The following is my twitter stream from the debate this past Wednesday. I got into the mood for this debate by listening to Dave Glover on the way home from work. He had one of the best rants I have heard him give in the 4 years I have been listening. For those unfamiliar with Dave, he basically is the comedic relief for nothing but conservative talk radio. It is a rare day that he actually talks about politics, most of it is just pure comedy gold! Part of the segment is available online, which should be available for the next month or so. The segment took place on 10/15/08 and is ‘Presidential Race’, I highly recommend that you take 10 minutes and listen.

Any changes made to my tweets is to correct any typos or to clarify a point I was trying to make. As always please let me know what you think. Thanks!.

Good debate beer, like a bullshit filter in a bottle, http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/583/32767

John is right, no solution will work until the housing market evens out. 8:05 PM

Bail out the home owners not the people who screwed the pooch and lost billions of dollars. 8:05 PM

Too late AIG is already taking the governments money and going on retreats. 8:06 PM

Now it is less than $200k? That’s new. 8:07 PM

Here is the link to Obama’s encounter with Joe the Plumber: http://is.gd/3Zph 8:08 PM

So far they are doing a good job talking about their differences, which is where McCain will come out on top I think. 8:09 PM

The oil companies are a small percentage of the corporations that would get that tax brake. 8:10 PM

But once Joe buys the plumping business then his income goes above $250k and he will get taxed more. 8:10 PM

Net they make under $250k, but gross they make more than $250k and we are taxed on gross income. 8:11 PM

What gives the ordinary American the right to take money away from successful people and companies? 8:13 PM

I much prefer this debate format over the previous ones. Seems more conversational. 8:14 PM

O.o they both want to spend more money then what will be saved. Say it isn’t so. 8:14 PM

You will be cutting a lot of program that were started by Democrats. 8:15 PM

I agree with Obama that education is key to a successful economy. College costs today are simply ridiculous. 8:16 PM

Raising home values will also increase the ‘wealth’ of the companies that own those mortgages. 8:17 PM

Nice come back John, I like the hatchet then a scalpel! Stop it all now then resume what makes sense. 8:18 PM

I wish the moderator would ask them to give us examples of the programs that are worth keeping around. 8:19 PM

We had a budget surplus mainly because of the DotCom bubble. 8:20 PM

Personally, I don’t think any politician can balance the budget. 8:20 PM

Awesome come back John!!! Now quit attacking Bush Obama and talk to John. 8:21 PM

Wow, this is a different John McCain then the one we saw on TV last week. 8:22 PM

Obamas response was good, but not great. He tried too hard to bring Bush back up. 8:24 PM

Name the last presidential campaign that didn’t go ugly, hasn’t happened in 200 years. 8:25 PM

Time for McCain to bring up Acorn, Ayers, and Rev. Wright. And he should! 8:26 PM

McCain did a cop out, he should have really hammered Obama on his associations, at least that is my opinion. 8:27 PM

I wonder if the table format ‘forces’ them to talk to each other more than the podium format. 8:28 PM

Actually, I would love for these two to talk directly to each other about what is mentioned in the Ads. 8:29 PM

This is a really weak response to the question, Obama dodged the campaign question and went to talking points. 8:29 PM

I don’t think I like how ‘Joe the Plumber’ is going to become a poster child for McCain. 8:31 PM

Ok, now this is a good come back Sen. Obama. What happens at the rallies really needs to be looked at, just look at YouTube sometime. 8:32 PM

McCain’s starting to show some cracks, but I think that is mainly because he is getting agitated and Obama is good at speaking over him. 8:33 PM

That is very true Sen. Obama, neither of you are ‘Bad People’, just depending a persons political viewpoint you have bad policies. 8:36 PM

YES!!! He brought up Acorn! That is just amazing! 8:36

What about the funds that you GAVE to Acorn in order to register those voters? 8:38 PM

That’s it John, keep with the facts. You do that and you win tonight 8:40 PM

Good question! Why would Biden or Palin be a good president? 8:40 PM

If someone wants a ‘leg up’ they should work their butts off to get it, not have it handed to them. 8:42 PM

Palin has a lot of pluses, but there are some ’scary’ parts of her past that need to be addressed. 8:43 PM

Don’t dodge the question Obama, it is a simple Yes or No . Would Palin be a good president? 8:44 PM

Don’t necessarily have to get more funding, but raise awareness to drive private donations. 8:45 PM

How much of that 60% comes from Canada though? I bet many would be surprised by the answer. 8:47 PM

It would take at least 15-20 years to get away from Middle Eastern energy. 8:48 PM

Making the switch to a different fuel source is only part of the problem, the major part is building the infrastructure to support the new energy source. 8:49 PM

You can’t call Oil Companies out on unused land when it has no oil under it and the land was auctioned to them from the gov. 8:50 PM

Free trade with lots of government oversight isn’t free trade. 8:52 PM

I guess it still bothers me that lawyers and ex-military people are in charge of trade policies and not business people. 8:54 PM

U.S. Car companies are hurting because they held on to old technology too long and let quality drop. 8:55 PM

Instead of the government ‘taking care of me’ maybe they should put in sensible regulation on the health insurance companies? 8:58 PM

Health Care costs so much because of malpractice insurance and people not paying their medical bills. 8:59 PM

Boooo talking point! Now Obama will say how McCain will tax health benefits. 8:59 PM

I am starting to wonder if ‘Joe the Plumber’ was planted by the McCain camp. 9:00 PM

I am very proud of Obama for finally answering McCains question, he has only been asking for an answer for a week. 9:01 PM

Told you the health benefits tax was going to be brought up. 9:02 PM

I want McCain to talk about the health benefit tax, it is a question that really needs to be answered. Anyone seen an answer yet? 9:03 PM

Spreading the wealth is so insulting to me, I should not get a check because someone else has been successful. 9:04 PM

All fairness John, the government has grown 40% under Bush. 9:06 PM

If the government is going to offer health care, how many companies are going to continue to OFFER health benefits? 9:06 PM

Members of the Supreme Court should judge based on the constitution, not personal views and foreign laws. 9:07 PM

I don’t have much to say on Rowe Vs Way since I don’t know where I stand on it, hence few comments on this question. 9:10 PM

I agree with Obama, both money and reform is needed. Being a teacher today is a calling not a career. 9:17 PM

Obama is sounding a lot like a conversative!! 9:18 PM

Competition is a natural way to get humans to improve something, but the bottom line is public avenues need improvement. 9:20 PM

It seems that on the issue of education I agree with a mix of both Obama and McCain. But they seem to be saying the same thing. 9:22 PM

Palin is going to slap the crap out of McCain after the debate for misdiagnosing her child’s disorder. 9:25 PM

McCains Closing Statement here we go. 9:27 PM

That’s the first time he has said ‘My Friends’ tonight. 9:27 PM

McCains record is his biggest weapon, he has always stood by his decisions. 9:28 PM

The problem is Americans have lost their trust in both Washington D.C. and their governement. 9:29 PM

Obamas closing comments. Last one. 9:29 PM

McCain does not equal Bush, and just because you keep saying it doesn’t make it true. 9:30 PM

Sacrifice is something that is given to the country and the government, not taken. 9:31 PM

That’s right America. Go Vote!! I don’t care who you vote for just vote! 9:31 PM

Alright that’s all I have, hope everyone enjoyed my debate coverages. Please @bnunnally me with comments or questions. Peace! 9:33 PM

I normally go to Cracked.com at least once a week to fulfill one of my ‘I need to laugh’ urges. An article that recently captured my attention was “5 Presidential Elections Even Dumber Than This One (Somehow).” It reminded me of an exhibit in President Lincolns Library which was devoted to Good Ole Abe’s run for the White House and the Civil War era. Framed on the walls were replicas of news articles and political cartoons from that era, and overhead speakers recited bits and pieces from other articles. I was speechless at what I read and heard, if I didn’t know better I would have thought that President Lincoln had been the Anti-Christ. Actually, if memory serves me right there might have been a cartoon that actually called him the Anti-Christ. This was not the Abe Lincoln I learned about in school or on the History Channel.

The article drove home a point though, over the years the mediums have changed, but political attacks are just the same. The only difference in today is TV, Radio, and the Internet have made these attacks easily accessible to the general public and sensationalized. The attacks today are the same as they were then, just the wording has been changed and cleaned up a bit. 200 years ago only the rich and the literate who had access to news and political discourse. Today, we get them streaming to our phones, updated via our RSS Readers, and see them on TV every Saturday night. I can’t help but laugh when I hear pundits say that this Presidential Election has been the ‘dirtiest’ and ‘most vile’ election in history. I’m sorry, both Senator McCain and Senator Obama have to work really hard to top “prostitutes…will preside in the sanctuaries now devoted to the worship of the Most High.”

I hear cries for ‘Let’s talk about the issues!’, but a few days later they are either making an attack themselves or sharing a link to an attack. Questions like how home many houses John McCain has, or what Barack Obama’s true religious beliefs are don’t add anything to the conversation. These questions don’t point out their health care plans, or what their plans are to improve our education systems. These attacks just pollute the airways with information that ultimately clouds the issues.

It is no wonder that voter turn out is so low in our country. According to the Federal Election Commission, in the ‘04 election voter turn out was 55.3%. That means 122,355,082 people did not feel the need or the desire to get out and help decide who was going to be the next President. This is just my opinion, but I wouldn’t be surprised if traditional political discourse plays a huge factor in voter apathy. People can only take watching commercials that personally attack a candidate. It just gets to the point where someone tunes it all out, I am guilty of it and I am a political junkie.

There are aspects of both Presidential candidates that I disagree with, which is the main reason why I haven’t supported either candidate yet. The level of respect I have for these men though is not impacted by whatever disagreements I have with them. Senator Obama has accomplished so much in the past 5 years to further his career and help this country the best way he sees fit. Not to mention the fact that he is the first nominated Black Presidential candidate in history, which should give him a certain level of respect from everyone. Senator McCain has been a servant to this country for almost his entire life. In the Navy he sacrificed not only his personal health, but also his freedom in order to serve his country.  Since 1982 he has been a public servant for the state of Arizona . He has a long standing career in Washington where he has always done what he thought was best for the country, even if it was unpopular at the time. Both of these men deserve respect from everyone, and part of that respect is not trying to tarnish their name just to gain some points at the polls.

I understand that the political landscape is a huge money maker for the entertainment business and comedians. Politicians provide the greatest source of material, Tina Fey’s recent return to SNL is a perfect example. It is part of their job to point out peoples flaws and get us to laugh about it, if it wasn’t for them we would take this all way to seriously. However, many actors and comedians will use jokes and skits to mask their personal viewpoint in order to sway their viewers.

My solution to the problem is to ignore the attacks and the nasty ads, eventually they might get the message. I end this post with an ad from the Obama campaign that really impressed me, not because of the message but how it is delivered. It is clear, meaningful, and only talks about the underlying issue. I haven’t seen anything like this from the McCain camp, but if you have please share.

Thanks!

Here is my twitter notes from the 2nd Presidential Debate last night that was held at Belmont University. The style of the debate was of a ‘Townhall’, which is supposed to be one of McCain’s favored style.  Just two quick disclaimers, I am an undecided voter so I try to be fair to both candidates based on what they are saying, and I edited a few of my tweets for either typos or to clarify what I was trying to say.

Hello everyone, hope you enjoy my comments tonight, feel free to @bnunnally me at any time.

And they hit the stage. Interesting to see how it will turn out since this can be considered McCains field.

I wish they would do the coin flip live, I think that would be interesting.

Actually some say that we are still better off than where we were during the Carter Recession.

Already McCain is showing why is he is so good in Town Hall Meetings.

Bail out the peoples loans, not the corporations. Now that is a bailout I would be able to live with.

Looks like I need to start counting the number of time McCain says ‘My Friends’

Sweet lets talk about the people that they will bring with them, cause those are the people that do the real work.

Trust in both the government and the big businesses in this country are completely broken.

It was the last Democratic Administration that pushed Fannie and Freddie to give loans to people who couldn’t afford it.

McCain has a smirk, which means he already has his come back ready

Obama does have a point, the rules and laws we have in place don’t fit with the type of business that goes on today.

I want to know how pointing figures at Pres. Bush is supposed to tell us why we should trust you?

Atleast both of them can agree that DC is broken, now the question is which one should be the one to fix it?

They use way too many ‘loaded’ terms, wish they would just use plain english

Nope and we shouldn’t have retirement accounts that are tied to the stock market, times like these screw people trying to retire

Nice quoting JFK, but he has a point. US is always good at coming up with a way to get things working.

That is money not going to the government, not out of the system.

Nothing wrong with asking Americans to sacrifice, it worked in WW2 and look at all the great things that came of it.

McCain didn’t ask any of us to sacrifice something, which I kind of wish that he would.

They are hungry for direction, and for a leader to tell us what we can do to fix the problem, not fix the problem for us.

I tend to agree, the country as a whole over extended ourselves.

I would rather hear about environmental problems from scientists and not politicians.

Ohh nice dropping of the mic into your other hand, flashy

The internet was designed for that, not computers.

I would love to see either McCains or Obamas notepad show up on eBay one day.

Tell me about the taxes tied to the $5k credit that Obama mentions.

I wonder what would happen if they do debate where the questions comes from twitter?

Having the government tell me how to raise my child is something that really scares me.

You still voted for the war, and you were privy to the same knowledge as the president at the time.

Wait so we have moral obligations, so standing by and letting the genocide, torture, and rape in Iraq that was occurring wouldn’t have fallen into our moral obligations?

He just gave reasons why it was a good idea to go into Iraq, am I the only one that caught that?

No, the reason is because Pakistan is one of our ‘allies’. Still don’t understand how they are our ‘friends’

I am agreeing with Obama here, our relationship with Pakistan really needs to change.

McCain is doing a good job pointing out Obama’s lack of experience with dealing with foreign situation.

Tom is just hired help, that is just classic.

Nice come back Obama, seriously.

Is there such a thing as an acceptable dictator?

How can you have another Cold War with global warming? (See what I did there?)