The post prior to my own got me thinking once again about the past two debates the American public has already bared witness to. Something that is remarkable to note is the amount of pre-game damage control that has been going on prior to the debates. Tonight’s debate, the first presidential debate, and last week’s single vice presidential debate have not been merely as exciting as the days and hours prior the actual debate.
Prior to the very first presidential debate Senator McCain pulled a memorable campaign stunt by suspending his campaign and requesting that the first debate Americans were anticipating be canceled due to the economic situation. This supposed “campaign suspension” is notably quite the unique way to campaign. Before the debates even started McCain in a sad attempt tried to postpone the very first one. Even though it is strictly speculation and a matter of personal opinion McCain’s plan seemed to simply be a ploy in order to buy time and save him from verbally going head to head with a much stronger communicator. McCain’s attempts to suspend the campaign failed and the show went on. McCain decently carried out his responses but refused to make eye contact with Senator Obama.
Moving on to major damage control is the attempts to make up for Governor Sarah Palin’s botched debate before it even occurred. Prior to the debates the media was littered with clips from her interview with Katie Couric which pushed her popularity into much decline with American voters. Aside from her interview the Tina Fey and Amy Pohler mock interview used Palin’s comments word for word and had audiences in stitches. A plan was needed to move the attention of Palin’s tendency to not know anything including the Constitution. So instead of focusing on the candidates the media occupied the public with the potential bias of the debate moderator Gwen Ifill. Ifill a creditable senior PBS correspondent came under scrutiny after the McCain camp claimed they had no idea that Ifill was to be releasing a book titled: Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama which features Senator Obama. Only one day before the debate was such a stir made about Ifill.
To be aware of Ifill’s book was no secretive unavailable information. Ifill even did an interview with Washington Post which disclosed the information about her book prior to the announcement of who would be moderating the debates. Of course it was simply implied that Ifill would have a bias towards Obama because of her book and the fact that she is black. The media frenzy could easily be seen as pre-cleanup for the disaster Hurricane Palin, for that week she was deeply scrutinized for her lack of common knowledge like what is exactly in the Constitution. The winner of the vice presidential debate . . . was Gwen Ifill who unfortunately fairly asked questions but was not answered by Palin.
The past two debates have had an issue exposed or emphasized pre-debate which caused a media frenzy. This debate has been no different. Since campaign suspension and a strategy to attack the moderator were both failed attempts, Palin has brought out the big guns and kicked up old dirt the American public has already had on Obama. The Saturday edition of the New York Times from October 4th printed an article about the infamous Bill Ayer who is known as America’s own terrorist who had involvement in a bombing of the Pentagon; the article covered the possible relationship between Ayers and Obama and what Obama has said to renounce the relationship. It can be recalled that this is not the first time the American people have heard about Obama’s association with Ayer. And no one will ever be capable of forget hearing about Obama’s reverend Jeremiah Wright or re-watching YouTube videos of his radical sermons. Even though this controversy over Obama is nothing new Palin is a new voice to hear it from and has been stirring the controversy pre-debate about Obama’s associations.
In a telephone interview with Palin by William Kristol of the New York Times published only two days ago, Palin wanted Obama’s relationship with Rev. Wright more emphasized and talked about (as if that has yet to happen). That is a bold thing for Palin to want emphasized since a video of her religious participation has surfaced and made her seem simply foolish. Palin can also be quoted saying that Obama “palled around” with terrorist and claims Obama sees America as “imperfect” and that he does not see the same America the rest of us envision. Palin over the past week has attempted to paint Obama as an outsider who is unlike the rest of us and who is far from patriotic.
Palin would like to help turn the debate towards a high tension smear fest. Palin’s recent comments are a little different from the tactics used prior to the last two debates. She is aiding in molding a debate which takes away from the real issues at hand and focuses on Obama’s character rather than his economic plans which the public appears to be taking more favor to. If McCain finds himself struggling to answer a question on policy Palin has introduced her tactic of avoiding the questions and focusing on irrelevant information. McCain has been given the opportunity to focus on Obama’s character rather than issues. It is a little less damage control than what occurred only days before the last two debates but it is still essentially a tactic to shape or move attention from the real issues.
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UCC Honors: Blogging the '08 Election 
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