Temperament

It says a lot about who and where you think you are...

In general:

Candidates who are behind go on the attack.  

Candidates who are ahead stay positive.

Mitt Romney took a surprisingly subdued tone during the final Presidential Debate that focused on foreign policy.  With discontent and criticism mounting on the Administration's actions and statements over the terrorist attack on September 11, 2012 in Libya, Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, and the Fast and Furious debacle in Mexico - there was plenty of ammunition for Romney.  Following acrimonious tenor and attacks of the previous debates after Denver's first debate - many were surprised when Romney declined to attack Obama as forcefully.  

The only Romney attack that resembled the previous debates came when the Governor explained his characterization of the Obama's trip overseas as an Apology Tour:

"Mr. President, the reason I call it an apology tour is because you went to the Middle East and you flew to — to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to — to Turkey and Iraq. And — and by way, you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region, but you went to the other nations. And by the way, they noticed that you skipped Israel. And then in those nations and on Arabic TV you said that America had been dismissive and derisive. You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations. Mr. President, America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators."

Debate Performance I: A Report Card Checklist

How they do depends on eight factors

Entering into the final stretch of the 2012 Presidential Campaign, the debates are upon us.  Debates are common place in State and Federal elections at all levels.  Presidential Campaign Debates are an opportunity to see well-funded and well-prepared candidates bring on their A game in the most watched political debates of the year.  

The value of the debates derive from the format.  Two candidates meet in an unscripted, uncontrolled environment without tele-prompters, notes, or back up.  The debates often provide an insight into the candidate's temperament under pressure.  In truth we elect a candidate less because of their positions on past issues, but rather their character to handle unforeseen future issues.

Liar...Liar

It's typically not a good sign....

Following his universally panned first debate performance, Barack Obama's campaign shifted the tone and tenor of their attacks against challenger Mitt Romney.  Before the debate Romney was the out-of-touch millionaire with off-shore tax havens seeking to tax the middle class in order to give the top 1% a tax break.  Romney looked down upon the 47% hard working Americans who, according to Obama, paid their fair share of taxes while Romney paid only 14% of his income in taxes.

Now Romney is a liar.  

Lexicon: Spending Words

Some words about spending don't really mean what you think.

It goes beyond the eye-rolling the typical American did when confronted with Bill Clinton's legalistic parsing of the word "is."  When accused of lying to the Grand Jury when he said "There is nothing going on between us," Clinton later defended his statement as truthful saying, "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is."  He was only continuing the frustrating tradition of lawyers and politicians to make words not mean what most people think they mean.

Two areas of government activity - taxing and spending - create an enormous amount of emotional responses both good and bad.  Today we will talk about words used about spending that don't necessarily mean what you think.

Spending Cuts - doesn't mean you are spending less.

According to National Public Radio, both President Obama and Rep. Paul Ryan have proposed alternative cuts in spending.  According to the news report, Obama " laid out a sweeping vision to cut government deficits by more than $4 trillion in 12 years through tax increases and spending cuts phased in over time."    At the same time, Rep. Paul Ryan, according to NPR proposed a "recent budget blueprint calls for more than $6.2 trillion in spending cuts — many unspecified — over the next decade."  

Neither man proposes a budget where the United States Federal Government spend less money ten years from now than it spends today.  Instead these proposals predict less spending compared to what would occur under the Congressional Budget Office's Baseline Projections.  This projection assumes all current laws stay in place.  So when you "cut" spending in Washington it doesn't mean you are spending less money this year compared to last year - it really means you assume you will spend much more in the future than your plan.

Investing - it sounds better than spending.

When Barack Obama signed the stimulus bill signed the 2009 stimulus bill, he used the word "invest" or  "investment" fifteen times in his speech.  Politicians  shy away from characterizing Government expenditures as "spending."  The word suggests a loss - that the money is spent, gone, with nothing to show for it.  An investment, on the other hand, suggests that we will obtain a return on that money - indeed we will get more money back than we spent.  

QUESTION:  What other words have you heard politicians use instead of the word "spending?"