’)* John McCain’s got a bunch of stock phrases he repeats robot style.
* McCain likes to talk down to Sen. Obama. “What Sen. Obama doesn’t understand…”
* Sen. Obama isn’t backing down or ceding ground to McCain on what’s supposed to be McCain’s home turf
* I liked how McCain tried to use the “old story” on how we got into Iraq defense, and Sen. Obama brought it around that initial judgement matters.
* Obama: “[McCain has]sung songs about bombing Iran”. Indeed.
* Great Obama zinger on Spain.
* The Obama campaign’s got a good repository of fact checks on McCain’s debate distortions and lies here
* That Kissinger bit
Former U.S.Secretary of State Henry Kissinger today told an audience in Washington, DC that the U.S. should negotiate with Iran “without conditions” and that the next President should begin such negotiations at a high level.
The former Nixon and Ford U.S. Secretary of State early in the year indicated his belief that the U.S. should hold direct talks with Iran when speaking to Bloomberg Television.
* Why can’t McCain ever answer a question without telling a story?
* BREAKING: John McCain was a POW. In case you hadn’t heard. He said it again.
* I think McCain put a lot of people to sleep with his storytime answers.
* I think McCain came across quite condescending, however…
David Plouffe:
This was a clear victory for Barack Obama on John McCain’s home turf. Senator McCain offered nothing but more of the same failed Bush policies, and Barack Obama made a forceful case for change in our economy and our foreign policy. While Senator McCain wants to keep giving huge tax cuts to corporations and said nothing about the challenges Americans are facing in their daily lives, Barack Obama will be a fierce advocate for tax cuts for the middle class, affordable health care, and a new energy economy that creates millions of jobs. While foreign policy was supposed to be John McCain’s top issue, Barack Obama commanded that part of the debate with a clear call to responsibly end a misguided war in Iraq so that we can finish the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. John McCain needed a game-changer tonight, and by any measure he didn’t get it”
* International interest: My mom called me at about 10:45 to tell me they were running the debate on broadcast TV in Jamaica.
* Obama to McCain: You Were Wrong.
Breaking. The precondition exchange is clear black and white and Obama is addressing it head-on, without hedging. Awesome
OW,
Yes, I think McCain is winning here. First, Obama needs to make him look at him (eye contact) when he is addressing him and force him to own up to his and his GOPs terrible decisions. McCain is not losing if he never gets rattled at least.
Hmmm hard to say. Obama performed surprisingly well without a teleprompter, while McCain burned through his preheated anecdotes way too early.
That said, from my perch it seemed like McCain made more of an effort to put distance between himself and “this administration” (maverick theme) than Obama did to tie McCain to Bush. I would give Obama a slight edge personally, but I want to see how it plays out to less hardcore viewers (like the parents, for example)
John McCain was just creepy and cranky.
Rocky Balboa,
Please teach our champ how to throw a straight jab (the Bush Years)and finish with a right hook to the gut (Iraq War). Pop his head up for a combo to get his attention!
Enough with the stutter-steps and love taps… sting like a bee next time ‘Bam.
RJjr
Obama could have done much, much better I think. After the week McCain had, Obama needed to work the body here, you know? He spent the evening agreeing with him and letting him talk down to him. McCain didn’t put on a stellar performance but he stayed on the attack and his experience showed. Barack missed several opportunities, I felt, to call him out in response when he was invoking veterans as a talking point, or talking about torture, I mean McCain has made some bad votes against bills that should have been brought up. I know it’s easy to Monday Morning Quarterback now, but that’s why he’s Barack and I’m not, you know? Never let a guy get back up when you’ve got him down like that, and McKeating just got back up. I’d call tonight a decision for Barack, but that just leaves plenty of room for argument before the rematch. Overall, a disappointing performance. Next time, he needs to quit holding back and stop agreeing so much. Quit stammering, too.
Seriously, McCain was creepy and cranky. He may have reeked of linament. He seemed old, and a little out of touch. Unadaptable. Good friends with Kissinger? Aminadabingbang. Amidnanabydoo. Just hold on, I’ll get it right.
Obama was strongest calling out McCain’s credibility. He should have done some more of it. Maybe a quick, “now, John, be honest, this is a debate, not one of your commercials.”
I love when Barack started to toast McCain on Iraq, c. 2003, Jim Lehrer decided it was time to shout down the black man who was making sense.
That was classy.
Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized. He says: “Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.”
Henry Kissinger can bite me.
Henry Kissinger can bite me.
You be careful. He may just take you up on that. His bloodlust must be sated.
I wonder why, when pressed about meeting w/ foreign enemies “unconditionally”, Obama did not retort w/ “The Bush Administration has recently began dialogues with leaders whom they consider oppresive, such as Kim Jong-Il”, or “Kennedy met w/ Kruschev, and Nixon w/ Chairman Mao”?
Actually, Obama had a bite that could have devastated McCain, he used it on Russia instead. 20th century (_____) in the 21st century world.
We watched it on PBS so we didn’t have the luxury of the split screen. Seeing them side by side like that just drives home what an arrogant prick McCain can be.
He’s gonna lose his shit in the next one, I can feel it.
the worst thing to be said about obama on the debate would be that he shouldn’t have let mccain get away with that condescending “senator obama just doesn’t understand” shit. and he does have a slight problem with iraq and the supposed success of the surge but as an issue it seems to be receding anyway.
the perception until last night was that obama couldn’t talk without a teleprompter. that should be a dead issue from here on in, as he even kept the “uh”s to a minimum. obama’s only worry now is whether he can maintain this performance level. if mccain performs at some middling level of competence (which he did not achieve last night) in the next two debates and obama slips, it’ll be seen as a victory for mccain.
especially revolting was mccain’s seeming inability to even look at obama during the debate, which could be one of three things: embarrassment at the shitty campaign he’s run against obama, utter contempt for obama or a suggestion from his therapist not to look at the target of his ire in the hope that his freakish anger won’t explode.
I think McCain is just a crappy liar and can’t look at the guy he’s lying to (or about) in the eye.
The only thing worse than a liar is a crappy liar. If you believe a word this guy says, you are stupid. Sorry.