The Final Debate

So, I'm at work and missed the televised debate. But I read through the transcript of it.

Uff Da.

I can see at least three or four good SNL lines in there. "Bresh of Freth Air" being the most obvious.

I was disturbed a bit by the abortion segment. Here's why. Obama said, quite well I think, that regardless of pro-choice or pro-life stance, we need to find some common ground to prevent unwanted pregnancies. He also said, and I challenge anyone to find fault with this,

"But what ultimately I believe is that women in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers, are in the best position to make this decision. And I think that the Constitution has a right to privacy in it that shouldn't be subject to state referendum, any more than our First Amendment rights are subject to state referendum, any more than many of the other rights that we have should be subject to popular vote."

Do I agree with abortion? Of course not. The Wife and I never had any pre-birth tests run on our kids to check for any "issues" because we would not have aborted unless absolutely medically necessary. But I personally think it is incredibly offensive for anyone other than the mother and maybe father of that fetus to make that decision. We cannot have politicians, or citizens for that matter, who on one hand say that government should "just get outta the way" and let us live our lives, and on the other say that government should be allowed to control the choices we make. It's a hypocritical view.

Yet another reason I just can't agree with the McCain/Palin ticket.

Now, as for the health care stuff. I have had a hard time agreeing with Universal Health care. The systems in England and Canada are just as messy as ours, but in different ways. I like both candidates proposals for health care plans. The $5k tax credit would about cover our plan. Just a couple thousand bucks short.

I think we do need more focus on prevention though. Although they both mentioned it, neither one was very clear on how. Though I did like McCain's plan to reward those who join health clubs. But what if you can't afford the health club?

Here's an idea. Lower insurance costs for those who show a marked effort and success with following a good diet and exercise plan. It wouldn't be hard to implement. A doctor checkup first, for baseline stats... weight, cholesterol, smoker/non-smoker, etc. Then follow up with a visit to a nutritionist for a healthy eating plan, and a trainer for an appropriate exercise program. Then visit the doc every six months for a checkup on how the plan is going. Lose weight? Take some dollars of your insurance premium. Stop smoking? A few more dollars. (us non-smokers would start at a lower premium at the get go) Reward people monetarily for getting in better shape and taking better care of themselves. Sort of a fair tax plan but for health. This of course would need some tweaking for pre-existing conditions, but that shouldn't be hard to do.

Anyway. I thought the debate was interesting. They both did well, but I think Obama won. At least in the transcript version. Mainly because his responses were concise and easy to follow. McCain seemed to be rambling through some of his answers. Still not sure why he was congratulating the now famous Joe the Plumber on being rich. Maybe it comes across better in real life. And I am still a bit upset that, while McCain did correctly say that he stops the trash talk about Obama at his rallies, he said nothing about the Palin rallies. She should really be stopping that sort of talk. Silence in those cases is tantamount to agreement. And I've watched most of the speeches by the candidates. can anyone tell me when Obama mocked Veterans wearing Vet hats?

McCain said this,
" Let me just say categorically I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies. Whenever you get a large rally of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people, you're going to have some fringe peoples. You know that. And I've -- and we've always said that that's not appropriate.
But to somehow say that group of young women who said "Military wives for McCain" are somehow saying anything derogatory about you, but anything -- and those veterans that wear those hats that say "World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq," I'm not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they're great citizens.
And I'm not going to stand for somebody saying that because someone yelled something at a rally -- there's a lot of things that have been yelled at your rallies, Sen. Obama, that I'm not happy about either.
In fact, some T-shirts that are very unacceptable."

Highlights are mine, of course. But is he saying that fringe "peoples" are still great Americans? And without fail, every time I've heard boo's or something at Obama's rallies, he is quick to put a stop to it. McCain does too. Palin...not so much. But then she'd have to say something unscripted, and I think we all know how that goes. (wink)

Well. I suppose I'm not very good at avoiding politics on my blog. C'est la vie. We had a discussion on politics at work tonight. Many staunch Republicans here. And they had some good points. But not a one could answer me when I asked why McCain kept changing the message and focus of his campaign. I'm a "right tool for the job" sort of a guy. Obama has been using a hammer on the campaign nail. McCain has been switching between wrenches, saws, screwdrivers, anything he can grab at to see if he can pound that nail. (He gave up his good hammer - experience- when he chose Palin)

OK, 'Nuff said for tonight. I think I'll go wash the rigs and think about my kiddos. Just imagining their smiles makes me smile, and hearing them laugh in my head makes me giggle.

More Later