Political blog #2- Debate

   While watching the presidential debate on friday then after thinking about who I thought won the debate, I honestly could not come up with an answer.  Though out the whole debate I felt like Obama and McCain each talked more about what each one was going to propose and bashed each other more than answering the actual questions being asked.  Through out the debate the moderator kept mentioning to each candidate to look at the other person and each time it looked like they were just reading off the TelePrompTer.  It was pretty hard for me to actually determine a winner because i felt like the debate was so scripted and that the questions were not being answered.  To me the debate was like the usual debates where all that happens is bashing each other and also proving which one of their points are better and why.  I just wished the canidate's answered the questions and did not just read off their TelePrompTer.

The author of the blog I am following talks about how Obama won the debate and emerged as a canidate who was knowledgeable and unflappable toward McCain on Foreign Policy.  He says that Obama is better suited to deal with the foreign crisis and our economic hardships now.  The author then goes into saying that McCain won the debate on other certain situations.  He says that McCain earned a slight victory but nothing in the debate was a knockout blow.  He also states the way each one of the debaters showed different qualities of how they each mastered their parts of the debate. 

I think that some of the questions and answers i found interesting were about the financial situation that is going on in our country right now.  The reason i found this so interesting is because there was really not much time to figure out how to answer these, this is a topic is so new that it had to come from the heart and had to be a real honest answer of how to fix this.  

I thought the media covered the debate the way it normally does with the focus on the two debaters and the moderator.  I would have liked to see more shots of the crowd just to see how they were reacting to questions and answers. I don't really think there were any opportunities missed by the media or the candidates, I think overall it was a good debate but it was tough for me to chose my winner.

The article that I would have my argument gaged to is By Klein called "Obama wins debate on tactics and strategies."  My argument is that I believe that Klein flip flops too much on who he thinks won the debate.  He has arguments for both and makes them both pretty strong.  I think he needs to set himself to one idea and one decision and go with that.  

"Obama wins debate on tactics and strategies" 

  

Blog #2

    I think that there are several different forms of media that have shaped our society for the better.  The one major form that shaped our society i feel is paper.  When paper was finally introduced it was a faster and more efficient way to pass information along.  People dont have to use rocks and chizzle out words and phrases, it also meant that people had to cut information short and not have all of the details because it took too long.  Along with the addition of the printing press, it lets information be more acessable and passed along in mass groups much easier than it would have before.  

In the two articles from the Washington Post, it shows how media and technology have made our society more reliant on these types of media and also how our society may not be as smart as it can be, because we are so reliant on media.  I agree that with all of these new media and communication devices it basically does everything for us where we may not have to use our brains as much to figure things out.  Like now our cell phones even have gps systems built into them and i think that it is pretty pathetic that Americans and our sense of directions are so bad that we need a GPS system in order to get from point A to point B.  Granted these different types of media and communication help out alot and make life easier, but i feel like they also make our society "dumber" and now we dont have to rely on our intelect anymore all we have to do is punch it into a machine and we can just follow that step by step to figure things out.  I also do not buy when people say that playing video games helps us learn in a different way,  i think all that is, is a excuse for us to me lazy and depend on different forms of media to entertain us.  I think its crazy that i never see kids playing anymore, everyone is inside on their guitar hero or their x box.  Now because media is so big and it plays such a huge role in our lives that it forces people and especially kids to basically be addicted to it.

Political blog #1

  In the political blog i am following for this semester, the main argument or stance that i am going to take is the fact that obama needs to have a new plan for the unemployment rate in our country.  Clarence Page says that, "unemployment has risen to its highest level in five years.  Uninsured Americans top 47 million.  Real wages have fallen in relation to inflation for every educational group in America expect for those with professional degrees since 2000."  I think that this is a serious problem in our country and we really need to have a canidate that can fix these and have a plan of action.  I also agree with the author Clarence Page that "Mccain attacked Obamas strengths and now Obama needs to figure out a new plan of action."  Obama needs to remind people of his strengths and why they should vote for him.  I think that presidential canidates always get wrapped up in bashing the other person rather than explain their own strengths and why THEY would change our country for the better.

Blog #1-Steve Settembrino

My media habits are like the normal for college students. I love watching tv, using my ipod and also using my laptop. I love watching TV i think that it is the most media i use. I usually cannot go a day without watching tv. Also i think my computer is something i cannot live without. I can live without my ipod though. My view on the media is that it helps get information out faster than ever. People also think that the media misconstrues situations for their benifit but i also think that it is their job to do that in order to grasp peoples attention. The media nowadays helps people find information and use information fast and in a appropirate manner. I understand the term media is anything or person that portrays information and provides it to the community. If we did not have media it would be impossible to gain new information and to spread information to our society.
My name is Steve Settembrino and i am a senior at UMBC. I play lacrosse here on the mens team and i am originally from Yorktown NY which is right near New York CIty. My relationship with the media is that i need it for the things i do during the day. For example i need my cell phone for communication along with my computer for information and for communication. I usually use tv for entertainment purposes and for information also.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/