CBSNews.com: Things are getting interesting...

by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu


Palin Protestors?
At a Richmond, Virginia rally, a confused Sarah Palin mistakenly scolded her own supporters. Apparently it was hard to hear the Alaska governor speak at the outdoor event, so some of her fans shouted in unison, “We can’t hear you!” When that didn’t elicit a response, they came up with a new chant: “Louder!”

Palin then proceeded to stop reading the teleprompter cues, and directed these comments at what she thought were protestors,

“I would hope at least that these protestors have the courage and the honor of thanking our veterans for giving them the right to protest.”

The crowd was startled, and Palin’s husband Todd tried to stop confusion by telling his wife that they can’t hear her. Palin’s response? “OK. I’m doing that.” Then she continued with the rest of her speech. Who knew that fans could make things so confusing?

Race Matters


Another link of interest this week was the article "Time to Move Beyond the Bradley Effect?” It focused on race, although most Americans claimed that we have moved beyond race as a country…really?

There’s been some hush-hush (and not so hush-hush) discussion about race in this election particularly because Presidential candidate Barack Obama is half African-American. A recent CBS News Poll asked registered viewers if they knew anyone who supports Barack Obama because he is black? and also if they knew anyone who did not support him mainly because he is black? Apparently, 24 percent say that they know someone who supports Obama because of his race, and 22 percent say they know someone who will not be voting for Obama again because of his race.

The poll then compared the mostly white McCain voters, and 19 percent know someone voting against Obama because of race, while 32 percent know someone voting for him for that same reason.

Obviously, regardless of what some may say, race does has an impact on how Americans are voting. But only time will tell if, or how much, race will affect who will be running our country for the next four years.

More Presidential Questions

To me, this section is one of the most interesting because CBS News anchor Katie Couric is really able to get inside the candidates’ minds and find out what they’re thinking on “non-traditional” issues topics. This week, Couric asked both candidates to describe a situation they think it’s appropriate to lie to the American people.

Obama answered that he does not think it is appropriate to lie to the American people. He said instead of lying, one can simply say, “we’re not answering questions.” He talked about this being one of the things he wants to change about the culture of Washington, referring to the fudging and manipulation as the “soft lie.”

McCain answered that he “can’t imagine it” because as a president one must maintain his credibility. Couric prompted him to answer the question more thoroughly in a national security situation. McCain answered that if you deceive the American people and then want their support, they become disillusioned. Basically, his answer started to go all over the place and I couldn’t really tell what he was trying to say, and I’m not sure that he knew what he was trying to say himself. As he put it, “I’m thinking out loud here.” You can watch for yourself and decipher the candidates’ messages in the videos below.


Watch CBS Videos Online