This Saturday, Obama and McCain held their first head to head in a very non-partisan, non-biased format at the Saddleback Megachurch in Orange County California. Though the venue was evangelical, the audience was screened to be 50% Obama supporters and 50% McCain supporters(McCain's representation is currently 71% amongst evangelicals). Although some questions were faith based, generally the questions were very fair and unloaded. Perhaps the only semi-loaded question that would play one way or another with the audience was the abortion question which was asked as follows:

"At what point does an embryo become a baby deserving of human rights"

The questions were asked first of Obama and then of McCain, without the opposition on stage. No biased news agencies, no changed demeanor in the questions, no crossfire accusations and incivility. All told, a GREAT way to get real insight into comparing and contrasting your candidates.

Personally, I walked away from the viewing unchanged in my opinion about either candidate. Neither revealed some new stance on the issues (Obama still pro-choice, McCain still pro-life, etc). The only real striking difference was in how they answered the questions, with McCain providing clear crisp answers a Military man might provide, and Obama providing long inconclusive answers with lots of riders a Lawyer might provide. Im sure there are 1000 ways to spin the difference in the answer style so I wont go there.

The comedy comes from either the News outlets, or the Obama camp, depending on who you believe. It turns out the majority of viewers felt McCain out performed Obama in his crisp clear answers, so the media/Obama campaign went on the attack, first alleging that McCain had access to a Monitor and had a chance to view Obamas answers prior to his turn. Then, they accused McCain of hearing some of Obamas answers from his motorcade as he arrived 10 minutes late. Naturally, NBC and CNN were the first to give airtime to those groundless accusations. I guess I just find it humorous that the "Old and Crusty" McCain has a better night in the first public debate of the general election cycle than the "Gifted Orator" Obama. I find it humorous that the Obama and Media outlets have such ego about Obamas gift that they just cant acknowledge a defeat without hurling accusations of cheating. What type of whining are we going to have to listen to if Obama looses another debate, or god forbid the election on the whole? I guess nothing could suprise me from the media outlet that produced a "Gay General" to ask questions at a Republican debate. Comedy at its finest.

Boy am I glad I'm not american... saves me a bit of drama.

very non-partisan, non-biased format at the Saddleback Megachurch in Orange County California.

Bahahaha, that IS funny. BTW, how can something be "very" non-partisan?

with McCain providing clear crisp answers a Military man might provide, and Obama providing long inconclusive answers with lots of riders a Lawyer might provide

Translation: McCain provides simplistic, easy, black and white answers while Obama explorers a topic and intelligently responds to all of its implications.

Blah blah blah,terrorism, blahblahblah blah, 911, bla blorb blorb blorb, Patiorism , Blippity Bloo blah, Flag. Blah Blorb Blorb, War,Oil, Casualties,Blah, Necessary

Did anyone else notice that Obama called the pastor of Saddleback, Jeremiah Wright, like three times.

Just wondering how Rick Warren felt about that.

You guys over there sure seem to have a lot more fun than we do in our elections.

Originally Posted by aldor

You guys over there sure seem to have a lot more fun than we do in our elections.

actually, most of the time, its not really fun... people are rather interested in knowing who would be the better guy and day to day, the favor for a nominee changes depending on their behaviors

Such a headache...

Originally Posted by highanddry

Translation: McCain provides simplistic, easy, black and white answers while Obama explorers a topic and intelligently responds to all of its implications.

Blah blah blah,terrorism, blahblahblah blah, 911, bla blorb blorb blorb, Patiorism , Blippity Bloo blah, Flag. Blah Blorb Blorb, War,Oil, Casualties,Blah, Necessary

Haha, you've made my point. Outside of the answers themselves, which pretty much went down party lines (nobody could accuse Obama and McCain of having the same position on almost any issue), the single most noticable difference between the two candidates in this forum was the way in which they answered questions. As I pointed out earlier, that style could be spun any number of ways.

If, as you say, Obama was well thought out vs McCain who was glib and a non-thinker, why did the Obama camp go to all the trouble of accusing the McCain camp of somehow cheating by listening in on Obama's answers? It was a tactical error, in my opinion, because it weakened the spin they/you would put on the difference in styles. It screams, "He did better because he cheated", which is an acknowledgement that he did better by the Obama camp. Of course they probably decided to make the accusations after they took a spot poll and discovered most viewers found Obama's answers to be more "weaselish" than "well thought out".

I think the one that will live to haunt him all the way to November(and maybe beyond) was his answer to when life begins. "I think that is above my pay grade" is not an answer people(Dem or Rep) want to hear from the man who would be their president to pretty much any question on which they will be deciding policy.