Thoughts On The Debate: 2 Weeks, 5 Days To Go!

Last night was Obama's best performance, and McCain's worst. That's not to say it was a typical McCain debate. He went on an all-out offensive. But, the reason why all the snap polls broke, overwhelmingly, for Obama was this: Obama calmly, *clearly* refuted McCain's negative talking points.

On Bill Ayers, Obama made it clear what their relationship was, that he finds Ayers acts (when Obama was 8 years old) disgusting, and that Ayers is a college professor, well respected in the community, and he worked with him on a charity board to improve inner city education in Chicago. He also gave a simple "It's not true" about the lie that his campaign was launched in Ayers' living room. It's completely false.

On ACORN, Obama clearly articulated what happened to them (they are a victim), and showed that ACRON has nothing to do with the Obama campaign and they are not, despite right-wing faux outrage, an evil organization. (They, are in fact, VERY American.)

In addition, John McCain proved how poor a leader he would be. Given at least a WEEK of preparation time for the debate, he clearly made it a point to bring up "Joe the Plumber" and mentioned him about a dozen times all night. However, despite all this preparation, he failed to get his last name right, hesitating before calling him Jo Wurzelburger instead of calling him by his real name, Joe Wurzelbacher.

Good one.

There's also chatter this morning that ole' Joe is not some uncommitted voter, but in fact a registered Republican who voted in the Republican primaries. Also, his argument is pretty lame and somewhat planted. He argues that he cannot afford to buy the small business he wants because it would put him in a higher tax bracket.

First of all, when your tax bracket goes up, you only pay the higher tax rate on the income you go over into that bracket with. Under Obama's plan, those who make $250K and less will not see a tax increase and in fact most will see a significant tax break as part of the Obama plan to elevate the middle-class.

As a small business owner myself, I know that the money Joe would make OVER $250K would be subject to the higher bracket, but none of the money below it, which would be taxed at the same rate as before. So, let's assume Joe would make $300K a year if he buys the business. What is the increased tax rate? It would go from 36% to 39%. A mere 3% difference.

3% of $50K is $1,500. So, he would have to pay an additional $1,500 of the $300K he would make a year. OMG. This is the difference between buying and not buying the business?

The whole argument is stupid, and it will be known shortly now that it's been made an "issue."

...

In addition, check this out. The mailed is using an ACTUAL PICTURE of Osama bin Laden, air brushing it to give it Obama's face and removing some elements. Not so subliminal advertising and probably the most disgusting attack on Obama this season.

But, they'll still deny they are calling him a terrorist.

OBAMA '08