Debate Takeaways?

There were no knock-out blows, but Obama won the debate...his answers were concise and reflective...McCain seemed angry, sarcastic and some of his answers were incoherent...

Biden is honestly going to destroy Palin....it is not even going to be funny...

Polls show Obama had an edge , 51% of polled people said Obama did a better job, while 39% thought that McCain did a better job......

What really struck me during the debate, not the fact that McCain never mentioned the word "middle class", or he would initiate spending freeze, that he didn't dare to look at Obama at all. He did look at Obama during the whole debate!!!! Was he scared??? Or maybe he was contrite because all of the lies that his camping has been promoting

Obama's defining moment was when he said and I am paraphrasing here, McCain you are talking about the war as it was started in 2007........ You said back in 2002 that Iraq has WMDs, you were wrong... the war will be an easy win,You were wrong...... there wasn't a historic conflict between shia and sunna..... you were wrong.

I think McCain mzde a huge mistake by picking up Sarah Palin, day after day the American people are starting to realize how pathetic was his pick... He put politics first and his country second...

Biden is a true agent of change, an outsider to Washington...

But, more seriously, I did think it was weird how McCain wouldn't even look at Obama. But, at the same time, Obama started off by referring to him as "John" while McCain always referred to him as "Senator Obama" - maybe McCain decided not to look at him when he started off by calling him by his first name? Either way, Obama came off as way more confident, and at least a bit less political (he acknowledged when McCain was right, didn't do things like question McCain's dedication to supporting the troops [said they differed on the timetable, not the funding]).

About the Iraq thing - I thought Obama had him nailed with that, but McCain's response actually made more sense in this case. He basically said (I'm paraphrasing too) that the next president won't have to decide whether or not to invade Iraq, but what the next steps should be there.

I thought Obama's best moment might have been when he slapped McCain in the face for always supporting Bush's budgets (after McCain said something about getting spending in line). And the line about going after things with a hatchet when you need a scalpel made sense, too.

I don't really like either of them - they both were putting way too much emphasis on the decisions they made in the past (Obama kept saying he was against the war in the first place, McCain kept saying he was for the surge, and Obama kept reminding McCain he was for the war while McCain kept reminding Obama he was against the surge) rather than what they'll do in the future. Neither has any real energy policy, but at least Obama talks about breaking our addiction to oil (neither of them even showed up to the vote to renew that bill that provided tax breaks to wind/solar energy companies, which is set to expire next year now...). Neither of them gave a good answer to how an economic slowdown might affect their spending. Neither has a real plan for Iraq, but McCain at least makes more sense (if we leave, Bin Laden may as well set up shop right there...) than Obama.

I would be a bit scared with Democrats controlling both Congress and the White House...there could be a tendency to push through some weird protectionist shit. Plus, it seems like the best presidencies of late have come when there's a mix (either R Congress and D White House, or D Congress and R White House - Reagan had a Democratic House [but a Republican Senate] and Clinton had a Republican Congress). But I really haven't decided who I'm going to vote for yet...

Obama's speaches remind me of Mohammad Ali.

on just about everything you just said...

not sure what you meant by your first sentence tho...unless its that - every pick's political - which i agree, but let me just say that i think if obama had picked hillary over biden, that would have been more about politics first than country (since most think that "dream ticket" was guaranteed to win)...but you can twist these things all sorts of ways.

some call it disrespectful, but i happen to think obama addressing mccain as "john" was fine considering they both have day jobs as senators and have known each other for some time now. i think it fits in w/ obama making eye contact with (i guess at really) mccain as they debated and shows he recognizes him as a person before a staunch/bitter? opponent. i cant think of a good reason why mccain wouldnt look at him. even after the debate was over and they shook hands he didnt seem to. in fact, he seemed uncomfortable. i could hurl some accusations, but that wouldnt be fair. i dont think mccain has done that every time hes been in the same room w/ obama, right? it was really odd tho.

overall, i thot both guys did pretty well. mccain hammered home his experience by the repetitive phrase, "senator obama just doesnt understand" and by listing off the troubled countries hed actually physically visited. i liked his foreign leadership name dropping too. he does have a good command of the policy i think. i agree more w/ obamas view though that we should engage w/o preconditions (at the right levels of course). plus when five former state secretaries all agree on that, i think it deserves merit. and i thot he held his own on fp, even though it may only be "book knowledge". the other side of mccains experience tho is that he does seem a bit old. he made a couple references that showed his age (something about normandy, some shultz? guy and even claiming his pen was old). i was like you dont need to be reminding anybody about that! especially since obama was hammering home this whole 20th v 21st century bit.

both candidates didnt offer much in the way of the rescue plan, but with it being a work in progress, well never get an honest answer out of either for fear of being caught on the wrong side of the tape. i think obama did better on the economy tho. i liked his clear and concise driven delivery (although i cringe sometimes when he does that slight stuttering bit). that point about how much money has been spent in iraq vs their huge coffers and that theoretically could have been spent in this economy is a huge body blow to me. at this point tho, i care less about the war being wrong (tho it still p*sses me off) or who didnt support the surge (just admit it obama) so i think john was right, i want to know which future president has the best plan for getting the heck out of there w/ the least future consequences. (i also happen to think "winning the war on terror" is a misnomer. what does that even mean? its like trying to eradicate all fundamentalist christians that believe in say creationism. i mean you think youre going to win that by fighting? yeah right. good luck!....anyway thats another conversation.)

overall, it was hard to declare an outright winner. i think it was just a good first debate.

On foreign policy. The first 10 minutes of the debate were Obama's, but after that McCain bent him over and screwed him royaly. And most non-msnbc polls showed that.

Biden vs. Palin is going to be a slaughter. Palin couldn't even hold her own against Charlie Gibson or Katie Couric

About the Sarah Palin - for those of you who support McCain/Palin and didn't watch the Katie Couric interview, you need to. You really need to hear your VP candidate talk about the economy. My god.

Her response? "I'm ill about this position...it helps those concerned about the health care reform...it's gotta be about job creation...reducing taxes...and, uh, trade as opportunity not as competitive scary thing...all those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that." wtf ?!

Before I watched this, I really didn't know much about Sarah Palin, and I honestly was undecided between McCain/Obama. After watching this (and the rest of the Katie Couric interview), I knew enough to decide she's a dumbfuck. Watch this one too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP12aNzocSc

The "leading the charge" question is the best...her response: "I'll try to find ya' some and I'll bring 'em to ya'."

un-fucking-believable. McCain had a shot before Palin. He fucked himself over, sorry to say, by choosing Palin.

The King is right. Ignoring nations we don't agree with makes absolutely no sense. It's fucking ridiculous. I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it. Could someone explain how it could possibly make sense?

Additionally, I'm surprised more people aren't talking about how stupid Sarah Palin is. Hence, my last post...

They both seem to favor government regulations on executive compensation, so that's sweet.

She sounds almost exactly like Miss Teen South Carolina. I'm surprised she didn't mention "the Iraq" or "such as."

For the VP debate, Joe Biden just has to give vanilla answers, and stand back and watch Palin destroy herself. The problem is, Biden can't help himself, he'll try to be creative, say too much, get a few facts wrong, and the media will point these out, and call it a draw, to be "fair."

It isn't about sitting down with rogue nations and being friendly. It's about being a father figure and telling these kids to get their shit together or they will pay a price. Tough talk backed up by tough policies. No one, NO ONE, is saying that we should talk for the sake of talking. You take these thugs like Ahmadinijad, sit them down and say "cut this shit out or you will pay." At the end of the day, ignoring them just lets the douchebags run around running their mouths.

You can't simply move from ignoring to bombing, you need some tough talk in between.

We have a bleak outlook for the next four years regardless