Subscribe by RSS
In an immediate acknowledgment of the general election, John McCain challenged Barack Obama to participate in at least 10 “town hall” style events around the country until the Democratic convention.
Story from Yahoo News:
BATON ROUGE, La. - John McCain is challenging Barack Obama to join him in 10 town hall meetings with voters between now and the Democratic National Convention in August.
McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, sent his Democratic rival a letter Wednesday outlining the offer. He suggested the first town hall be held June 12 in New York.
He said President Kennedy had made such an agreement with former Senator Barry Goldwater for the 1964 election before Kennedy’s assassination.
“I don’t think we need any big media-run production, no process question from reporters, no spin rooms,” McCain said. “Just two Americans running for office in the greatest nation on earth, responding to the questions of the people whose trust we must earn.”
Video of McCain making the challenge:
Obama’s campaign responded positively:
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responded that he finds the idea of joint town halls “appealing and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country.â€
However, Plouffe said the Obama camp would “recommend a format that is less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.â€
From a reader, here’s a link to McCain’s actual letter as a PDF: Town Hall Letter
I would love to see these debates, I think it would be fantastic. Maybe not 10 events, but several of them would be fascinating to watch.
Here’s to hoping Obama agrees to work out some agreement on this and we see some town hall debates between the two.
(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Visit the You Decide 2008 Store »
Loading ...
This would be great! I agree with you, Nate, that 10 may be alot in that amount of time, but it would also give more people the chance to raise their own personal questions. Questions that come from media correspondents tend to lean towards ratings grabbers and repetitive B.S.
I hope Obama accepts this invitation. Maybe we won’t have to suffer through any more of the infamous style of the Clinton/Obama debates. Maybe we can see real issues addressed.
Great letter from McCain to Obama, and a great challenge.
Wait just a darn minute….now does Obama bring his own teleprompter or is one provided for him? Oh, and can anyone in his PR fleet type fast enough?
This is going to be interesting. Way to go McCain.
LOL Matt,
Happy to see McCain challenging, and lets just hope that Obama is not another Mondale(I am praying he is) and lets get some good debates. For all that may not know, McCain won the nominee many say because he is great at town hall meetings, and it is were he is himself and at his best.
O_S, I’ve watched many of them, they stream them live off the Fox website. It is when he is at his best, he’s very spontaneous and real no matter what is thrown at him. He’s also very much in charge in these settings. I’m looking forward to these.
I hope one comes local to me so I can ask 1 question.
Will you make it so I don’t have to press 1 to continue in English?
I mean damn people we live in America. If someone wants service in Spanish they need to move to Latin America, or Spain. The only public location in this country that should have Spanish spoken is the class to teach people to speak English for their citizenship. That goes for EVERY other language. This is the United States of America. If you don’t want to speak our language then please leave.
Melvin, it’s not as if it’s a law that information has to be in spanish. It’s simply that the business is going out of it’s way to accomodate customers of all types, and if you’re going to run a successful business, that’s what you need to do.
Melvin
Who says that English is OUR language?
I know Germany’s offical language is German
Japan’s Official Language is Japanese
America doesn’t have an official Language therefore the argument can not be raised until a law is passed making English the official Language.
I mean if there ever was an official language it would probably be something in Native American!
I agree with Melvin
Speak American Dammit, not Mexican!
Dreadsen,
I would happily agree with you if it weren’t for the fact that the various Indigenous Nations speak different languages as well. American has developed it’s own form of English like Jason says we should call it “American” and damn it
EVER SINGLE LIVING MAN AND CHILD THAT WANTS TO BE A CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY SHOULD SPEAK IT FLUENTLY.
I didn’t mean to leave women out, but let’s face it they speak the same language and we as men still are intelligent enough to figure out what they are saying to us. LOL
Just joking CG, BABS, and Michel
Are we talking the American they speak in texas, the american they speak in new york, or the american they speak in chigago? Or maybe that odd dialect they speak in north dakota? Sounds strange but they speak pretty distinctly in parts of pennsylvania too, in my experience.
Let me know which you prefer to call American. Personally I’d prefer the dialects that integrate the word “y’all”, as the other dialects have no way to differentiate “you(pl)” from “you(s)”
McCain vs. Obama? I’m expecting a lot of nasty distortions and little respect.
Well, I believe english should be the first language of America, and so did members of Congress when they put forth a bill to make it so. Guess who voted in favor - McCain. Guess who voted against - Obama. Guess who lost - we did.
Spanish Teacher- “You have so much potential, if you applied yourself, you could speak Spanish fluently. It can get you further in life and your career.”
Student- “Your right, I could use it to communicate with my undocumented work crew.”
I saw it happen years ago in high school, no joke!
I’m glad to see y’all are in agreeance on our national lingo.
Oh, the “prima estrella por espanol” option goes for the government too. Your standard government forms are now available in all kinds of different languages.
In the mean time…..chu speaka de spinach main?
To no one poster in particular,
I get so sick of hearing people badmouth immigrants, in a way that makes them seem so inferior. Immigrants, legal and illegal come to this country because they want to make a better life for themselves. They come to this county out of the harshest of places and go through trials to get here that you soft spoiled natives could not begin to face. They arrive in this country with no resources; no ability to communicate and they are treated like dirt by the likes of you. They respond to these trials by working obscene hours at jobs that Americans are not willing to do and they slowly build lives for themselves.
Who are you to hate someone for trying to make a better life for themselves and their families? Have you forgotten that not so many generations ago when borders were open and all were free to come; your ancestors were immigrants? They too arrived to this country without speaking English, with no money, with little education and it often took them one or two generations to develop these things. I assume that you remember that every new group to enter this country was hated by the last. The English derided the Irish, the Irish hated the Italians and everyone abused the Chinese. The only group that people were happy to have come were the Africans and that only because they were brought in as slaves.
I accept that this country can no longer welcome every individual in the world who wants to come here. I have seen some of the rest of the world and believe that this is the greatest nation on earth and I have witnessed the half mile long lines people wait in to just apply for visas to this country. But while I can understand why we need to restrict the influx of people into this county I refuse to hate those who want to come or to make their lives harder once they are here. Being in this country is a privilege I acquired merely by being born here not by any greatness within me that makes me more special than those born in other parts of the world.
If immigrants come here for a new chance and a better life, aka the american dream, why does an American Like Michelle Obama say shes finnaly proud of her country because of her husband, and why does she say this country is mean, If her and her husband talk about change and hope making a comeback, than why is it that people will come into this country illegally, if it is a bad place like they make it out to seem. Makes you wonder.
“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile…We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
-Teddy Roosevelt 1907
I think I know what Teddy would have done with his “big stick” if he was asked to “press 1 for English”
What a difference 99 years can make. I say again, times don’t change - people change, and not always for the better.
O_S, you can bash Michelle Obama all you want I guess. But Michelle Obama’s comment about pride in America, while badly worded , obviously wasn’t intended to be unpatriotic. She was speaking about how much this country has inspired her and made her proud.
And as for a streak of meanness running throughout this culture… well just look at what you’re doing here right now. Taking her words out of context to make her sound like an awful, unpatriotic, accusatory woman. A culture of “mean” indeed. You’re deliberately misunderstanding her. In fact, the way you wrote that, you make it sound like you believe Michelle Obama hates this country, and you did all but outright say it by begging the question - ‘why would immigrants even want to come here’?
But honestly O_S, if you really hate Michelle Obama so much, then let’s all agree not to vote for her.
You’re so funny.
Matt, thanks for the smile.
Melvin, I completely agree and in the words of Michael Savage Language, Borders, Culture!!!
Indi-Minded come on, Michelle Obama makes us women look bad, she should be ashamed of herself. That woman talks smack about this country day in and day out with no remorse. You would think that if your husband was in a position to be the President of the United States (not Africa) you might start to lay off your future employer, not continue to bash it. I’m a lover not a fighter, but in Michelle Obama’s case I’ll make an exception!
C.G.
I was not aware that she talks bad about America every single day.
Where did you get this from?
All I’ve seen was several sound bites.
O.S.
you are funny. We could be talking about serial numbers on condoms and you will come in and find a way to attack Obama or get the discussion to change into full on Obama attack. lol I bet you think about Obama in your sleep!
I’ve heard her be pretty critical at times, but usually only when she’s addressing the past. I think it’s pretty clear she hasn’t been happy with the goings on in the oval office for a while, but I certainly don’t think I’ve heard her talk trash about our country much or at all. What has she said that’s offended you so much?
I know lots of people can’t stand her, but I don’t get it. I generally find her to be either mildly inspiring or just sort of boring. It seems to me that she’s still adjusting to being in the lime light all the time, and finding some difficulty remembering her every word must be carefully chosen.
The real point is, she’s not running for office, so I don’t really see what the fuss is about. People almost never mention Cindy McCain, except to point out that she’s rich and hasn’t released her tax returns.
C.G.
“Indi-Minded come on, Michelle Obama makes us women look bad, she should be ashamed of herself. ”
I think the women who are making women look bad are the ones who are claiming that Sexism is why Hilary lost. When she did not take her campaign serious after super tuesday.
She didn’t campaign hard enough, took the nomination for granted and underestimated Obama. Once she realized her error it was too late.
Ariana Huffington was on CNN with a few other women discussing it here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.....05573.html
But in other ones like this one it is a one sided debate.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UaiuojLiM8Y
Hilary is the one who should be ashamed of herself for not claiming sexism until she saw it was inevitable that she was going to lose. Obama’s supporters were seen pointing out racism almost immediately in each instance. How can you claim sexism when you are claiming that you have the most votes in history and in the beginning having over 200 super delegates before anything happens. And in the beginning of 2007 everyone in the media kept calling her the nominee and talking about her momentum?
Ferraro had a lot of nerve making the same claim
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ll6hGaaUrOY
Claiming she is getting railroaded because of her Gender is a disgrace to women.
Huffingtonpost=liberal propoganda.
Yes Huffington Post is slanted but what is in the link is not made up make believe.
It is a panel of all liberals discussing the topic of sexism.
So if they are a liberal propaganda site it is a legit topic to read because it’s liberals complaining about Liberals.
Just like Fox is Right wing propaganda. but it is not propaganda ALL OF THE TIME. If you have an educated open mind you can watch fox and dig through the propaganda and get some facts out. Or sometimes they are completely on point.
But you have to have an educated open mind to do this.
If you don’t you will do away with anything that doesn’t support your own personal agenda. Even if its NOT propaganda.
Kayolan everyone in America is not like this. I hope you understand.