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CANDIDATE SOUNDBITES
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Candidate Soundbites
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Full Transcript Download
- McCAIN: It's good to be with you at a town hall meeting.
On the Economy
- OBAMA: I believe this is the final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years,
strongly promoted by President (George) Bush and supported by Sen. McCain....(Those policies) essentially said
that we should strip away regulations and consumer protections and let the market run wild, and prosperity would
rain down on all of us. It hasn't worked out that way....You're not interested in politicians pointing fingers.
You're interested in the impact on you.
- McCAIN: I have a plan to fix this problem, and it's got to do with energy independence. We've got to stop
sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much. And we've got to keep taxes low and stop
the spending spree in Washington.
On Morgages
- McCAIN: I would order the secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in
America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes — at the diminished value of those homes and let people
be able to make those — be able to make those payments and stay in their homes. Is it expensive? Yes. But we all
know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating
jobs and fixing our economy. And we've got to give some trust and confidence back to America. I know how the do
that, my friends. And it's my proposal, it's not Sen. Obama's proposal, it's not President Bush's proposal.
But I know how to get America working again, restore our economy and take care of working Americans.
- OBAMA: This is not the end of the process; this is the beginning of the process. And that's why it's
going to be so important for us to work with homeowners to make sure that they can stay in their homes.
The secretary already has the power to do that in the rescue package, but it hasn't been exercised yet.
And the next president has to make sure that the next Treasury secretary is thinking about how to strengthen
you as a home buyer, you as a homeowner, and not simply think about bailing out banks on Wall Street.
- McCAIN: But you know, one of the real catalysts, really the match that lit this fire was Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. I'll bet you, you may never even have heard of them before this crisis. But you know, they're
the ones that, with the encouragement of Sen. Obama and his cronies and his friends in Washington, that went
out and made all these risky loans, gave them to people that could never afford to pay back.
And you know, there were some of us that stood up two years ago and said we've got to enact legislation to
fix this. We've got to stop this greed and excess.
- OBAMA: Now, I've got to correct a little bit of Sen. McCain's history, not surprisingly. Let's,
first of all, understand that the biggest problem in this whole process was the deregulation of the
financial system. Sen. McCain, as recently as March, bragged about the fact that he is a deregulator.
On the other hand, two years ago, I said that we've got a sub-prime lending crisis that has to be dealt with.
On the National Debt
- OBAMA: And so while it's true that nobody's completely innocent here, we have had, over the last eight years,
the biggest increases in deficit spending and national debt in our history. And Senator McCain voted for four
out of five of those George Bush budgets.
- McCAIN: I can see why you feel that cynicism and mistrust, because the system in
Washington is broken. And I have been a consistent reformer.
On Energy
- OBAMA: What Sen. McCain doesn't mention is he's been there 26 of them. And during that time, he voted
23 times against alternative fuels, 23 times. So it's easy to talk about this stuff during a campaign, but it's
important for us to understand that it requires a sustained effort from the next president.
- McCAIN: It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate, loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil
companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one.
You know who voted against it? Me.
On Taxes
- OBAMA: It means -- and I have to, again, repeat this. It means looking (ph) at the spending side,
but also at the revenue side. I mean, Sen. McCain has been talking tough about earmarks, and that's good,
but earmarks account for about $18 billion of our budget. Now, when Sen. McCain is proposing tax cuts that
would give the average Fortune 500 CEO an additional $700,000 in tax cuts, that's not sharing a burden.
And so part of the problem, I think, for a lot of people who are listening here tonight is they don't feel
as if they are sharing the burden with other folks.... That's using a hatchet to cut the federal budget while
I would use a scalpel
- McCAIN: Nailing down Senator Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jell-O to the wall...
I am not in favour of tax cuts for the wealthy. Let's create jobs and let's get our economy
going again and let's not raise taxes on anyone.
- OBAMA: But I think it's important to understand, we're not going to solve Social Security and Medicare
unless we understand the rest of our tax policies. And you know, Sen. McCain, I think the "Straight Talk Express"
lost a wheel on that one.
On Health Care
- McCAIN: He starts saying, government will do this and government will do that, and then government will,
and he'll impose mandates. If you're a small business person and you don't insure your employees, Sen. Obama
will fine you. Will fine you. That's remarkable. If you're a parent and you're struggling to get health
insurance for your children, Sen. Obama will fine you. I want to give every American a $5,000 refundable
tax credit. They can take it anywhere, across state lines. Why not? Don't we go across state lines when we
purchase other things in America?
- OBAMA: If you've got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it. All I'm going to do is help you to
lower the premiums on it. You'll still have choice of doctor. There's no mandate involved. Small businesses
are not going to have a mandate. What we're going to give you is a 50 percent tax credit to help provide
health care for those that you need. Now, it's true that I say that you are going to have to make sure that
your child has health care. ... The reason that it's a problem to go shopping state by state, you know what
insurance companies will do? They will find a state — maybe Arizona, maybe another state — where there are
no requirements for you to get cancer screenings, where there are no requirements for you to have to get
pre-existing conditions, and they will all set up shop there.
On Iraq
- McCAIN: Sen. Obama was wrong about Iraq and the surge. He was wrong about Russia when they committed
aggression against Georgia. And in his short career, he does not understand our national security challenges.
We don't have time for on-the-job training, my friends...
My judgment is something that I think I have a record to stand on....
There was a lot at stake there, my friends. And I can tell you right now that Sen. Obama would have brought our
troops home in defeat. I'll bring them home with victory and with honor and that is a fundamental difference.
- OBAMA: It's true. There are some things I don't understand. I don't understand how we ended up
invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are setting up base
camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us... When Sen. McCain was cheerleading the president to go
into Iraq, he suggested it was going to be quick and easy, we'd be greeted as liberators. That was the wrong
judgment, and it's been costly to us.
On Pakistan
- McCAIN: Teddy Roosevelt used to say walk softly, talk softly, but carry a big stick. Senator Obama likes to talk
loudly. In fact, he said he wants to announce that he's going to attack Pakistan. Remarkable....
Not true. Not true. I have, obviously, supported those efforts that the
United States had to go in militarily and I have opposed that I didn't think so. I understand what it's like
to send young American's in harm's way. I say — I was joking with a veteran — I hate to even go into this.
I was joking with an old veteran friend, who joked with me, about Iran. But the point is that I know how to
handle these crises. And Sen. Obama, by saying that he would attack Pakistan, look at the context of his words.
I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him.
- OBAMA: Now, Sen. McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I'm green behind the ears and I'm just spouting off,
and he's somber and responsible.... Sen. McCain, this is the guy who sang, 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,' who
called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don't think is an example of speaking softly. This is
the person who, after we had — we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, 'Next up, Baghdad.'
So I agree that we have to speak responsibly and we have to act responsibly. And the reason Pakistan —
the popular opinion of America had diminished in Pakistan was because we were supporting a dictator,
(former President Pervez) Musharraf, had given him $10 billion over seven years, and he had suspended
civil liberties. We were not promoting democracy. This is the kind of policies that ultimately end up
undermining our ability to fight the war on terrorism, and it will change when I'm president.
On Russia
- McCAIN: We're not going to have another Cold War with Russia. ... We have to make the Russians understand
that there are penalties for these, this kind of behavior, this kind of naked aggression into Georgia,
a tiny country and a tiny democracy. And so, of course we want to bring international pressures to bear on
Russia in hopes that that will modify and eventually change their behavior. Now, the G-8 is one of those, but
there are many others. But the Russians must understand that these kinds of actions and activities are not
acceptable and hopefully we will use the leverage, economic, diplomatic and others united with our allies,
with our allies and friends in Europe who are equally disturbed as we are about their recent behaviors.
- OBAMA: The resurgence of Russia is one of the central issues that we're going to have to deal with
in the next presidency. And for the most part I agree with Sen. McCain on many of the steps that have to be taken.
But we can't just provide moral support. We've got to provide moral support to the Poles and Estonia and Latvia
and all of the nations that were former Soviet satellites. But we've also got to provide them with financial and
concrete assistance to help rebuild their economies. Georgia in particular is now on the brink of enormous economic
challenges. And some say that that's what (Russian Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin intended in the first place.
The other thing we have to do, though, is we've got to see around the corners. We've got to anticipate some of
these problems ahead of time.
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HISTORIANS' COMMENTS
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Historians' Comments
- Gil Troy "McCain-Obama Take 2: Six Million Questions but Neither Has Good Answers:"
We all knew what would happen. This second debate between Barack Obama and John McCain was going to be
a slugfest. Journalists, who seem to forget that their job is to report what actually happened not predict
what might occur, had been warning about it for days – although cautioning with the kind of glee that
suggested they were as hopeful as appalled.
The overwrought warnings of mudslinging made the actual event appear all the more subdued. Unwilling to ignore
the undecided voters’ earnest questions as the stock market imploded, both Obama and McCain answered the
questions carefully, soberly, respectfully. Most of the tension centered around the moderator Tom Brokaw's
timekeeping frustrations, as he repeatedly chided the candidates about keeping to their agreement. Brokaw
seemed to forget that a moderator’s job is to go with the flow, that the American people tuned in to hear the
presidential rivals not monitor their ability to follow some artificial rules which, Brokaw repeatedly reminded
the candidates, they had "signed off on."...
The scariest thing about hearing both candidates sling clichés about the financial crisis is to realize how
clueless they are – and will remain on January 20. If two smart, talented politicians, with such a clear
incentive to give a thoughtful, reassuring analysis and plan can sound so lost, it is hard to know just
who will magically appear on the scene to navigate the crisis. --
HNN, 10-8-08
- Alan Brinkley "Obama Finally Flashes Some Charm":
I really don't like "town hall meeting" debates. First, they are (in this context) populist gimmicks to
test a skill that has nothing to do with being president. Second, this was not a town hall meeting at all, but
a scripted event with bad questions that the candidates had no choice but to evade.
Having said that, I was surprised at how awkward and inarticulate McCain often was in a format that he claims
to especially like and that he tried to induce Obama to join frequently over the summer. McCain was not
embarrassing, and he had some good moments--as well as an interesting, but probably unworkable, proposal
to have the Treasury buy up bad mortgages. But his body language and demeanor were mostly terrible, while
Obama seemed fluid, comfortable, and--something that has not always been the case--charming.
The substance of the debate had no surprises and didn't vary much from the first debate. Given that all the
polls, and the subsequent momentum, gave Obama the edge after the first debate, it's pretty surprising that
McCain said almost nothing that he hadn't said earlier. Obama had no big new ideas either, but he's not the one
who has to turn the campaign around.
I think the big advantage Obama has coming out of the debate is that he was more likable than he usually is--
and that will make it much more difficult for the attack ads and the Palin barbs to turn things around.
I saw nothing tonight that seems likely to change the current trajectory of the campaign. And that, of
course, is good news for Obama. -
TNR, 10-8-08
- Michael Beschloss Discussing the Candidates:
Obama has made a parallel himself that, like [Abraham] Lincoln, he only has a few years in public life, but
he [Lincoln] made a great impact. ... If Obama is elected with a large Democratic Congress, it could be one
of those years when you have a president during a crisis, such as our financial crisis, with both houses of
Congress in his party, and he can change things in a big way. It doesn't work that way very often, but he could
end up like [Franklin D. Roosevelt].
We tend to not give the White House to the same party for three terms in a row. The only time it's happened
in modern times was with [George H.W.] Bush after [Ronald] Reagan. If McCain wins, it could mean he has a
lot of political dexterity. And to distinguish oneself from an unpopular president is difficult. Just look
at Adlai Stevenson, who tried to distance himself from [Harry] Truman, or Hubert Humphrey, who tried to distance
himself from Lyndon Johnson, who was very unpopular at the time because of the Vietnam War. -
Florida Times-Union
- Stephen Hess on "McCain works to drive voters from Obama":
But while "character assassination is as American as apple pie and George Washington," according to
presidential historian Stephen Hess, "McCain's problem is he lacks real ammunition." -
AFP, 10-7-08
- Schuyler VanValkenburg on "Democratic Libel"
The Internet and modern technology have allowed vitriol to amplify and multiply but they also have allowed us
to return to this more participatory, grassroots democracy. -
Style Weekly, 10-8-08
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