I'll be liveblogging the U.S. Presidential Debate tonight. Updates will be below the fold.
My feeling going into this is that Obama has the advantage. McCain needs to turn things around tonight, while Obama only has to keep the campaign in place.
9:00 - And we're off. Obama starts off on the attack, tying McCain to Bush. McCain is trying to claim the non-deal as his own success. Interestingly, McCain is trying to own the deal and Obama is saying it doesn't go far enough.
9:14 - At least on this first exchange, Obama and McCain seem to be saying much the same stuff. Not sure that's what McCain needs to be doing. Obama had a chance to remind people that ten days ago McCain was saying that everything was OK.
Ah ha, here's the first "Bush is not a real Republican" moment. McCain's claimed that Obama asked for a lot of earmark money in his time in office. Hope Obama has a better answer than I'm hearing so far...
9:17 - Obama changes the subject to tax cuts. Not the best response. Obama needs to have a better comeback to this $932 million line.
9:23 - So far I think McCain is winning this one. Obama got in a good whack about tax cuts for oil companies though. McCain did the creepy smile and laugh there which makes him look really insincere.
9:28 - McCain just rejected ethanol subsidies. How many electoral votes does Iowa have again? And he's talking about cutting military spending? WTF? Now his campaign is about government spending? When did that happen?
9:31 - Good comeback to the "most liberal" line -- "that just means that I'm opposing George Bush's wrongheaded policies".
9:37 - McCain is actually trying to make the claim that government spending is responsible for the US economic crisis. Obama makes a good point about his closensee to Bush. What's with the Miss Congeniality line though? It's the second time he's said that and I wonder if he's hoping to bait Obama into making a comment about Palin?
9:41 - McCain just conceded that the job of the next president is to decide how and when to leave Iraq.
9:45 - "Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy".
9:48 - Good response from Obama on that sneering comment from McCain -- the President's job is to know when you should be there, not how to fight the war on the ground.
9:49 - Now McCain is running with Petraeus? I thought Palin was his running mate? I still think McCain is doing slightly better but as I said at the start slightly better isn't really enough for him.
9:53 - McCain wants the support of the Pakistani people now? Also I can understand how McCain would know that the border areas haven't been effectively governed since the days of Alexander the Great, since he marched with Alexander's armies.
10:02 - So far I'm thinking it's close to a wash. Obama struggled at the front part but is doing better now. Over to Iran. McCain is trying to claim that the Iranians intend to exterminate everyone in Israel? Also a lousy government means a lousy economy? While arguably true I'm not sure it's a parallel McCain should be drawing.
10:07 - McCain is attacking Obama for agreeing to talk with Iran, Venezuela and so on. This is the thing I have never got. What the hell is the problem with negotiating with people? Obama just pointed out that Ahmadinejad is not the most important person in Iran (true).
10:12 - Obama just got in a good comment about McCain not wanting to meet with the Prime Minister of Spain. I think McCain came close to losing his temper.
10:15 - McCain is pretty much lying here. I tend to think this is not going to work when Obama's right there to contradict him. I think Obama's been picking up after a weak start. Good to hear Obama state outright that a new Cold War is a bad idea. Wonder if McCain agrees?
10:18 - I'm personally finding McCain's continued claims that Obama is naive to be pretty patronizing.
10:27 - Got interrupted for a bit. McCain said outright that people were tortured by the US government. I'm glad to hear that much at least. Huh? Obama backs missile defence? He's correct that the US has taken a huge hit in credibility under Bush.
10:31 - McCain's back to claiming that Iraq is the central issue of our time and a timeframe for withdrawal is a disaster. Not seeing it.
10:32 - CNN has this live voter reaction thing going under their screen. For the last little while it's looking like Obama is getting good responses from everyone while McCain's mostly pushing Republican buttons. If so not so good for him.
10:34 - McCain just tried to make the claim that Obama's too inexperienced. Not sure that flies in a debate where Obama held his own against him.
10:36 - POW!
...since he marched with Alexander's armies
That made me laugh but I'm thinking it would be a too much for Obama to use.
Maybe not. McCain is wailing on about Leonid Brezhnez and seems to be having a momentary flashback to the cold war era. Give him time...
OMG-did he actually just say that Raoul Castro is way too skeery?
Any viewers sub-superannuated must be terribly confused.
POW!
Of course we all know how hard it is for him to talk about it.
Nicked this from Atrios.
CBS:
There's a bunch of polls now backing that up. The CW is still congealing but it seems to be moving toward declaring Obama the winner. That's very bad for McCain.
Sorry I missed you all.
I spent the debate over with the folks at Firedoglake and like lots of them I was initially disappointed that O' did not go into repeated smackdown mode.
But then, out of nowhere, I had an epiphany and named it the 'Branch Rickey Factor'.
I think it really could, perhaps, explain quite a lot (including the fact Mr. Obama frequently gave his opponent credit and often called him 'John', two things the partisan Firepups really, really disliked).
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You might be on to something. Digby, regarded by some (meaning me ;-)) as one of the more astute commentators on American politics, suggested some time back that Obama would have to play by the Jackie Robinson rules.
Well, maybe, but ... As you know, I have been a closer student of the Biden rhetoric than of the Obama rhetoric, and Joe makes a point of always always calling McCain "John." Always.
Maybe Biden has had to be a little careful when talking about Palin, but it's clear he doesn't feel he has to be at all careful about "John." It's an equalizer, in that context at least.
The Netroots types (which assuredly includes most of the folks at FDL) really want Obama to be their surrogate to fight back against the Republicans.
Which is understandable, but not necessarily good strategy.
A lot of the same people were freaking out when McCain went deeply negative on Obama a few months ago. What they missed was that McCain was burning his reputation at the same time, and that reputation was McCain's biggest asset. The media no longer loves John McCain the way they used to, and that's what Obama needed to happen to help him win.
(Oh, and calling McCain "John" was brilliant, especially when McCain kept calling him "Senator Obama" in return. In status terms that puts Obama ABOVE McCain. Think about it -- in any relationship where one person is addressed by their first name and the other by their title, you know who's in charge).
Re: status and the 'John' thing....I agree, especially in the States. When I lived and worked there I was always struck by how, the higher in status you were the more informal you could become (saw this especially in academic, but also business circles).
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pogge--
I'm right with you on Digby, but I'd missed the Robinson thing, will have to go back and look for it.
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We will see who won the debate when the post debate polls are in!