Debate Open Thread

All three of us agree, Obama won. "Couldn't have been better," Rob says.

10:34PM From John: McCain looks old. Much older than he's looked to date. This format did not help him in that regard.

10:32 PM From Joe: John Sidney McCain III gets the same question...(As the son of an admiral, he didn't have quite the same upbringing as Obama.) He looks old tonight. He's served the country for many, many years.

10:32 PM From Joe: Last question "What don't you know and how will you learn it?" It's never the challenges you expect, it's the challenges you don't. Obama works his personal story into this question. Finishes strong.

10:28 PM From Joe: Just got a message from a friend who said "McCain looks like a rabid animal roaming the stage."

10:26PM Note from John: We're 45 seconds into the question and McCain has still not said that he would defend Israel. Then again, his own running mate cavorts with a fringe Alaskan political party that had ties to Iran, and has a growing anti-Semitic record, so perhaps that's why.

10:24PM: Is Russia the evil empire again? McCain: (Creepy smile) "Maybe, heh heh heh heh heh."

10:22 PM: McCain loves to talk about the Russia/Georgia situation. You recall that he thinks the war between Georgia and Russis was "the first, probably, serious crisis internationally since the end of the cold war"

10:20 PM From Joe: McCain just had to admit that Obama was right on Afghanistan strategy. He's sounding more testy as the night wears on. Tough night when he as to try to explain away the "bomb, bomb Iran" comment.

10:17PM The "that one" video is up:



10:15 PM: McCain says he knows how to get Osama, but he's not going to telegraph it? Uh, excuse me, why don't you tell President Bush if you know how to get Osama? This is criminally negligent if true.

10:15 PM From Joe: McCain just can't get over this one. Obama has outsmarted him on the Pakistan question. Obama looks stronger than McCain on the issue of al Qaeda. And, good move by Obama to insist on a follow up to this up. Obama: Let me make it clear, I will take out Bin Laden....invokes Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran...not an example of speaking softly. THAT was amazing.

10:06PM From John: McCain: Obama would have gotten us out of Iraq, I want us to stay! Weeeeeeeeee

10:04 PM From Joe: Wow. That was Obama's best answer of the night, responding to the national security question. He nailed it. Nailed it.

10:01 PM From Joe: On to foreign policy, after another bitchy comment from McCain. Brokaw is certainly doing his best to indulge McCain. (But that is part of Brokaw's job at NBC.) McCain's first answer is pretty rambling. Says Obama doesn't understand national security challenges. Obama blows that one away.

9:58 PM From Joe: Obama thinks health care is a right. Smacks McCain for voting against children's health care. Crack down on insurance companies that cheat their customers...

9:55PM From John: OMG, McCain just made fun of Joe Biden for having hair plugs, on the day that Joe Biden is burying his mother-in-law. Oh my god. That was gratuitous, was a personal attack that wasn't even related to policy. That's just bizarre of McCain to do. My God. He's so angry. He can't control himself.

9:54PM Reader KN writes:

Best dumb ass line of the debate so far: "Senator Obama says it has to be safe for disposal or whatever, my friends I’ve been on ships with nuclear… and I’m fine. It’s safe.” This from the man who’s been treated for five – count em five – episodes of melanoma, not to mention other bizarre health conditions.

9:51PM From John: What was that? What did McCain just glower and hand gesture to Brokaw about while Obama was talking?

9:50 PM From Joe: McCain is all riled up and frenetic. Did he take that same herbal supplement he took last time?

9:49PM From John: THAT ONE?!!!! McCain just called Obama "that one," and pointed at him.

9:46PM Jacki here. Counting Liebermans. McCain's dropped three Liebermans so far. 2 Feingolds and 3 Liebermans.

9:44PM Let's hope Sarah Palin doesn't become president because she doesn't believe in global warming.

943PM Well thank God Brokaw is following the rules, because we wouldn't to have an actual debate here. Geez.

9:41PM Heh heh, heh heh, heh heh. [/Creepy].

9:39 PM from Joe: Best line of the night so far, "Senator McCain, the Straight Talk Express lost a wheel on that one."

936PM John McCain: "I knew Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover was my friend..."

9:36 PM From Joe: McCain doesn't know how to do negative. It comes off as nasty.

9:33 PM From Rob: When Obama went into his discussion about saving energy the dial meters on CNN went from neutral to positive - the American people are looking for a president to ask something of them and Obama's bringing that. McCain is saying we can do it all - which we've seen over the last 8 years we can't.

9:29PM Note from John: We're getting reports that McCain's weird eye malady is back, he's reportedly blinking incorrectly, eyes blinking at different rates. Anyone notice?

9:28 PM From Joe: Anyone else notice the irony that McCain got the first internet question from a 78 year old woman. She's older than McCain but knows how to use the internets.

9:28 PM: From Joe: Obama gives a kick ass answer on the question about priorities.

9:23 PM From Rob: Watching the dial meters on CNN. So far, McCain's answers aren't hitting very hard. As McCain attacks Obama, his numbers go neutral to negative. Not a good night so far for McCain on the uncommitted Ohio voters.

9:21PM From John. Keating, Keating, Keating, Keating, Keating.

9:19 PM From Joe: Another question on the economy. That woman wants to know how she can trust either party. Obama responds, also gives a brief history lesson on Bush. Nobody is without blame. But, Bush is responsible. Obama is mentioning Bush's name a lot tonight, which is a very good strategy.

9:17 PM: From Joe: Watching CNN. On that last answer, Obama's numbers soared. McCain just sounds nasty. He already looks pissed.

9:15PM From John: Obama says McCain just this past March said "I'm a deregulator." McCain was NOT for reregulating. It's just not true. Obama says that McCain didn't create the Fannie Mae bill, and McCain's won staffer was a Fannie Mae lobbyist.

9:12PM from John: Obama is doing a good job of taking on McCain in a very passive, friendly, smart way. It's good. Very good. McCain just corrected the guy in the audience who called the bailout a bailout instead of a "rescue". Not sure that was the nicest thing to do.

9:10 PM From Joe: McCain's answers are rambling. And, Meg Whitman as Sec. of Treasury. She ran eBay, which announced it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce yesterday.

9:08 PM From Joe: Kind of a vague answer, from McCain on the economy. McCain just dinged Tom Brokaw, when Brokaw asked McCain who he'd appoint as Treasury Secretary.

9:07PM from John: Those are some fancy buckles on those $500 shoes, Big John.

9:06 PM From Joe: Bitchy jab from McCain about Obama showing up at a town hall meeting.

9:04 PM From Joe: First question on the economy. Obama says worst economic crisis since Depression. Final verdict on the Bush/McCain philosophy. Now, we've got to take decisive action. First step was bailout, need to make sure it works. Strong oversight, cracking down on CEOs. Middle class need a rescue package. You need someone working for you.

9:02 PM: You just heard Brokaw say people at home shouldn't be constrained...so don't be.

9:00 PM: Rob says he heard Obama is going first.

8:55 PM: Rob, John and I are all watching the debate together from one of AMERICAblog's corporate headquarters. We'll all be weighing in as the debate proceeds. But let's get the discussion started...Comment away.