{"id":6249,"date":"2008-10-16T13:52:06","date_gmt":"2008-10-16T17:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/v3\/?p=6249"},"modified":"2008-10-16T13:52:06","modified_gmt":"2008-10-16T17:52:06","slug":"tyrone-students-discuss-heated-final-debate-between-presidential-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/?p=6249","title":{"rendered":"Tyrone students discuss heated final debate between presidential candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Although \u201cJoe the Plumber\u201d was nowhere to be found last evening at the Tyrone Area Middle School LGI Room, there were over 50 students and several adults who attended a Community Debate Watch hosted by the Tyrone Area High School Mock Election Club.
\nThe final 90-minute round table debate moderated by Bob Scheiffer at Hofstra University between Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. and Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., might have been the best debate in terms of the two candidates addressing campaign accusations and personal attacks, along with addressing issues such as the country\u2019s current economic crisis, taxes, and abortion.
\nObama answered and cleared up accusations about his association with 1960s era terrorist William Ayers and the ACORN issue that is accused of violating federal law as it sought to register voters. McCain quickly shot down Obama\u2019s accusation that his campaign ads have been 100 percent negative.
\nAs for economics and taxes, McCain criticized Obama\u2019s method of \u201cspreading the wealth around\u201d and taxing those who make $250,000 plus a year, while Obama reiterated that \u201cwe need to invest in the American people again.\u201d
\nRegardless, there were plenty of young and attentive ears at Tyrone High last evening. None of the students who attended the debate watch are old enough to cast a vote in three weeks, but that doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t care about the presidential election and the shape America is currently in.
\nTyrone Area High School civics and government teacher Todd Cammarata said that he was impressed with the student turnout for the debate watch, stating that it wasn\u2019t even a class requirement for any of the students.
\n\u201cIt goes to show you that kids do care about this stuff,\u201d said Cammarata. \u201cThey took their own time to come here and watch the debate, which shows a maturity that a lot of people in the community don\u2019t give kids credit for.\u201d
\nCammarata thinks it\u2019s important to get students involved at a young age, where good as well as bad habits are formed. He said voting is a habit and he would be supportive of letting kids as young as 16 years of age to vote.
\n\u201cIf students could vote for three years in a civics class before getting out of high school, they\u2019d continue to do it and pay attention,\u201d stated Cammarata. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to teach a class theoretically about something that\u2019s going to happen to them in the future.\u201d
\nHe added, \u201cI think the kids tonight showed they\u2019re ready to be involved.\u201d
\nAfter the debate was over, the students, several adults, and teachers Cummins McNitt and Cammarata set up in small groups to discuss what their thoughts were on the topics and issues addressed by Obama and McCain.
\nTyrone eleventh grader, Jacob Baird, is a supporter of Obama and thought the debate could have went a lot worse, because of the candidates attacks on each other. He said that McCain needs to \u201clay off\u201d on his attacks towards Obama, and that he thinks McCain should remain a senator and not be elected as president.
\nBaird\u2019s reasoning was based on his assessment of the candidates\u2019 tax cut policies, stating that Americans already pay \u201ctoo many taxes\u201d and don\u2019t get much back from taxes.
\n\u201cI think Obama makes a good point with his tax cuts,\u201d said Baird. \u201cI think McCain wants us to pay more taxes.\u201d
\nOlivia Stever, 14, is a ninth grader at Tyrone, who would cast her vote for McCain if she was old enough. She said that she doesn\u2019t like Obama\u2019s views on taxes, because she believes \u201cpeople work for what they have.\u201d
\n\u201cPeople who make $250,000 a year, I don\u2019t think they should be punished for being successful,\u201d noted Stever. \u201cI don\u2019t think McCain relies on the government as much.\u201d
\nShe added, \u201cObama says he wants to help the poor people, but those people who make money, it\u2019s like he doesn\u2019t care.\u201d
\nStever\u2019s best friend, tenth grader Ashley Ford, agreed with her opinion on Obama\u2019s tax cut policy. Also a McCain supporter, Ford thought it was a great learning experience for all the students to get together and watch the debate.
\nFellow tenth grade student, Johnathan Higley, 15, was glad that that the candidates talked about the economic crisis in America today. He feels that what Obama brings to the table economically is far better than what McCain views as the correct steps to alleviate the problem.
\n\u201cObama\u2019s been fighting for the economy for a long time in Illinois,\u201d said Higley. \u201cHe\u2019s turned down so many offers from Wall Street to work with them, but instead he stayed in Illinois to help his people in his own area – he can do that for our country.\u201d
\nAs for McCain\u2019s claim that Obama associates with terrorists, Higley said Obama proved him wrong in the debate.
\n\u201cI even did my own research, and it\u2019s proven wrong that he did not have anything to do with Bill Ayers about the attack with the terrorists,\u201d said Higley.
\nHigley would vote for Obama on November 4, not just because of his economic policies, but also because of his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who he feels has \u201chuge foreign policy experience.\u201d
\n\u201cMcCain\u2019s pick of Sarah Palin wasn\u2019t the strongest pick, she has no foreign policy experience,\u201d said Higley. \u201cShe has economic experience since Alaska is an oil and natural gas producing state, but he should of picked Mitt Romney or someone else to have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although \u201cJoe the Plumber\u201d was nowhere to be found last evening at the Tyrone Area Middle School LGI Room, there were over 50 students and several adults who attended a Community Debate Watch hosted by the Tyrone Area High School Mock Election Club. The final 90-minute round table debate moderated by Bob Scheiffer at Hofstra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}