The Debate Last Night

An example of art imitating life...

The Presidential Debate in Nashville

Here is a good preview of what we should expect to see tonight.

If Senator John McCain is in fact trying to shift the focus of attention away from his ability to deal with the economy, it should show up tonight on the debate stage.

Mr. McCain meets Senator Barack Obama at Belmont University in Nashville in the second of three presidential debates.

The event starts at 9 p.m. Eastern and runs for 90 minutes. You can see it on the networks, most of the cable shows, all over the Internet and, of course, right here, live. We will also be live blogging the debate as it unfolds and fact-checking along the way. And tonight we have asked members of the U.S. military to watch the debate along with us and share their thoughts.

The debate comes just a month before Election Day, a time when undecided voters — are there really any left? — traditionally start making up their minds. It affords Mr. Obama a chance to “seal the deal,” since most opinion polls show him leading Mr. McCain.

This should make for a riveting encounter. Mr. McCain needs to do something dramatic to halt his slide. He and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, have taken a sharply negative turn on the campaign trail, and he may well continue that tone tonight.

Alan Keyes- He's Back Again!

Alan Keyes, the self-righteous perennial Republican candidate, showed up at the Iowa GOP debate today. He has slowly inched back into the scene after his humiliating loss to Senator Obama back in 2004. The following clip will give you a good idea of why politics on the GOP side have reached the heights of lunacy.




It is getting a little tired watching the Republicans try to outdo each other in the area of morals and religion. No issue is left untouched. Problem with the schools? Why Alan Keyes claims it's the fault of judges who drove God out! Huckabee is running around apologizing to Romney about a remark he made in regards to Mormans. They are all constantly screaming about who is the most Conservative (whatever the hell that means) and how they appeal to the 'value voters' (once again, what is that?!).

I cannot wrap my brain around these holier-than-thou right wing politicians who wear religion on their shoulders while condoning torture and illegal wars. They speak of the sanctity of life while allowing companies to pour toxic gases in the air and pollute our water. They oppose the use of birth control while denying health care to children who had the misfortune to be born poor. I could go on and on in exposing their brand of right wing hypocrisy.

The sad fact of this is that we should not even be discussing religion in regards to politics and policy. There was, at one time, something called the separation of church and state.

GOP No-Show for Morgan State Debate

Once again, the GOP leading candidates have decided to ignore a debate that was to be held at Morgan State University. The topic was minority rights. The reason? Scheduling conflicts, of course. That seems to be the standard line these days. To their credit, Sen. Brownback of Kansas, Mike Huckabee, Reps. Duncan Hunter of California, Ron Paul of Texas and Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Conservative activist Alan L. Keyes, who announced his candidacy last week, will attend.

Remember shortly before this, Univision, the Spanish language network, had also proposed a debate amongst the GOP field but only John McCain signed on.

Frankly I am not a bit surprised that these candidates would rather be a no-show at these types of debates considering the track record of the GOP in relation to minority rights. Switch on to Fox News for about five minutes and see how long it takes for you to hear about the evil and scheming illegal immigrants. The Republican mantra of 'welfare queens', which has been around since the Reagan years and typically refers to African-American women, still predominates their thinking.

The Republicans like to talk a good game about how they've changed and are a party of increasing diversity. Sadly, their actions speak louder than their words.