McKinney and Nader answer debate questions on Democracy Now!

Thank you again Jan for taking the time to point all of this out! I also find it astonishing how much money they spend on the spin.... and how many people support it - even if they verbally deny these things you bring up, they support it by their actions. What is that disconnection? There is so much information available to show and demonstrate what you are speaking of. For people who find it a mind bender to think the politicians/corporations don't have "our" best interests at heart - I suggest viewing "Century of the Self" as a bridge to open the mind to see how easy it is to manipulate "the masses" - well, after all, its a BBC documentary and easier for people to accept because thats who produced it.... the list of material goes on from there once that door to the mind is at least unlocked to the possibilities.
I watched Zeitgeist Addendum last night - another excellent piece of work that is very appropriate to watch before the elections.

And www.freedocumentaries.org has a large library of well made documentaries to help people connect the dots.

SeaJade:

And notice not one who supports one of the two other moneyed candidates even attempted to listen to this debate to discuss what they answered. Nader claimed that he is for Medicare for all Americans as physicians have endorsed and more than half the population wants. I have seen people here, one specifically claiming that is what they want and posting for people to support a bill on it (that Obama would more than likely not support and has never mentioned) yet she will vote for Obama who at the last debate looked absolutely disgusted when McCain (whose healthcare plan is simply a farce) made a passing reference to him really wanting universal health care just to jab him. Obama is a corporate candidate just like McCain, yet those who claim to want Medicare for all Americans would rather vote for him... then they state candidates in "third parties" can't win. Logically then, that is because they for some other reason won't vote for them even if they propose the same policies they want.

So all one can assume is that these are people who really just vote letters and not issues (I call them "partybots") and to me that has become very detrimental for the future of this country. Nader has talked about no nuclear, against clean coal, for solar, for a carbon tax which actually would bring down emissions faster and which is supported by more economists, including Al Gore who for some reason also felt it necessary to endorse Obama even though he supports little he has talked about environmentally including 100% renewable energy in 10 years. So where is the conviction and adhering to what was written in An Assault on Reason?

Now, I'm not saying that Nader is the perfect candidate either, but he is right when he states that third party candidates would have higher ratings if Americans knew they were running and this debate proved it. Someone I know who is independent didn't even know McKinney was running but was pleased to learn there were others out there to choose from because he is fed up with the other two. I think there is a seachange coming in politics as was predicted in the primary season. People *are* looking for change, but not in the same package. However, they will take the illusion of it if that is all they have, or think they have.

And while I will most likely not vote for McKinney she presented herself very well in this debate as I am sure she will tonight.. and for all of the fawning over Obama for being an African American and breaking barriers by running, well, so has she. She isn't only black but a woman, and she gets absolutely no coverage in the MSM... which tells me there must be something good to her platform if the MSM doesn't cover her. Nader does have good ideas on trade, the environment, healthcare, corporate crime and Wall Street finances as does McKinney regarding mortgages, trade, etc., and they were both against this war from the begininng and didn't vote to fund it.

And really one of the biggest points for me is that they haven't spent millions of our money on attack ads and wasted time with stupid juvenile "Joe the plumber" crap and other diversions and theatrics. I would say for Americans who want issues, the debate tonight will be something they should at least attempt to watch to compare even if they have no intention of voting for these candidates. I now believe I will vote for Nader as he represents my views. Perhaps if more did in being true to what they believe is really best for this country instead of putting the candidate first, we might one day actually see a candidate representing those beliefs who can actually win instead of the status quo robots we have now.

Thank you for posting these debates! The issues brought up by these candidates are of major importance! I really can't add more than you have already said Jan, both in this post and on the other post regarding the large rally for Obama. Well said and well thought! These 3rd party candidates, as well as the American public who would otherwise be interested and could be enlightened about a few other points of consequence deserve the same opportunities for debate and discussion. I think many people would start to think a bit more about what they are getting or not getting. I also wanted to see and hear more from other contenders earlier this year - some of them had extremely valuable ideas to offer and were either ignored or denounced one way or another by corporate owned mainstream media - would have made the elections much more interesting in my opinion.

Well stopnoise as the saying goes, we get the government we deserve... unfortunately, not all of us deserve this. When the amount of money a candidate gets and the number of people they can draw to a rally with rhetoric is more important than substance and truth, well, then I suppose those mistakes will keep on being made. What I find amazing is that so much attention is being paid to the two moneyed party media darlings, that people are forgetting that without a Congress to vote for their bills they are nothing. Or at least that is how it was before they got Unitary Executive priviledge...The abject worship of president in this country is reminiscent of the aristocracy we broke away from.

They were all asked.

OK, I'm totally FOR hearing the other candidates speak, but I want to know why Amy Goodman doesn't get Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party candidate) to go on the show too? It just seems to me that would only be fair.

Thanks for these words I couldn't put in better than that. All the corporate advertising media start to look like they have been bought by "Demo Repu and Associates." Many people are following in their nets again. I would not expend a second of my energy in either of them. They have been controlling this Country for how long?
This war is their baby, this financial crisis is their baby. We still not have Universal Health Care, No Access to Education that isn't slavery paid, no jobs, no support for families, nothing, nada. Is there any more to talk about it? How many times people will continue to make the same mistake all over again?

I'll be watching too. At least it will be free of theatrics.

In all honesty, POLITICAL PARTIES are not only useless but divisive, especially those that do nothing but perpetuate war, poverty, environmental devastation, and economic upheaval. That would be your guy's party as well as the other enabling party which has done nothing in this campaign but spend OBSCENE amounts of money for BS ads and voting to bail out Wall Street while pretending they give a damn about the American people. So if you want to talk about useless, you better have more than a one liner.

Thanks Jan! I'll be watching. "People protest, vote Third Party."

Third parties are useless.

Hmm, Obama and McCain were invited to the debate at Columbia... any bets on whether either of them will show? Of course they won't.