The Debate

I'm in Washington DC tonight watching the debate with my co-author Anna and her gentleman friend Dan. Here are my thoughts, as we go.

9:05 -- This is Obama's answer to the first question of the last debate.

9:06 -- A minute later, now you answer the question about how you help the middle-class, which is your bread and butter issue. Except for the part about how to deal with it quickly.

9:07 -- McCain's plan for fixing the economic crisis quickly also isn't very quick. If we could stop buying fuel from other countries so easily, we would have done it a long time ago.

9:09 -- Anna offers us beer. Dan and I quickly accept.

9:10 -- Dan asks whether or not Obama brought any new talking points to the debate. Obama says "no." The only new thing he's said is that he'd put Warren Buffett in charge of the Treasury.

9:11 -- Anna asks me to point out that Brokaw is wearing a "Live Strong" bracelet. I note that he's also wearing a red tie.

9:12 -- McCain talks with pride about "suspending" his campaign. Laughter is stifled throughout the room.

9:13 -- McCain blames Obama for taking too much money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, without mentioning his own campaign manager, Rick Davis, who was still on Freddie's payroll through August.

9:17 -- McCain has faith that the economy can stop getting worse before it gets better. That is silly.

9:20 -- Obama is giving a DAMN fine answer to how he can be trusted with tax money, even though I'm pretty sure he will indeed be increasing spending, which he said here that he'd cut.

9:21 -- DAMMIT JOHN MCCAIN. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT BEING A REFORMER IN A BROKEN SYSTEM. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM AND YOU HAVE BEEN THE BROKEN SYSTEM FOR 25 YEARS.

9:22 -- Obama looks so serene while McCain is talking that I'm not sure whether it's funny or if it comes off as patronizing.

9:26 -- One woman in the back row started smiling so wide it hurt when Obama knew the price of gas in Nashville.

9:27 -- Can someone tell both Obama and McCain that the president doesn't have a line-item veto?

9:29 -- Can we talk about this spending freeze idea a little more? How bad of an idea it is to stop federal spending?

9:33 -- Obama is arguing the "let's be a good example for our constituents" strategy of corporate regulation.

9:37 -- Anna is yelling very much at Tom Brokaw about Obama not being able to rebut McCain on healthcare costs and tax policy.

9:39 -- Purple-shirt in the back row (who got excited about the gas price thing) has a SERIOUS crush on Obama. She's got "Dream Lover" by Mariah Carey playing in her head.

9:41 -- McCain is getting really condescending, not only to Obama but to the audience. He's discussing Social Security and Medicare reform like we're kindergarteners.

9:43 -- Can Tom brokaw stop throwing John McCain as many favors as he can? Jesus H.

9:43 -- Joe Lieberman isn't a democrat. He's the political equivalent of a louse living on John McCain's scrotum. Dealing with Lieberman isn't an example of being bipartisan.

9:46 -- Barack Obama is discussing the creation of the computer. Al Gore is sitting at home doing the Marge Simpson groan.

9:46 -- At long fucking last, Obama is going after McCain about being in Congress for so long and yet here we are.

9:47 -- The snark factor and the little passive aggressive barbs between Obama & McCain are getting pretty intense.

9:49 -- I wish McCain would stop referring to us as "my friends."

9:50 -- Obama just got a softball lobbed at him, right over the plate, and he's taking his sweet-ass time attacking it. His eyes should have lit up and he should have dove right in. Speed up. Get energetic. You have a good plan. Get excited!

9:52 -- We should be doing a shot every time either candidate says the word "fundamentally." Thankfully, I'm not playing that game tonight.

9:54 -- McCain went over the red light for jokes about hair plugs? Really?

9:55 -- Purple sweater has "Wind Beneath My Wings" in her head.

9:57 -- Obama is trying his damnedest to rebut McCain on his health care bullshit, but there isn't enough time left before the election to dig through what McCain says in 2 minutes.

10:00 -- Anna suggests that this election would be in the bag for Obama if McCain wet himself in a debate. I explain that I'm not going to blog about hypotheticals, but then I do anyway.

10:02 -- Obama is going after McCain on this experience/judgment thing. Good. Because McCain's judgment sucks, so it's obvious that his experience doesn't mean squat.

10:03 -- If McCain's shoulders were alright, I would suggest that Obama & McCain just box instead of debate.

10:08 -- "exacerbating our reputation?"

10:08 -- Purpleshirt looks like Gollum in a close-up.

10:10 -- Thank you thank you thank you for talking about stopping the drug trade out of Afghanistan.

10:11 -- John McCain's hero was Teddy Roosevelt ... the trustbuster? Right. Also Ronald Reagan.

10:13 -- Brokaw is a really shitty moderator.

10:14 -- Obama is going after McCain hard on this "speak softly" crap. THANK YOU.

10:17 -- Purpleshirt has "I Only Have Eyes for You" by the Flamingos in her head.

10:18 -- John McCain's war strategy depends on the feelings of the people whose country we've invaded? We're screwed.

10:19 -- McCain isn't going to have another Cold War... except for that part where he's going to keep accusing Putin of trying to rebuild the Soviet Union and challenge him on everything he does. Talk softly my entire ass.

10:22 -- Obama isn't speaking very confidently about this whole Russia thing, and he really needs to be.

10:26 -- McCain mentions again a "league of democracies" -- has no one ever told him about the UN?

10:32 -- I feel like McCain got the last word on a lot of things in this debate. That matters, and I take issue with Brokaw letting it happen.

10:36 -- Has David Gregory any said anything that had any substance? Ever?

The scorecard: McCain came across as a cranky, cranky man, but Obama didn't fight back nearly as hard as he could have. Unfortunately, Brokaw really stifled the debate. I honestly can't say who I think won, because I felt like the discussion was too constrained. Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan, though, seem to agree that Obama won. Taegan Goddard too.