Obama And McCain Debate In Words: Issues V. "My Friends"

Tuesday night's presidential campaign lasted 90 minutes and touched on a wide-range of topics. So what did each candidate spend his time discussing? A look at the words uttered during the affair underscores that Barack Obama was more focused on economic issues, the middle class, health care, change, and energy. The Illinois Democrat even talked about foreign policy topics such as Iran, Afghanistan and terrorism more than McCain. One area of focus that McCain hit at more: his "friends."

Here is a list compiled by a Democratic source. The following are the number of times each word or phrase was uttered mentioned during the debate:

MIDDLE CLASS
Obama: 4
McCain: 0
* McCain did, it should be noted, discuss "middle income" interests and "working Americans," which - it would seem - overlap with the middle class.

"MY FRIENDS"
Obama: 0
McCain: 19

"AFGHANISTAN"
Obama: 7
McCain: 2

"DEFICIT"
Obama: 2
McCain: 0

"HOMEOWNER"
Obama: 3
McCain: 0

"HEALTH CARE"
Obama: 18
McCain: 6

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"CHANGE"
Obama: 13
McCain: 4

"ENERGY"
Obama: 20
McCain: 6

"TERROR/IST/ISM"
Obama: 6
McCain: 2

"IRAN"
Obama: 10
McCain: 6

"PAKISTAN"
Obama: 11
McCain: 8

"BIN LADEN"
Obama: 2
McCain: 1

"9/11"
Obama: 2
McCain: 0

"TROOPS"
Obama: 7
McCain: 2

"DEBT"
Obama: 5
McCain: 1

"TRUST"
Obama: 6
McCain 3

"FUNDAMENTAL"
Obama: 9
McCain: 6

Comments

[klausrum]

Watch http://tinyurl.com/3ghezyghezy McCain lose!
Obama won on second debate!

[Nonamnesiac]

Obama is so much smarter than McCain that he couldn't lose a debate to McCain if he wanted to. Class Rank 894 out of 899 McCain (below the bottom 1%) at his war college at Annapolis, who got into Annapolis on his dad's coattails and not on his own merit, debated a guy who came from the lower middle class to become editor of the Harvard Law Review solely on his own merit. Guess who won and will win every time, whether it's in a debate or in decision making as President. Obama trounced McCain in both debates because McCain does not even rise to the level of a mental mediocrity -- he's a stupid, unstable, angry old man with the same poor judgment that led to his 894 out of 899 (below bottom 1%) class rank and his crashing several planes in his youth. Being a P.O.W. does not qualify him for President and his record of being wrong on everything (e.g. Reaganomics, Iraq, MLK National Holiday) proves his below the bottom1% class rank is an accurate barometer of his mental ability -- too stupid and unstable to be President.

And then there's Crazy Sarah, who would almost certainly replace him early in his term if he won, either because he's become incapacitated or because he died. He's already outlived his dad and grandad.

[UFGator4Obama]

Nomanesiac, you made my day with the "Crazy Sarah" line. Classic.

[newdreams]

It's one thing to hear the candidates speak, you could get a good idea of what they're saying - But It's amazing to look at those counts. They really drive the issue of substance home.

[mrcolj]

So are you just trying to point out that McCain has a larger vocabulary?! :)

No, seriously, the list has Obama using more of each word. What does that really show?

[grf67]

John, you are no friend of mine and you and your republican friends have no chance of getting my vote.

[LittleGirl]

After 25 min, I started counting 'my friends' with tic marks on a piece of paper. I got 23 total. Your total is low. Oh, I wasn't drinking either.

[UFGator4Obama]

We were.
Maverick, reform, my friends, and he doesn't understand were our drinking criteria for the last 3. Needless to say we had a lot of empty beers.

[borgo]

Just for grins, let's suppose I took a drink (shot) every time McCain said "my friends". In the ninety minute format, I'm guessing that he spoke for roughly forty minutes. Some quick and dirty math reveals that he used the phrase about every two minutes.

I'd probably be dead or at the very least have one hell of a hangover.

[ellawensmom]

I'm REALLY glad I wasn't doing shots last night. I just had a glass of tea, and was playing the drinking game with that. I would have had alcohol poisoning after thirty minutes if I'd taken a shot for every "My Friends." and every lie McCain told.

[jhb90277]

I had a glass of wine in front of me and took a smallish sip for each "my friends." The wine was gone after 40 minutes. I'm not sure that really means anything, but I only sipped when McCain said his phrase and the wine was gone less than halfway through the debate.

I didn't bother to pour another glass. Some endings just write themselves.

[CammyV]

We were playing the drinking game last night during the debate..."­my friends"..­.I'm a little bleary eyed this morning.

[dadw5boys]

My Friends would not vote to use my Social Security funds to offset the tax cuts for millionaires !!!!!!!!

[Plowboy]

Mr. McCain is not my friend and I am certainly not his.
I don't buy the hero myth his rich wife bought for him.
I don't trust the guiltiest of the Keating Five.
And for sure, I do not want the creep; as my president.
He is only prepared top be another puppet for the Bushmasters anyhow.

[Indedave]

"Another round (of bovine scat) for MY FRIENDS!"
with apologies to Charles Bukowski

[suhud]

Incredible that two such hateful bigots, like McCain and Palin, could get to the top of a ticket...b­ut, then again, look who made them the Chosen Ones.

[tlgeiger62]

Exactly!

[lm945]

I heard about half of the debate on the radio while driving home. Before I got home, I was ready to blow my brains out. If I heard McCain say "my friends" one more time.... McCain, the people in that room were not your friends, calling them "my friends" was not going to make them feel all warm and fuzzy about you. Condescending to call them such only cheapened what you had to say. What little you had to say that wasn't a lie. When you actuallly bothered to answer the questions

Oh, and that remark at the end, about how "we" drove the Russians out of Afghanistan? I noticed you didn't follow through, as in how "we" did it. "We" drove the Russians out via the locals who did the actual driving. And who was the head of this group of locals? Osama bin Laden. You remember him. He used to be on the U.S. payroll.

[Herders4Me]

McCain's "my friends" aggravates me *almost* as much as Palin's "you betcha"...

Fingernails on the chalkboard­...

At least McCain doesn't shoot helpless wolves from a helicopter.

Sheesh!

[Halsey]

Yup..."my friends"..­.why don't his (mccain) handlers tell him to QUIT saying that...she­esh...it's to stupid sounding..­. it's an obvious filler..

The far right will, of course, vote for this very very odd repub ticket... Obama/Biden HAVE to win by SUCH a majority that DIEBOLD cannot jimmy the works... it cannot be even close..

I proudly mailed in my ballot yesterday.­..I thought when I voted for Gore...I was helping to usher in a new era....the­n..we know what happened..­. this is our last best shot at getting the U.S.A. back on her feet..

[ellawensmom]

I'm so glad you mentioned this. I also caught this, and I was hoping that Obama would call him out on that, thought I can understand that with limited time, you have to prioritize. My daughter was watching the debate with me, and I said, "He's forgetting to mention that "we" got the Russians out of Afghanistan by funding and training Bin Laden."

[StarryLo]

It appears that Obama knows and uses far more words than McCain... As we age, our intellectual capacity contracts. Never was this more clear than this evening.

[kate99]

wow that says it all really I was thinking all day that this might go mccain's why you here on the news this is what he is good at (ok they said the same thing about the foreign policy debate and look how that turned out) but with in 20 mins I was thinking Obama is winning this big time he just looked like a president

the longer this campaign has gone on the more presidential he looks