Sandy and the Election

Well, this was an interesting weekend and Monday wasn't boring either. The family spent most of the weekend getting our stuff together for the storm. We have enough water for probably a year. Rice, canned foods and lets not forget beer and wine.  The one thing we didn't buy was batteries.  Luckily we did not lose power and did not need to do any water sterilization. One good thing that came out of the storm was two days off of school and one day off work. We also needed the rain.

Unfortunately not everyone got away with as little damage as my family did.  About three miles down the street people don't have power and there was flooding at the office. And farther up north they got the heck knocked out of them. I just hope God is looking out for them and few people are hurt or killed by it.

Being that this is a political blog eventually I need to speak about politics. Well here we go...

How does a storm effect an election? The incumbent's reaction to the storm can hurt or help them. Look at Bush when katrina hit. Also in some areas it will impact people from voting. Please keep in mind, that the office of president is not the only office that must be voted on next week.  

While reading some news and political blogs, I stumbled across a topic that didn't even cross my mind. How will this impact the next election? Politico addresses the topic;

The 2016ers
Any number of the nation’s governors (or mayors) can attest to the leadership challenges of natural disasters and the powerful effect they can have on approval ratings — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is among those who experienced a post-hurricane spike in popularity after Hurricane Irene.
The path of Hurricane Sandy means it will test a handful of governors with prospects beyond their home states — Christie, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.
With the nation watching, how they respond will go a long way toward establishing their home state narrative. But it will also provide a first impression to many voters outside their states whose introduction to them comes solely through glimpses of interviews and press conferences on cable and broadcast news.

Personally the thought of thinking about the next election didn't occur to me. It is a good thing to think about though. Watch how these people react to this natural disaster so you know what they did in hard times and not fall victim to what they say they're going to do.

Until next time folks stay warm and stay safe. Do not forget to vote next week!

Works Cited

MAHTESIAN, CHARLES. Politico. 30 October 2012. 30 October 2012 <http://www.politico.com/blogs/charlie-mahtesian/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-the-political-fallout-147734.html?hp=l6>.

Presidential Debate Round Two

So, this last debate was considered a "town hall debate". This debate was different for a couple reasons. First instead of harping on a general topic, the candidates are asked a question by a member of the audience. The candidate is then supposed to answer the question. Well that didn't really happen so much, both candidates brushed over the question and proceeded to do their standard speech on said topic. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The other big difference was that there was nothing separating the candidates. I do not know why, but I really liked that aspect of it. A couple times they got in each others faces a couple times and that was good for the viewers in my opinion.  

The Moderator

A moderator is supposed to keep the speaker of a debate on time and on task. Ms. Candy Crowley did neither of those things last night. She was terrible! Both candidates continually went over time and off topic. Every topic or question that was brought up, each candidate went way over their two minute mark. There was a couple topics where Obama went at least three minutes. That is completely unacceptable. I can accept fifteen to twenty seconds over to finish a sentence but a minute over is just awful.

Also Ms. Crowley was completely biased. First off shes from CNN. Can you say democratic bias? Why yes, yes I can. She got to pick the questions for the debate and three of the first fiver were soft balls for Obama and put Romney at a disadvantage. That would be 60% for those of you who don't want to do the math. Before I forget, I can't believe that after Romney talked about his tax plan she rephrased it and asked if it was "settled". No! It obviously was not settled.

Who Won?

I honestly don't think anyone won. To continue with the boxing analogy from the last debate, I think Romney caught Obama flat footed with his hands on his hips and threw a jab instead of a real punch. At that point Obama woke up and was back in the fight. There is really no way a neutral party can say who won. Although I think each side can make a case for their person being the winner.  So lets call round two a draw!

Stay tuned for the next debate on October 22 2012.     

The Presidential Debate...a Day Late

I'm a tad late with this post. For good reason though. Last night was the presidential debate and I wanted to wait until today to do a post so I could take a look and see and analyze what everyone is saying. I for one am glad I waited. Some exciting stuff went down today, well exciting if you're into politics.

The Great Debate

Well actually, the "debate" was not all that great. In my humble opinion neither candidate went in for a kill shot so to speak. It did not appear that either candidate was trying to win. Isn't that the point of a debate?

Each candidate made their point. They both also made their point well, but they were both on the weaker side when they went to attack each others "plans for recovery".

I think that the nearest either candidate got to attacking the other on his opinion was this moment from Mr. Romney. The man who posted this on YouTube used boxing terminology to describe it and I agree with it. Romney used a couple nice jabs to set him up and then threw a hay maker to win round one.


The Pundents

It is always entertaining to read what the analysts have to say about the debate or anything else political related for that matter.

According to this article by the Associated Press on www.WashingtonPost.com;

       "Challenger Mitt Romney used Wednesday’s debate to put President Barack Obama on the defensive on health care, jobs and other issues. The president’s reluctance to fire back harshly gave new hope to Republican partisans."

When the Washington Post is saying Romney won, you know he did something right. Or at the very least didn't screw up too terribly.

Now Al Gore has come out and said why he believes that Obama lost the debate in some people's mind. The thin air in Denver through Obama off his game.Hard to believe, I know so I will let Mr. Gore explain it for me,

 "Obama arrived in Denver at 2 p.m. today, just a few hours before the debate started. Romney did his debate prep in Denver. When you go to 5,000 feet, and you only have a few hours to adjust, I don't know" 

Actually that wasn't helpful in explaining it at all. Again this is just my opinion, but I think the lack of a teleprompter is to blame. When he is doing a prepared speech in a controlled environment Mr. Obama is a wonderful speaker. Unfortunately  when he does not have a teleprompter or is in a hostile environment he does not do too well. Also Bill Maher has this opinion too. Here he is quoted by Fox News, "I can't believe i'm saying this, but Obama looks like he DOES need a teleprompter,[Text is not edited]".  Mr. Maher is an Obama supporter, so when he says Obama messed up, Obama messed up!

And the Winner is...

Honestly I think it was a tie, but judging on how people reacted and the flurry of activity from the left, I think the general consensus is that Romney won. He was able to keep the pressure on Obama fairly well and was aggressive without coming off as being overly rude. For his part, Obama look very tired. He appeared edgy and honestly he did not seem all that prepared. So I guess you could say he lost, but the real loser was Big Bird.

Works Cited

Fox News. 4 October 2012. 4 October 2012 <http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/04/gore-blames-denver-altitude-for-obama-debate-performance/>.

Press, Assiciated. Washington Post. 4 October 2012. 4 October 2012 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/analysis-in-first-presidential-debate-romney-is-aggressor-obama-is-careful-in-pushing-back/2012/10/04/f44913f4-0dd7-11e2-ba6c-07bd866eb71a_story.html>.