Comments on: Presidential Debate - no show stoppers

By: tom

tom — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:43:03 +0000

This appears to be something you found in the 90 min debate to validate your position. There is not one person I have every met in busines or public speaking that wouldn’t and hasn’t stumbled on a name. Arabic has little ties to english. Do you make fun of vendors of clients or staff that stumble on names? I hope not.

Also the 5 yr old thing is a low shot!!

By: John Fontana

John Fontana — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:43:27 +0000

I think you and I will agree that it is annoying but disagree on the weight that we put on this. McCain to date has hardly been a walking gaffe machine (see many Sen. Biden clips) so hoping folks give him a pass on that. If that is the extent of the issues with him then we as Americans are doing well. We need to focus on substance of each candidate’s position and not how they pronounce words. Frankly, I am hoping that the Iranian leader was offended by him mispronouncing his name (BTW: I spoke to some Dem and Independent coworkers who were actually impressed with some of the other names that McCain was listing in the Middle East.) Have a great day Sandi!

By: Sandi Mays

Sandi Mays — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:02:53 +0000

John,

It’s great to hear from your soapbox.

I don’t think I am picking on a candidate because he/she has a hard time pronouncing the name of an evil leader in the middle east. I am simply pointing out that he fibbed on his resume. If he is an expert in foreign policy, then he should be able to pronounce Ahmadinejad’s name.

If I interviewed a candidate for a job at Zayo and they couldn’t pronounce the names of our competitors … I probably wouldn’t hire them. Should we be any more lax in our requirements for a president? These are generally gating requirements to get into the interview - must haves … before we ask the hard question based on other more stringent criteria.

By: John Fontana

John Fontana — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:26:57 +0000

Cmon Sandi you are better than that. Don’t pick a candidate because he/she has a hard time pronouncing the name of an evil leader in the middle east? We get the point but seems pretty weak to me. If that were the criteria of picking or not picking a leader then there are a few blogs out there today where the writer constantly misspells words. Annoying and distracting perhaps but not a reason to completely discredit the great capabilities, accomplishments and mind of the writer….same thing here.

I completely agree with you…neither knocked it out of the park. Neither answered CRISPLY what does NOT happen now that we are spending $700B bailing out banks. They danced around it with great vagueness. In not so many words they both basically said nothing gets eliminated. I loved that Lehrer held their feet to the fire to answer the question. Very disappointing that neither had the courage to stick their necks out and say what had to be cut from their “pie in the sky” plans because of the crisis.

Funny, aren’t they both currently Senators? Couple of tangential thoughts come to mind. 1.) How can ANY public official keep their current job while interviewing for another? See Senators McCain, Obama, Congressman Udall and many others. That drives me crazy. If they want to run for another position, fine. Just resign from your current job (we sure as heck would have to if we told our employer we were looking for another job). 2.) Seems to me the mess we are in is due primarily to the paralysis of the Legislative Branch of govt more than anything. How about term limits for these folks as well? 2 full 6yr terms for Senators and 4 full 2yr terms for Congressman. Career politicians need to be eliminated and forced to live under the BS laws and regulations that they pass (or do not pass).

I am off my soap box now. Thanks Sandi.