{"id":40,"date":"2008-09-05T13:40:50","date_gmt":"2008-09-05T13:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/09\/let-the-debates-begin.html"},"modified":"2008-09-05T13:40:50","modified_gmt":"2008-09-05T13:40:50","slug":"let-the-debates-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2008\/09\/let-the-debates-begin.html","title":{"rendered":"Let the Debates Begin!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry, I’m sure you really don’t want to go down the ‘experience’ road with this election.  <\/span>Sarah Palin has a proven track record of success.  <\/span>In his address to the Republican National Convention, former New York Mayor and presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani said Sarah Palin “already has more executive experience” than Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. “combined.”  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

An examination <\/font><\/font><\/font>of the political experience by PolitiFact.com (joint project of Congressional Quarterly and the St. Petersburg Times) of Palin, Obama, and Biden concludes that Giuliani’s assessment is true:<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

“So Palin has six years of executive experience as mayor of Wasilla and two years of executive experience as governor of Alaska, for a total of eight years.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

. . . .Obama has argued that running his national campaign constitutes relevant executive experience. “My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wasilla, has, I think, 50 employees,” Obama told CNN on Sept. 1. “We’ve got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year — we have a budget of about three times that just for the month.”<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

But we think elected executive experience is what Giuliani had in mind here. And even given Obama’s point, Palin’s years of elected executive experience beat out the rest. . . .So we find Giuliani’s statement True.”<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

And, a new Rasmussen Reports poll <\/a>out today <\/font><\/font><\/font>shows that Sarah Palin has made an extremely positive impact on American voters.  <\/span>According to the poll, Palin is now viewed favorably by 58% of American voters – up from 52% before her acceptance speech.  <\/span>On the issue of ‘experience’ – here’s a very interesting finding:  <\/span>Even though Palin is the vice-presidential nominee, voters are fairly evenly divided as to whether Palin or Obama has the better experience to be president.  <\/span>And, the media coverage of Palin did not go unnoticed – 51% of Americans believe that most reporters are trying to hurt Palin’s campaign. <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

Of course, this is the latest poll – a snapshot of the political landscape.  <\/span>But this is the first poll reflecting the opinion of American voters since Palin delivered her acceptance speech Wednesday night which was viewed by more than 40 million people.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

The debate about ‘experience’ certainly will continue in this 60-day ‘sprint’ to Election Day.  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

What I am looking forward to is the series of debates<\/a> (3 presidential and 1 vice-presidential).  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font>These debates will provide the nation with a critical opportunity to learn more about all of the candidates – and that will certainly include questions about ‘experience.’  <\/span>Will the debates provide the kind of information we received out of the Saddleback Forum? (See my comments from an earlier post<\/a>.)  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font>I hope so.  <\/span>Time is short.  <\/span>We must take every opportunity to explore the positions and ‘experience’ of all the candidates.  <\/span>Let the debates begin!<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barry, I’m sure you really don’t want to go down the ‘experience’ road with this election.  Sarah Palin has a proven track record of success.  In his address to the Republican National Convention, former New York Mayor and presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani said Sarah Palin “already has more executive experience” than Barack Obama and Joseph…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-08"],"yoast_head":"\nLet the Debates Begin! - Lynn v. 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Jay Sekulow has also served as a faculty member for the Office of Legal Education at the United States Department of Justice.  As a member of the faculty he instructed Assistant United States Attorneys and investigators in the First Amendment issues associated with prosecution of obscenity. An accomplished and respected judicial advocate, Sekulow has presented oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in numerous cases in defense of constitutional freedoms. Several landmark cases argued by Sekulow before the U.S. Supreme Court have become part of the legal landscape in the area of religious liberty litigation.  In the Mergens case, Sekulow cleared the way for public school students to form Bible clubs and religious organizations on their school campuses.  In the Lamb's Chapel case, Sekulow defended the free speech rights of religious groups, ensuring that they be treated equally with respect to the use of public facilities.  And, most recently, in McConnell v. FEC, Sekulow ensured that the constitutional rights of young people remain protected with a unanimous decision by the high court guaranteeing that minors can participate in political campaigns. A nationally recognized and respected defender of religious freedom, Sekulow has assembled one of the most prestigious law firms in the nation.  Founded in 1990, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses in constitutional law.  The ACLJ, under Sekulow's direction, is involved in public interest and public policy issues working to protect religious and constitutional liberties. In 2007, the Chicago Tribune concluded that the ACLJ has \"led the way\" in Christian legal advocacy.  In 2005, TIME Magazine named Sekulow one of the \"25 Most Influential Evangelicals\" in America and called the ACLJ \"a powerful counterweight\" to the ACLU.  Business Week said the ACLJ is \"the leading advocacy group for religious freedom.\"  Sekulow's work on the issue of judicial nominees - including possible vacancies at the Supreme Court - has received extensive news coverage including a front page story in The Wall Street Journal.  In addition, The National Law Journal has twice named Sekulow one of the \"100 Most Influential Lawyers\" in the United States (1994, 1997).  He is also among a distinguished group of attorneys known as \"The Public Sector 45\" named by The American Lawyer (January\/February 1997).  The magazine said the designation represents \"45 young lawyers outside the private sector whose vision and commitment are changing lives.\" Sekulow brings insight and education to listeners daily with his national call-in radio program, Jay Sekulow Live!, which is broadcast throughout the country on nearly 850 radio stations.  Sekulow also hosts a weekly television program, ACLJ This Week, which tackles the tough issues of the day and is broadcast on a number of networks nationwide including the Trinity Broadcasting Network and FamilyNet.  Sekulow is also a popular guest on nationally televised news programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC, and PBS.  He frequently contributes articles and commentary to national publications and is often quoted in the nation's leading newspapers including USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Washington Times. A graduate of Mercer University, Sekulow graduated cum laude receiving both a bachelor's degree and doctor of jurisprudence from Mercer University where he served on the Mercer Law Review as an editorial staff member.  Following graduation, Sekulow served as a tax trial attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service.  In that capacity, Sekulow prepared and brought to trial tax cases on behalf of the United States Department of Treasury in United States Tax Court. He also received a Ph.D. from Regent University, with a dissertation on American Legal History, and is the author of numerous publications and law articles. Sekulow serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Supreme Court Historical Society in Washington, DC.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/jsekulow"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}