just highlighting Obama’s speech at the Victory Tower, she’d touch on everything that is wrong with the modern liberal’s world-view. Let Obama defend his own words to an American audience. I don’t think he’s up to such a daunting task.

Nope. Don’t see a down-side to a Palin/Obama debate…

Unless you’re Obama.

The problem with sending Palin up to debate is it reinforces the liberal myth of, “McCain is too old and not up to the job, he may die in office, and inexperienced Palin will be in the President.”

Palin’s main role is that of shoring up the base, which she has done a bang-up job. Palin doesn’t have the appeal to independents, moderates, and Democrats that McCain does (even though I like her better)

Competence is a good vote getter for a lot of voters, and McCain reeks of it. I like Palin, but if she were at the top of the ticket, and I had no political leanings, I would be inclined to think she’s too green for the White House. I also think Obama is too inexperienced to be President, the difference is, he’s at the top of the ticket.

You’re also taking away McCain’s strongest attribute, foreign policy, and handing off that debate to Palin, who, quite frankly, has zero foreign policy experience.

That is a TERRIFIC IDEA!

One of the weapons that liberals are trying to use against John McCain is that his VP isn’t ready to be president. Well, what happens if the VP steps in for the would-be president in an important campaign event while he’s “putting country first” and working on financial legislation?

I am very confident that Palin would do a great job and definitely go toe-to-toe with Obama. And every time Obama made a dig at McCain in his absence, Palin could retort with effect (at least a few times) that McCain was “putting country first” to work on important legislation and that she was only there debating Barry because Obama was putting his campaign first.

I think that McCain’s campaign suspension could be very smart and sending Palin would make it absolutely brilliant.

“McCain sends Palin to the debate.”

That is not how it works, this is not an 18th century duel. There is a Presidential Debate Commission. There is the “University of Mississippi” that is organizing it and “Jim Lehrer” moderating it. All these people have to be and will be notified if either side wants a change, especially if they are changing the person appearing in the debate. There will be calls from McCain team to Obama team to negotiate the change, a lot of preparatory work needs to done including the questions prepared by the moderator.

Heck, they’ll even have to adjust the partially hidden small platforms behind the lecterns; the platforms designed to make the debaters seem to be of equal height.

Nobody can silently change the participant without other side knowing it till the last minute. I’m also willing to bet the presidential candidates will debate each other and the vice-presidential candidates will debate each other. If McCain tries to send Palin in his place, he’ll lose all respect of the country; as it is, the SUSA poll shows his call to postpone the debate is supported by only 10% of the country. And the call to reschedule the debate to Oct 2 immediately raises of the suspicion that Palin is not ready for her debate on Oct 2; he should never have picked the new date to be Oct 2.

This is a disaster; the late night comics will have a field day with this. McCain’s getting bad advice.

A good article, but I think you are missing a 3rd move for Obama. Obama would be completely justified to send Biden instead of himself, and turn it into the VP debate. Not sure how that would play, but it seems neutral. I also think that this is far more likely than Obama not showing up.

Barack’s! That’s what VP’s do. And should Obama wish to expel death knell’s beforehand (complete with inside the casket bells ala The Great Train Robbery then so be it). Let there be no doubt that an outside the beltway Reaganite can read (see understand the great issues regularly obfuscated in DC aka Experience) and better The One whose qualification is that he has spoken to Tom Brokaws outside Mississippi for 18 months.

Let Palin be Palin.

McCain should go to this debate and wipe Obama out. He’s a much better debate than O, and there’s no reason to “risk” Palin, who is just coming up to speed on these issues.

Destroying Obama on Friday will demonstrate that McCain can walk and chew gum at the same time. It will also make the point that Obama is not needed in DC to solve anything, and on top of that is a lousy debater.

Her charisma matches or is superior to Obama’s. There is a very real sense in which she is a female Ronald Reagan:

1) She is charismatic.
2) She is optimistic.
3) She is PROUD of her country and all the GOOD things it has done. She’s even prouder of its potential to do still greater things.
4) She isn’t afraid of a good verbal brawl.
5) She connects with middle America on an instinctive level.

As for the debate itself, she’s already proven she’s smart and can handle herself. And let’s face it, most high school debaters could run rings around Obama on foreign policy issues. Well, at least they could in my little high school of less than 2000 students.

You’re talking about dropping Palin into a widely watched debate on issues she has little experience with and has no time to properly prepare for.

You’re handing the Obama campaign a wonderful opportunity to destroy Palin. Their biggest problem is to avoid looking mean when they do it.

They have a choice of sending either Obama or Biden out to do the deed depending on how they want to play it.

This is the kind of move which always works in Hollywood movies and usually fails in real life.

… you should view the full version of the Couric-Palin interview that aired on CBS tonight.

Couric-Palin Interivew (full version)

I think it’s not helping.

Better if we just stick to what McCain has said.

We can stop politicking for a while and work for the solution of the Financial crisis mess.

Sarah can help by going to the adversely affected groups and soliciting their opinions, their immediate needs, and find a better way of representing these small people to the overall solution being cooked by the Washington.

Not for anything, but McCain and Obama are running for the Presidency, which, by most accounts, is a pretty important job. Three debates aren’t enough, and whittling it down to two heads up appearances would not be a good idea. What’s more is that the foreign policy debate is McCain’s last opportunity to show the nation just how unqualified Obama is to be President. If it weren’t for a reasonable fear that Obama would have no idea what he’s doing when it comes to dealing with foreign heads of state and the war on terror, this election would be over already. McCain’s best move is to participate in the debate as scheduled.

Now, failing that, he does have another very appealing option. He can give Obama the entire time to himself to discuss foreign policy. I’m not sure of what would happen to the format, but if it gave Obama more time and forced him into more detail, there could be days of press about all of his misstatements. He can show better than anyone just how ill prepared he is to become Commander in Chief.

“Obama hasn’t proposed anything.”

Here’s what Obama proposes for the bailout released today in a joint statement with McCain. He also outlined these principles in a statement released on Sept. 21st.

I believe that several core principles should guide this legislation.

First, there must be oversight. We should not hand over a blank check to the discretion of one man. We support an independent, bipartisan board to ensure accountability and complete transparency.

Second, we need to protect taxpayers. There should be a path for taxpayers to recover their money, and to turn a profit if Wall Street prospers.

Third, no Wall Street executive should profit from taxpayer dollars. This plan cannot be a welfare program for CEOs whose greed and irresponsibility has contributed to this crisis.

Fourth, we must help families who are struggling to stay in their homes. We cannot bail out Wall Street without helping millions of families facing foreclosure on Main Street.

Fifth, we both agree that this financial rescue package should move on its own without any earmarks or other measures. We have different views about the need for other action, but this must be a clean bill.

This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country. We cannot risk an economic catastrophe. This is not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem – this is an American problem. Now, we must find an American solution.

The obvious lies are getting old and not winning over any independents like me.

If calling someone out on a boldface lie is not being “respectful” then ban me.