Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

by Todd Beeton, Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 01:50:53 PM EDT

Via Stoller, Survey USA polled whether people feel the debate should be held as planned or not. The results are overwhelming that the debate should be held on Friday, with some disagreement over what the topic should be:

The first debate between John McCain and Barack Obama is scheduled to take place in two days. Should the debate be held as scheduled? Should the debate be held, but the format changed to focus on the economy? Or, should the debate be postponed?
Held As Scheduled 50
Held With Focus On Economy 36
Postponed 10
Not Sure 4

Yikes, just 10% in McCain's corner. McCain's only face-saving move here is to suggest that the debate's focus shift to the economy. He's really not winning this political maneuver at all.

Update [2008-9-24 17:56:23 by Jonathan Singer]: Strong majorities of both Republicans (56 percrent) and Democrats (51 percent), and a plurality of Independents (48 percent) agreed that the debate should be held as scheduled, with another significant portion of respondents (27 percent of Republicans, 39 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of Independents) saying they want the debate to be held as scheduled, but refocused on the economy. In other words, not even Republicans are inclined to side with this political ploy by McCain.

Now I use the word "inclined" for a reason. I'm sure that if the polling were conducted tomorrow, with time for Americans to digest this news and begin to see it through a more partisan lens (and I'm not saying this derogatorily, but rather just that this is the way most are inclined to view news), that these numbers would shift, that more respondents would agree with the McCain move. But what is clear is this: at first blush Americans simply do not like the idea of postponing the presidential debates.

Update [2008-9-24 18:7:6 by Todd Beeton]:Fox News just reported that John McCain currently does not plan to attend the debate Friday night but that if a plan is agreed to by Friday, he will.

Tags: Barack Obama, Debate, John McCain (all tags)

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he probably thought

Obama would take the bait. Sorry Grandpa, not this time

by Lakrosse 2008-09-24 01:52PM | 0 recs

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Re: he probably thought

It was a gamble, pure and simple. He felt backed into a corner and made a desperate move. This is the sort of "leadership" we could expect from him in the WH.

by the mystical vortexes of sedona 2008-09-24 02:01PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

No he is not winning it, and it will be seen, in context of the changing polls, as a "McCain blinked first" kind of deal. Very wimpy.

by mady 2008-09-24 01:52PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

Or is he?

I think that if he had to do it over again, he would have the foreign policy debate last...

by rfahey22 2008-09-24 01:54PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

This is a good point. I had a similar thought the other day: "thank god they are having the foreign policy debate first." But you know what, I am not afraid of any of these topics. I think Obama has the upper hand in any policy debate this cycle.

by wasder 2008-09-24 03:57PM | 0 recs

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Todd, you watching any TV?

I've been flipping through all the major networks.

McCain's surrogates are getting creamed!

Didn't take long for that one to backfire on him.

A President has to know how to multitask.

This is precisely the moment when the American people want to hear what these the next POTUS has to say.

Obama has been on his motherfucking game.

by spacemanspiff 2008-09-24 01:54PM | 0 recs

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You called it since the beginning.

I'm agreeing with you here.

You gotta love the Chicken Littles on your earlier threads.

by spacemanspiff 2008-09-24 01:57PM | 0 recs

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Re: Todd, you watching any TV?

you know, it's all well and good that a President has to multi-task, but if Obama won't do the job he's currently elected to do, then why should I elect him to an even bigger job?

by lilk9too 2008-09-24 02:19PM | 0 recs

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Re: Todd, you watching any TV?

You mean like McCain, the most absent senator of this current Congress? He singlehandedly held up Medicare funding because he was campaigning in Ohio; Ted Kennedy had to return to the Senate to pass it.

by rfahey22 2008-09-24 02:21PM | 0 recs

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an audacious first post

by lilk9too on Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 06:19:18 PM EST

Looking forward to more pearls of wisedom, no matter whose sock-puppet you are...

by WashStateBlue 2008-09-24 02:29PM | 0 recs

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Re: Todd, you watching any TV?

This is going to completely throw McCain off his game in the debate, I predict. He never ever does well when he's wounded. This was his attempt to put himself in that position of strength that he needed, and it seems to have backfired horribly.

Even Letterman is eviscerating him tonight.

by vcalzone 2008-09-24 02:22PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

LOL, check out who on the other threads is calling Obama a loser on this...

You will not be surprised at the posters.

by WashStateBlue 2008-09-24 01:58PM | 0 recs

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Send a surrogate!

Doesn't McCain have somebody that he believes is eminently prepared to step in for the highest office in the land? Surely she could cover a debate.

SEND SARAH PALIN!

Tell me that doesn't sound viral to you.

by George Nassar 2008-09-24 02:03PM | 0 recs

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Re: Send a surrogate!

If Obama wanted to debate a pig, I believe we would know it by now. LOL.

by Steve24 2008-09-24 02:14PM | 0 recs

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Re: Send a surrogate!

Calling her a pig is a little counter-productive. She's a lot of horrible things, but calling her a pig might offend some folks here.

by the mystical vortexes of sedona 2008-09-24 02:28PM | 0 recs

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Re: Send a surrogate!

Let it offend people then. I don't give a shit. It's my God-given right as an American to voice my mind. I tell you what offends me - Republicans like McBush and Palin calling Obama unpatriotic and then implying that his supporters, people like me, are blindly following a terrorist sympathizer. Palin is a PIG and McBush is the clown who parades around the circus with her!

by Steve24 2008-09-24 02:52PM | 0 recs

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Re: Send a surrogate!

Pigs are smart, she's not.

by the mystical vortexes of sedona 2008-09-24 02:59PM | 0 recs

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Re: Send a surrogate!

When you're right, you're right. I like pigs. I just don't like Palin.

by Steve24 2008-09-24 03:00PM | 0 recs

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Re: Send a surrogate!

Then stop insulting pigs! ;)

by skohayes 2008-09-24 04:25PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

There is a reason we have 100 Senators. The Senate has gotten along just fine the other 65% of the time McCain has missed votes, so I think they'll be fine now, too. Yet another example of McCain dealing with a crisis by inserting himself right in the middle of it, consequences and common sense be damned.

And considering that Mccain has admitted he isn't that up on the economy (and proven as much in the last two weeks), I'm not sure what he hopes to do other than attempting to torpedo or usurp the Democratic leadership that has been on this crisis from the beginning.

by vcalzone 2008-09-24 02:19PM | 0 recs

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If McCain does a no-show ....

... as he seems to be saying he may, what is THAT message? There are all kinds of messages that people would hear:
"I'm too involved in the financial meltdown."
"I can't handle multiple tasks."
"You Obama aren't worth my time to debate."
"I'm afraid of losing the debate to Obama."

I feel sure McCainers think "McCain's a great American and anything he does should be viewed in that light. It has nothing to do with politics but rather exemplifies McCain's overriding concern for the welfare of the American public." At some level, that has some truth in it, but we all know that both he and Obama are saying "Let's not make this political" while they are being political because ..... they're politicians!

by Southern Mouth 2008-09-24 02:26PM | 0 recs

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Re: If McCain does a no-show ....

The campaign has never been about him, it's always been about Obama. He is hoping that he can smear Obama somehow.

by the mystical vortexes of sedona 2008-09-24 02:29PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

"It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys." Barney Frank, 9/24/08, in response to John McCain's decision to call off the debate

I'm starting to really appreciate Barney Frank.

by zenful6219 2008-09-24 03:20PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

John McCain, I have seen Doug Flutie throw the Hail Mary...

John McCain, you are no Doug Flutie.

by WashStateBlue 2008-09-24 03:34PM | 0 recs

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Re: Huge Majority Says The Debate Should Go On

I think Obama should still do the debate even if McCain isn't there, it can be an "empty chair debate," and will essentially be a 90 minute period where Obama can talk about his foreign policy/national security plans without dealing with McCain's lies.

by Vox Populi 2008-09-24 06:02PM | 0 recs