C-SPAN's Coverage of Tonight's Debate

[Jacob4Jesus]

History shows that Hatred for a Candidate does not cause his opponent to win. The Opponent has to give people a Reason to vote FOR them, rather than simply against their opponent.

History is clear on this, and it will be clear on November 2nd.

Please explain how history shows this. I am very curious.

 

[Doctrine1st]

History shows that Hatred for a Candidate does not cause his opponent to win. The Opponent has to give people a Reason to vote FOR them, rather than simply against their opponent.

History is clear on this, and it will be clear on November 2nd.

Er....many voted for Bush because they hated Clinton, and he wasn't even running.

I was listening to the CSPAN call-ins and some Bush supporters were still mentioning their distain for Clinton. What year is this?

 

[KenH]

If there is one thing that really characterises this election is the real hatred for one of the candidates (Bush) which is something we haven't seen for a long time in a presidential election.

Oh I can find you just as much hatred for John Kerry around the Internet as for President Bush.

Also, there was extreme hatred in some circles for Bill Clinton and Al Gore. U.S. politics has operated a great deal for 228 years on hatred and voting against a candidate rather than for another candidate.

If I was going to restrict myself to voting for only a major party candidate I would vote against John Kerry, not for George Bush.

 

[MKalashnikov]

Anyone who thinks that giving Iran Nuclear Fuel is a wise idea, is insane.

This approach failed miserably with North Korea, and would be even a bigger disaster if tried with Iran.

Watch tommorow and see what the Talk Shows pick up on. Remember, you've seen it here first.

 

[FromTheAshes]

I watched clean, uncommented debates on CSPANS split-screen, and I have to say Bush wasn't smirking. At all. Neither was Kerry. I noted Kerry was taking copious notes, and hitting Bush hard, on new issues. Meanwhile Bush was pounding home the flip-flop thing, which we have all seen for a while now, and come to a conclusion on. Kerry really pounded some points home, laid out a strategy for Iraq, and damaged Bush. Bush came across as criticizing his opponent's strategy, not defending or showing off his record. I think that Kerry won a pretty clear victory here.

 

[Jewles]

Actually, the MSNBC poll says Kerry won this 81% Kerry, Bush 16%

I cant find the fox poll, but im still looking.

Apparently FOX News isnt brave enough to have a poll. Oh Well.

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

Oh I can find you just as much hatred for John Kerry around the Internet as for President Bush.

Good Point... I 100% agree and have seen the same thing (this coming from someone who is voting for Kerry).

 

[MKalashnikov]

Please explain how history shows this. I am very curious.

Reagan was one of the Most Hated Presidents of all time by the Leftists, He won in Landslides both times.

Nixon was Hated with an undying Passion by the Left in 1972, that worked out real good for McGovern didn't it?

This principle has worked in reverse too.

Dole didn't give Conservatives a Reason to vote for him in 1996 and he lost.

Candidates for office have to give people a reason to vote for them rather than simply against their opponent.

 

[ApostateAbe]

i'm leaning more towards actually voting for kerry instead of third party if that answers your question.

as for him hurting his base by saying he wouldn't pull out of iraq- i think everyone knows we cant just pull out of iraq. i am as opposed to this war as many are- but we are there and cant just leave them. we've made that mistake othertimes. you cant destroy a nation and leave it that way. i dont think that was gonna hurt him that much. he's made that point obvious before so any of his base already knew that anyway.

BigToe, I was about to vote for a third party until I read this:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

That article recounts how Senator Kerry led the charge against the BCCI and trounced high-level government corruption. The Kerry campaign doesn't talk about it--probably because Kerry fought against members of his own party in the affair, whom he now needs for support.

 

[BigToe]

about the comment on kerry having more practice debating- thats a moot point. bush cannot answer questions live without being given copies of the questions beforehand to study. he isn't comfortable not knowing the questions beforehand. its why there won't be a true debate this year.

 

[KenH]

Apparently FOX News isnt brave enough to have a poll. Oh Well.

Does FoxNews.com generally have Internet polls? I don't go there very often. I usually go to CNN.com

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

Reagan was one of the Most Hated Presidents of all time by the Leftists, He won in Landslides both times.

Carter may be the most hated president ever, and by your logic since Reagan was too, this shows that a candidate really doesn't have to offer much. I have seen the Reagan/Carter debates, and Carter actually had a lot more good answers than Reagan. In fact, after Labor Day, Carter was leading Reagan in the polls. And Reagan came behind to win... something that has only happened twice in American history.

 

[Doctrine1st]

Reagan was one of the Most Hated Presidents of all time by the Leftists, He won in Landslides both times.

Nixon was Hated with an undying Passion by the Left in 1972, that worked out real good for McGovern didn't it?

This principle has worked in reverse too.

Dole didn't give Conservatives a Reason to vote for him in 1996 and he lost.

Candidates for office have to give people a reason to vote for them rather than simply against their opponent.

So where did the term "Reagan Democrats" come from. You really need to think about what you are saying.

 

[BigToe]

fox has polls about everything whenever i go there. its crazy.

haha Abe- then what is it bush was saying about kerry not having core convictions? seems if he fought against high powers in his own party that he was pretty convicted about that...

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

So where did the term "Reagan Democrats" come from. You really need to think about what you are saying.

True, for some reason a lot of democrats supported Reagan. Heck, I didn't even mind the guy so much compared to his opposition.

 

[Amalthea]

Reagan was one of the Most Hated Presidents of all time by the Leftists, He won in Landslides both times.

Nixon was Hated with an undying Passion by the Left in 1972, that worked out real good for McGovern didn't it?

This principle has worked in reverse too.

Dole didn't give Conservatives a Reason to vote for him in 1996 and he lost.

Candidates for office have to give people a reason to vote for them rather than simply against their opponent.

I'm guessing you are a little young to remember. Reagan was only hated by the extreme left and people outside the US, especially in Europe. There was no concerted groundswell on the Democratic side of hatred. Even Nixon I don't think was hated like Bush. He was by 1974 but not in 1972.

Though I do agree with you that hatred isn't going to get the other guy elected typically in a centrist democracy.

 

[Amalthea]

Does FoxNews.com generally have Internet polls? I don't go there very often. I usually go to CNN.com

They used too a lot. I am puzzled why they don't.

 

[MKalashnikov]

So where did the term "Reagan Democrats" come from. You really need to think about what you are saying.

Not all Democrats in the 1980s were leftists. There were more than a Few Democrats who were Conservative. (Most of them from the South) Many of the Reagan Democrats didn't go back to being Democrats after Reagan.

The fact remains that the hardcore leftists hated Reagan with a passion. Same thing with Nixon.

Conservatives hated Clinton with a Passion too, but that didn't let Bob Dole win.

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

I'm guessing you are a little young to remember. Reagan was only hated by the extreme left and people outside the US, especially in Europe. There was no concerted groundswell on the Democratic side of hatred. Even Nixon I don't think was hated like Bush. He was by 1974 but not in 1972.

Though I do agree with you that hatred isn't going to get the other guy elected typically in a centrist democracy.

Just for the record, DittoMonkey... I do agree with you that hatred is not enough. I was really just curious what historical examples you had.

 

[Amalthea]

dittomonkey, hardcore leftists in the States are a very small minority. Just as a matter of interest how old are you? From your posts I would say late 20's as a guess.