Wednesday, October 15, 2008
McCain did a great job tonight. Where was this the last two debates?
He started to run out of steam a bit toward the end, but his "If you wanted to run against George Bush you should have run for President four years ago" line was definitely a moment, as was the entire exchange on negative advertising and Supreme Court justices.
The previous two debates I watched on CNN hi-def where you have pundits keeping score cards in the sides of the screen, and a moving reaction graph of "undecided Ohio voters" scrolling along the bottom. Trust me, that and the opinions of the panel of boobs they have on afterward ought to be banned by the FDA as a brain-damage danger.
Tonight I watched most of the debate on regular normal def without all that extra crap until the final 20 minutes or so (had to change TV's) when I realized how much I hated it.
Oh, I sure hope McCain spoke to "Joe" and made sure he was on board before using his name so much. Otherwise things could prove embarrassing...
This ain't Joe - it's Binah :)
I thought McCain did very well, better even than the first debate, where he did pretty well, but not as good as this. The second debate was frustrating because of the hokey townhall format.
Obama was just okay at best and seemed lost a number of times. No knockout blows for McCain, but the cumulative impression was terrific.
McCain did much better this debate ... finally sounding alive again, hitting upon the *issues*. The question is ... does he have enough time to close on Obama's lead? It's entirely not clear to me.
I beg to differ. I thought McCain did a terrible job. He behaved rudely, smirking whenever Obama spoke, attacking Obama and Biden whereas Obama held off from attacks, and mostly speaking in meaningless generalities. When he did go into specifics, they involved token, bandaid measures (vouchers) or ineffectual programs ($5,000 tax rebates for health care). He was not great.
I thought it was McCain's strongest performance. That being said, he went after issues that will rally the base. This is not a base election. The sarcastic tone (something I can appreciate)is great for those that dislike Obama. Unfortunately for McCain, the independents don't like that tone and have reported as much in polls. The FOX "undecided" panel gave the debate soundly to Obama. McCain was damned either way and has had to play defense for quite some time. This is shaping up to be Clinton/Dole in my humble opinion.