not a clean win...McCain kept agreeing too much with Obama...and Obama ran him over talking about the economy points...MCcAin looked more like a warmonger staying too much on defense spending....you may have missed it when you had the game on(no snark so correct me if you caught that) ...McCain talked about that very early early on.....but over all he was too nice and too agreeing

They both agreed with each other a lot, McCain's camp already has a youtube ad up (I think there's a link on Politico) of Obama saying "I agree with Senator McCain, John's absolutely right, etc." I don't think there's anything wrong with them agreeing though. And I missed the very beginning, yeah.

But of the part I saw they need to get Obama on the offensive. He spent too much time trying to respond to McCain repeatedly saying "What Senator Obama doesn't understand" and trying to explain that he did understand instead of landing his own blows where as McCain gave short answers and then attacked again.

That's what Obama needs to work on before the next debate. McCain could have won this debate big, but wasn't entirely at his best either, so I would expect it to not have too much of an effect on the polls.

true and Obama was more stern but....again...they both tapdanced and waltzed...i wanted to see a bloody death match....LOL

hm. i just wish they had let Palin get up and talk for a minute. now THATS entertainment!

What really bugged me was that Obama has been rudely interrupting McCain again and again instead of waiting for his turn to speak. To me, it was just impolite to begin with. Obama also contradicted himself. He first said cutting aid to troops, then he said we should add more troops. He also accidentally say "we should attack Pakistan". We shouldn't say stuff like that, unless we are attacking, and if so, we shouldn't even say that in public.

Everyone asked for Palin to interview afterwards, as Biden did. Palin declined all requests. On NBC, Guiliani was put up as the "spokesman" for the GOP in Palin's place. It's really getting ridiculous.

Cannot wait for next Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know, right? And Joe, too. I still love that quote of his about Giuliani about "Noun, verb, 9/11"

The two of them (Palin and Biden) going at it will be quite something to see. If I can handle the sound of Palin's voice for 90 minutes (I know she sounds folksy, and the pitch or nasalness or whatever of her voice is something she can't help, but I do find it irritating, regardless of what she actually says).

I wasn't super-impressed (rarely am) with the debate, I did think Obama did a bit better with the posture, movements, eye contact to the camera, etc., but I guess that's to be expected.

I was disappointed, but again, not surprised, that they didn't really talk about foreign policy except with respect to the middle east. And that half the time was used discussing the current economic situation. Again, completely understand that this was the case, but we VERY rarely hear Presidents discuss foreign policy outside MENA [Middle East/Northern Africa], let alone candidates. I would have appreciated a good 90 minutes of real foreign policy discussion.

actually the Pakistan gaffe belongs to McCain and also I liked how Obama hit Mcain over his not wanting to talk to Spain...a NATO ally


and...why didnt McCain stare Obama in the eyes?

He said he could do it with Putin....LOL


AND BID ON THE BUCKET

ITS UP TO 455 BUCKS NOW

In general, it was same old same old for me, BUT am I the only one who wanted to smack the hell out of John McCain when he said that the only critical areas that should be left out of the spending freeze are 1) defense and 2) veterans? There goes my job, moron.

Wow.

Can't wait to see Palin throw out her key words / phrases next week!

"Can't blink"

"Maverick"

lol

I thought the debate was a wash, but that both candidates did fairly well. In terms of personalities (which is what matters when trying to discuss complex world affairs in 90 minutes or less), McCain got to show that cool, confident experienced side that will help him on the foreign policy front, and Obama got to show he can be tenacious and not just aloof and elite. He had some fight in him last night, and it was much more controlled and appropriate than his outburst earlier this year when Bush gave that foreign policy speech that took a jab at him.

The one thing that really struck me though was just how much these 2 guys must really loathe each other. I do not think they ever made eye contact during the entire debate. With Bush-Clinton in 92, it was more of a coldness with Bush seemingly bored, but McCain and Obama seemed really hateful of each other in a sense.

I just bring it up since McCain has a track record for reaching across the aisle and Obama has made unity a big part of his message.

I do think both are capable of that, and we know McCain is based on past history, but to watch the debates it is difficult to really get comfortable with the idea.

Have you been really impressed with Biden lately?

I think the debate has some serious humor and entertainment potential, but it's not all Palin.

Don't forget "lipstick" :p.

I agree with you. However, in spite of their anger, they still went out of their way to be polite to each other also, which is important to me. I was listening to debate instructors on the radio after the debate who were judging it based on "debate" criteria rather than policy/issue ideas and they said that Obama would have won by competition criteria.

McCain didn't lose his cool, which was good, because he has a history of having a hot temper.

Jim Lehrer was trying to hard to have them talk TO each other. It took a while for them to get to that point. They were just getting into the format when all of a sudden, it was over. I think Obama did a good job of correcting McCain when he exaggerated truths about Obama's plan (raising taxes on the top 5% of the population, the difference between the actual tax rate on businesses vs. the stated tax rate due to loopholes, etc)

ETA: One "expert" I heard during the analysis afterward was talking about their focus on the 18 billion in earmarks which they said is 1% of the total budget and won't make a difference at all when we're talking about $300 billion in tax cuts and $700 billion in bailouts, which totals 1 trillion dollars.

Most polls said there was no clear winner

Washington Post Reader's Poll - 57% Obama
CBS Insta Poll shows Barack Obama won 39% to John McCain's 25% with 36% saying the debate was a draw.
Insider Advantage reports of those polled Obama won 42% to McCain's 41% with Undecided 17%
CNN reports voter opinions that Obama "did better" 51%, McCain "did better" 38%
The MSNBC on-line (non-scientific) poll showed Obama winning the debate 52% to 33%.
MediaCurves.com reported Independents favored Obama overall 61% to 38%.

All I keep reading was about McCain's lack of eye contact. I missed the first half because I was driving home, but listened to it on XM. McCains, "Well..um" reminded me of Reagan. He sounded very "old" on the radio.