwards. He was not forceful enough to project his thoughts during the debate. The only time the cameras were on Edwards was when he made the comment that more than two people were in the debate.
My overall reaction was that it was a really good debate. Both Hillary and Obama showed that they were well-informed of the issues confronting Americans today. The debate was not boring and kept me on the edge of my seat. I learned that even with Obama and Hillary being friends, the debate made them seem like heated rivals, which is the way a debate should be. I would like to know more about the true meaning behind the “bunker bomb” theory projected by Obama toward Hillary.
Christopher Henderson
February 19, 2008
I agree with Tim Brown that the candidates are promising too many things. If all of the issues were addressed, the American people will be taxed to death. I think Tim did a good job of discussing all the issues brought up in the debate.
It is very obvious that Will Walter is a Republican. He hardly gave any credit to the Democratic candidates who were discussing major issues that face America. The debt that the U.S. currently has is due to the war expenses. As far as immigration is concerned, it is important for our generation to be familiar with foreign languages, because we will have to deal with people of all cultures in the future.
The first paper i read was Mark Ostranders about the democratic debate that took place in south carolina. I really agreed with Mark when he stated that Barack Obama did a great job of disscusing his various ideas and plans even though Clinton kept putting them down. I thought that Barack also did an excellent job of explaining his topics and showing all the positives of his plans just like Mark stated.
The second paper i read was Gabe Taylors on the same debate that went on in South Carolina. I really liked the fact that Gabe favored Obama in most of the catagories. He also is the one that caught my attention the most. I also agreed with Gabe in the fact that he liked Obamas plan of a more affordable health care without raising taxes as much. This was one of the major topics that I also agreed with Obama on.
so after reviewing and scanning most of these papers, i have found they all have a constant theme, and that is that they wish the candidates would stick to their subjects, and not contradict and repeat one another.. One that really stuck out to me in particular was when benjamin pointed out that hilary beats around the bush when asked to answer a question... That sounds like shady president to me.. Way to go ben....
lol
Colin Kovacs
I read Jenna's paper and I agree with her on Border Patrol. I think that the safety of the United States and Immigrants is very important.
I also read Ashlee's paper. I think that Obama and Clinton's idea for health care for everyone is very important. I think that Obama's idea of making it affordable is better than Clinton's raising taxes though.
MEGAN SIMS
D.J Lamb
Period 8
3/20/08
I watched the democratic debate from South Carolina between Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barrack Obama. There where many issues that was discussed. Three of the main issues where the war in Iraq. Hillary said that Obama told the press that he opposed bringing the troops home. Another issue was that Hillary told Obama he needed to appeal to all voters; Independents, Republicans, and Democrats especially putting out the Democratic agenda. The third issue was about Obama talking about Ronald Reagan and how he was such a political figure head for people and Hillary disagreed with him about it.
Obama impressed me the most because he had great come-backs to Clinton and was very clever and witty. He defended what he was saying very well and that’s who made a good impression on me. Hillary impressed me least because she was getting speechless and was rude to Obama when it was his turn to talk and she wouldn’t let him get a word in.
My over all reaction to the debate was that I wasn’t too impressed because the candidates were pretty much just arguing back and forth more about personal issues with one another than their candidacy. They both had some good points, but Obama clearly knew what he said previously and Hillary was just trying to start an argument.
This debate made me feel like we have good candidates for the presidential election. I learned that they are both against the war, but it seemed like Hillary was more passionate about bringing the troops home. Obama was more relaxed than her about the topics. I would like to know more about the health care plan for the United States because it is going to effect me in the future.
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