| MorningSpin | Friday, October 06, 2000 - 12:57 am
Morning Spin Detailed Opinion on the VP Debate - Cheney wins. (scale of 1-to-5, with 5 being great)
Issue 1: Education
Cheney - 4 - accountability is the key
Lieberman - 4 - "There is more to be done"
Note: Gore/Lieberman keep talking about the $10,000 college tuition deduction, but this isn't that much of an increase over what is currently available. Further, it doesn't do mose Americans much good since they either don't have kids in college or aren't elibigle anyway.
Another Note: Lieberman mentioned "they've spent so much on a tax cut". If I take $10 from you and give $3 back, would you say that "I SPENT $3"?
Issue 2: Women earning 3/4 men's wages
Lieberman - 3
Cheney - 3
Issue 3: RU486
Cheney - 4 - pro-life/reduce abortions/parental notification/ban partial birth abortions
Lieberman - 5 - similar to Cheney, but said it better
Issue 4: Milosovich
Lieberman - 4 - encourage the people (didn't we try that with Saddam?)
Cheney - 5 - gave credit to the people for what they are doing/boasted about Russian involvement (see notes from 1st Presidential debate)
Issue 5: Decrease in US Military Readiness
Cheney - 5 - military to fight and win wars
Lieberman - 5 - military IS ready (define IS)
Issue 6: Middle East Peace Process
Lieberman - 3
Cheney - 3 - Gave credit to Rabin and Barak - skipped Netanyahu though
Issue 7: Saddam and weapons of mass destruction
Cheney - 4 - UN inspectors are out and no response
Lieberman - 3 - More to do
Issue 8: Oil & Gas prices increasing
Lieberman - 4 - alternatives
Cheney - 4 - administration has talked, but not performed
Issue 9: Location of oil exploration - not in my backyard
Cheney - 4 - set aside areas of Wyoming as protected
Lieberman - 4 - Alaska won't provide much & will take long for any payoff
Issue 10: Social Security
Lieberman - 4 - lockbox
Cheney - 5 - system needs reform (anyone out there not say the same thing?)
Issue 11: Partisanship - how to improve
Cheney - 5 - Saw Bush to a fantastic job in Texas to unite sides - stated with conviction.
Lieberman - 4 - "it puzzles me" - after 20+ years, you should have it figured out by now
Issue 12: Assume being Black for the question on Racial profiling
Lieberman - 3 - I'm so angry I could almost frown
Cheney - 4 - statement that he can't really know how it would feel no matter how hard he tried to imagine that he was Black and in this situation.
Issue 13: ALL rights for homosexual partners
Lieberman - 3 - doesn't say no, excludes marriage, but might bend
Cheney - 3 - states should regulate
Issue 14: What will you do that your opponent wouldn't?
Cheney - 4 - Has run White House and private business
Lieberman - 3 - A lifetime of experience/tremendous respect for Gore (I should cut more points for that)
Issue 15: Hypocritical shift of stances by Lieberman?
Cheney - 4 - likes the old Joe better than the new
Lieberman - 3 - I'm the religious one here/ apologize for the joke at the fundraiser (finally)/ agrees with Gore on almost everything
Closing Statement
Lieberman - 3 - oops, almost fell asleep
Cheney - 5 - nice summary of issues & objectives |
| MorningSpin | Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - 10:14 pm
Morning Spin Detailed Opinion on the 1st Debate - Gore wins slightly. (scale of 1-to-5, with 5 being great)
Issue 1: Qualified for Office
Gore - 4 - hit hard with numbers
Bush - 3 - didn't reply
Issue 2: Ended up being about Medicare
Bush - 4 - "invented calculator" good line
Gore - 3 - Gore's last statements lacked any eligance
Issue 3: Preventing future oil supply problems
Gore - 3 - will create millions of jobs, come on!
Bush - 3 - I liked his last statement about drilling in Alaska in an environmentally friendly way
Issue 4: RU486
Bush - 4 - less abortion, but not ban the abortion drug
Gore - 4 - supports the abortion drug/gave some unrebutted mis-facts
Issue 5: Supreme court appointments
Bush - 5 - bench isn't to write social policy
Gore - 5 - scare tactics do work
Issue 6: Milosovich not leaving Yugoslavia
Gore - 4 - clearly had facts down better
Bush - 3 - ask Russians to come in? probably doesn't sit well with most Americans
Issue 7: When to use force?
Gore - 3 - yawn
Bush - 3 - another yawn
Issue 8: Fed gov't
Gore - 4 - volunteered to Army/servied in Vietnam
Bush - 4 - too much polling & focus groups currently in DC
Issue 9: Education
Bush - 4 - expect results if you get the money
Gore - 3 - said Bush for vouchers - good!
Issue 10: Dealing with unexpected
Gore - 2 - is his story even real?
Bush - 3 - remember, this is a race for President, not Gov.
Issue 11: Gov't intervention with banking/market failures
Bush - 3
Gore - 3 - tried to take FEMA from Bush in previous issue
Issue 12: Social Security in the future
Gore - 3
Bush - 4 - letting people feel like they have a stake in their savings is a big issue
Issue 13: Character
Bush - 4 - Should have hit harder about Gore's fund raising problems followed by vows to fix these problems
Gore - 3 - hard to defend himself/acted way to arrogant
Closing Statements
Yawn all the way around.
Overall, Gore got in a number of shots to Bush that Bush did not adequately defend. Bush did not do the same. When Bush tried, his timing or delivery was off and he lost much of the impact.
Any voters going to change their minds as a result? Probably not.
Let's wait for the VP candidates to really sound silly.
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