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…so don’t expect much from me tonight.

9:33…I guess I’d call the first thirty minutes for McCain.  He was clearly better prepared than for any of the previous debates.  But as the debate progressed, he seemed to get more and more erratic, leaving Obama the clear winner of the last hour.  Overall, BHO looked cool and collected while JSM3 couldn’t talk in detail about any one topic.  An overall Obama win.

9:28…Maybe it’s just better makeup artists in NY, but McCain is looking healthier today than he did in any of the previous debates.

9:18…Kevin Drum: “Who is McCain looking at while Obama is talking? He really looks like he’s exchanging looks with someone in the audience.”  I’ve been wondering that myself.  Are his handlers mouthing his responses to him?

9:16…BHO is killing on the abortion topic.  It’s great to see a Democrat who is willing to discuss this in rational terms.  A focus on reducing unwanted pregnancies while maintaining choice is clearly the right answer to this problem.

9:14…Best line of the night goes to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s liveblog:”Doesn’t ‘Joe the Plumber’ sound like a 70s porn star?”

9:13…Abortion isn’t really an issue that works for JSM3, according to CNN’s undecideds.

9:04…Is McCain smoking something?  BHO just answered the question about the fine as being nothing.  And now JSM3 wants to talk to Joe the Plumber again by congratulating him on being rich?  Now McCain is calling BHO “Senator Government.”  I can’t take this dude anymore — I’m wondering now if he has all his marbles.

8:59…JSM3’s health care plan is apparently for all kids to take an extra session of gym class.  Joe the Plumber wants more gym class.

8:58…BHO’s health plan also does really well with the undecideds.  JSM3 doesn’t move the dials when he talks about health care much.

8:55…I wonder if BHO can just say “clean energy” over and over for the rest of the debate.  CNN’s undecideds love it.  Now JSM3 is transitioning from energy to negotiating with our enemies to taxes.  Can the dude not spend more than ten seconds on any one issue?  It’s almost like he’s not trying to answer the question.

8:47…Is McCain crazy?  We can’t build 45 nuclear power plants in four years.  The paperwork alone takes more than four year.  There’s no way we can cut off Middle Eastern and Venezuelan in four years.

8:43…According to John McCain, running for election is proof that you’re a maverick.  Meanwhile, while he talks about Sarah Palin, CNN’s survey shows that men respond well to Palin and women remain perfectly flat and unresponsive.

8:40…How on earth did JSM3 manage to tie Ayers in with McCain’s desire to cut taxes.  I’m so confused.  Does Ayers want to raise taxes?

8:38…McCain’s smirk is ridiculous.

8:36…”Destroying the fabric of democracy.”  JSM3 is really going for all the hyperbole he can find.  Seems like BHO is handling both the Ayers and ACORN questions just fine.

8:24…”I’ve got the scars to prove it.”  JSM3 backdoors his POW status into the debate.

8:21…”I am not President Bush.  If you wanted to run against him you should have run four years ago” is a pretty good line.

8:19…The overhead projector for the planetarium again?  Can he not find better examples?  I wish BHO would spend some time pointing out some of the good things that earmarks pay for.  All earmarks are not wasteful — it’s just a legislative method Congressmen use to get the things their constituents want.

8:16…JSM3 takes notes with a Sharpie.  Does he need glasses that he chooses not to wear during the debate or is he just using the grown-up version of a Crayon?

8:13…Black suit, black tie.  Why did McCain decide that looking like a funeral director was a good idea?  Is he mourning his campaign?

8:11…I wonder if “Joe the Plumber” is a little peeved about being referred to as “Joe the Plumber” all the time.  I’d be pissed if I was getting my fifteen minutes of fame as “Dave the Software Engineer.”

8:07…Instead of saying “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,” BHO should refer to “the worst financial crisis in most of our lives.”  We need a better context for this since the Great Depression happened before most people were born.  Not John McCain, but most of us.  (To be fair, the crash happened before he was born, but McCain was born in the middle of the depression.)

Posted by on 15 October 2008 at 8:10 PM