And the winner is says:

As a presidential candidate Obama fails the core test of ability. He appeals mostly to those who hate the war, and hate Bush. He often made references to the past administration as if McCain would undoubtedly do the exact same things, referring to the catch phrase “not another 4 more years”. This shows a serious lack of understanding. This is one of many errors made, but the one that shocked the hell out of me was hearing him say he would go into Afganistan and kill Bin Laden. Here are his exact words, “But in 16 months, we should be able to reduce our combat troops, but, provide some relief to military families and our troops and bolster our efforts in Afghanistan so that we can capture and kill bin Laden and crush al Qaeda.” So here we have a candidate that is constantly bashing the war, has this insane idea that the end of the war can be put on his Microsoft Outlook Calendar reminder clippy pop-up, so he can attend with his flock all the peace and love celebrations. Once again, he stated “kill Bin Laden and crush al Qaeda.” He ain’t goin’ to do that with his bare hands everyone, he would send in MORE TROOPS. That is the most hypocritical and incredibly arrogant political posturing Obama has going against him, obvious to those of us who understand reality and priorities. I surely hope that the public wakes up and realizes the severity of these statements. McCain was aghast saying “You don’t say those things publicly.”

Searchable transcripts are available at c-span.org

Mr. Fusion says:

#21, David,

Dude !!! Whoa !!! That is one scarey video. McCain has to get her off the ticket if he wants any chance of winning this thing.

I suspect her answer came from information overload by her handlers. The problem with that is you just can’t fix stupid.

QB says:

As usual McCain does better in debates than people expect and Obama a little worse. So they kind of tied.

On tone, McCain showed some flashes of anger and condescension which doesn’t play well. Obama’s got to get a little more human.

Obama was probably to get through this one and move onto domestic policy where he is stronger. The next two will be more interesting than this one.

LibertyLover says:

#26, As a european, watching this from outside, I’m quite surprised to see that McCain is about 50-50 with Obama in the polls.

Don’t be surprised. You can’t have a viable two-party election if one is so far ahead as to make the other one obsolete before the election. I’ll leave it to as to whether this is deliberate manipulation (ask yourself why some of those polling questions are worded the way they are). To my recollection, we’ve never walked into the booths without both major candidates being within a couple of points of each other.

We really need a third choice.

Buzz says:

McCain’s “tell.”

From the world of poker:

“Watching that video, I noticed something about his left eye, every time he bends the truth, dissembles, or just outright lies. His left eye starts twitching more than his normal excessive blinking. McCain then looks down, in a rather sheepish fashion, and looks away from the interviewer breaking eye contact. This combination of nervous tick and classic avoidance behavior are both strong “tells” for John McCain.”

Tecban says:

As always, everyone thinks their favorite did better, just like their kid is always the best looking kid in the play or the best player on the team.

Confirmation bias and its corollary disconfirmation bias are fascinating.

Jim B says:

I believe it was a draw but what struck me was McCain petulance. His facial expression was a constant smirk. He never looked at Obama and never looked him in the eye, even after it was over and they shook hands. You would think his handlers wold have had him turn down the petulance and snarkiness a notch.

news rogue says:

It was surprisingly boring – lots of repeated phrases.

bodiddlie says:

Mccain did a good job of keeping Obama on the defensive, and not giving Obama the chance to really attack. But Obama did hold his own much better than I thought he would. As a Mccain supporter it gives me much concern about the rest of the debates, which are, admittedly, on Obama’s turf.

I thought Mccain did well in trying to distance himself from the current administration, but missed out on some opportunities to hammer Obama on the economy. Instead of saying how raising corporate taxes would hurt the average American via wage cuts, layoffs, and price increases (or, corporations don’t really pay taxes), he just left it at “I won’t raise taxes.” Hooray. Tell people why! Your supporters already know it, but the undecideds will see it as catering to rich and abandoning poor.

Obama was a lot stronger on foreign policy than I expected him to be. No wonder he was so adamant on not delaying the debate. He worked his ass off to prepare, obviously. He had a good handle on the issues and was confident in his responses, even if I didn’t agree with them.

Things to work on for the future debates:

Obama needs to drop the “John.” He’s trying to come across as friendly, but many (particularly older voters) will find it disrespectful to his senior senator.

Hold your responses until it’s time for them. If people wanted to hear someone shouting over someone else how they’re “WRONG” (insert Dana Carvey impression here), they would turn into the McLaughlin Group.

Mccain needs to stop using canned lines from earlier in the campaign. If I heard “Miss Congeniality” one more time, I was gonna scream.

Look at Obama. While I think it ended up okay tonight, it won’t going forward. Obama will seem more attentive and thoughtful by looking directly at Mccain, especially while Mccain is speaking. Mccain will look like he’s just waiting to use his next rehearsed response (which they both are doing anyway, it’s just all in delivery).

No major gaffes in this one. Closest was Obama’s “I’ve got a bracelet too! Let me just see who’s it is.” And Mccain’s “Akamaeda-whos-a-whatsit-ajad.” When he finally got it right, he had the look on his face like “Who names their kid that anyway? Why can’t he have a good name like Smith or Jones?”

Unless Mccain can prepare himself for the more domestic debates like Obama prepared for this one, he’s done.

TheEuropean says:

No, Sir, I didn’t see it?

The Warden says:

Tie which goes to Barack.

But did love how McCain compared stubborn Obama to Stubborn Bush. That was classic.

MikeN says:

Mickey Kaus nailed it:

P.S.: Jim Lehrer ostentatiously noted that he wanted the candidates to mix it up. But every time they began mixing it up it seemed as if Lehrer interrupted them to cut the argument off. Too interesting! …

Post-spin Update: i) Does Keith Olbermann’s show make it seem like their guy must have lost because their guy lost–they sound like the Politburo meeting after the Cuban Missile Crisis–or would Keith Olbermann’s show make it seem like their guy must have lost even when their guy won? …

Mister Mustard says:

#49 – Jimmie Colina

>>And no, I didn’t watch the debate. It was
>>Friday night guys. C’mon…

Yeah. The Castro’s jumping on a Friday night, isn’t it?

wumpus says:

???Debate???
Phony questions with sugar coated mind-virus answers. Please Obama and McCain just tell everyone what they want to hear and don’t forget to keep smiling — it makes us all feel so safe.
I guess I stopped caring about pseudo-celebrity worship when I graduated from junior high. The Obamites will always think he won — the McCainers will do likewise. Will there be change? Yes and no. Nothing against the candidates, but they really won’t make that much of a difference.
I guess that makes me a negative whining cynic.

MikeN says:

Bobbo, I thought this debate was terrible overall.
I hope now you understand why I liked the saddleback forum.