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9:34…The icing on the cake was the candidates blocking Tom’s teleprompter at the end of the debate.

9:31…The more Obama talks about his history, the more approachable he seems.  I think its worth reminding the voters that he’s the guy whose family was once on food stamps but that he seized the opportunities that were given to him.  He is a classic American success story, and people should take pride in being able to vote for him.  A vote for Obama is a vote for the American dream.

9:24…Seems like both Obama and McCain gave good, nuanced answers to Brokaw’s dumb “Is Russia an evil empre” question.

9:18…Who does McCain love more, Lieberman or Petraeus?

9:15…Obama should spend some time practicing singing “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.”  This debate needs musical interludes.

9:12…McCain seems smoother now that we’re talking about foreign policy, but he’s still getting tripped up on some of his catchphrases.

9:06…Obama got started strong on the intervention question, but he didn’t really take it anwhere.

9:01…There seems to be a little more energy in the debate when the question originates with someone in the debate hall and not with some internet person.

8:57…How on earth can a debate like this make any difference?  It’s just so boring.

8:51…Of the three network anchors of the last generation — Brokaw, Rather, and Jennings — I was always a Jennings fan with a soft spot for Dan Rather’s craziness.  So take the following for what it’s worth: Brokaw is doing himself no favors with all his clock talk.

8:45…Comparing green jobs to the early days of the computer industry is a pretty compelling analogy.

8:44…McCain has namechecked Joe Lieberman twice now.  Does Joementum have some cross-party pull that I don’t understand?

8:41…McCain’s laugh is even scarier when no one laughs with him.

8:40…Thinking more about this entitlement question, why is everyone so freaked out about Social Security?  It’s Medicare that’s in serious trouble.  The fix for Social Security is to do nothing and see where we are in 20 years or so.

8:39…Brokaw clearly isn’t a fan of the debate rules.

8:34…The debate’s gotten less interesting, so here’s a random thought for the night: Do you think the economic downturn will have a silver lining for McCain in that it may make it harder for Obama to collect donations in an economy that’s clearly on its way down.

8:28…I may be stereotyping here, but why do older people always think that America can only get better if people today sacrifice as much as they did in the past?

8:23…An overhead projector?!  If Obama is president, will he give overhead projectors to planetariums all over the country and not just to one in Chicago, IL?

8:20…If CNN’s live response graph is to be belived, BHO is killing tonight.  Every time he opens his mouth he goes off the charts.

8:19…Where did they find the people to ask these questions?  I can forgive being nervous, but not asking dumb questions.  And boohiss on Tom Brokaw for selecting this question — its a total MSM thing to assume that both parties are equally to blame for all problems.

8:13…So if follow-ups violate the rules of the debate, why was Tom asking one?  And why did he then get mad at the candidates regarding the rules of the debate.

8:09…”Not you, Tom.”  Where was McCain’s weird chuckle?  All kidding aside, asking the candidates who their treasury secretary would be is a pretty good follow-up question.

8:07…Obama is off to a strong start.  The CNN reaction polls were maxed out for most of his first set of remarks on the economy.  Things are looking good for McCain as well though, but he’s doing noticably better with women than men.

8:04…What’s up with Tom Brokaw’s voice?

8:01…Tom Brokaw is getting things started.  Apparently 80 uncommited voters are here to ask questions.  Here’s my first question for: if a voter hasn’t been able to make up their mind about the candidates despite all the news about them over the past 18 months, do we really trust them to ask useful questions of the candidates?  They must be totally disengaged from national and international news.

Posted by on 7 October 2008 at 8:04 PM