McCain's Best Debate, But Still Weak, And McCain's Reaction Shots Were Brutal

I think Obama won because he stayed on message, and just kept on hitting the economy. Obama was consistent. The one downside of Obama's consistency, is that it can sometimes be boring, because he does not spout random shit depending on his mood. So, my problem is that I have now read Obama's proposals backwards and forwards, so I know exactly where he stands. Thus, I am not Obama's target audience, because I kept on saying to myself, "Oooh, Obama forgot to mention..." Yep, if I was debating, I would have blew through the time limit.

I think McCain finally started being a little bit more gentlemanly by actually greeting Obama, looking at him, and not referring to him as a thing. So, given the low standards of his two prior debates McCain improved by not acting like a complete dick. However, still McCain was insisting that he would implement a spending freeze, but still was proposing a whole bunch of new programs and mandates such as energy policy. I think a lot of folks should be able to figure out that if McCain actually implements a spending freeze that means that McCain is reneging on all those promises, since McCain is also implementing a huge tax cut. However, some voters might be swayed.

I think McCain's attempt to bring in the smears just blew up in his face, and credit should be given to Bob for asking the question the way he did. McCain was obviously hoping that Bob would do the dirty work for him, but Bob asked an open question that forced McCain to bring up Ayers and Acorn by name. Thus, McCain started off coy, then at the last minute, McCain brings it up when it is clear that neither Bob nor Obama are going to spell it out, so McCain then just blurts out Ayers and Acorn. By then, Obama has now has three times to say that he is busy focusing on the economy, not on smears, and the fact that McCain blurts it out in the end makes it look weak and contrived. It was also nice of Bob to give Obama extra time to respond, since Mccain was either a chicken shit or trying to run out the clock.

The thing that I found most bizarre were those reaction shots. It was worse than George Bush, Sr. staring at his watch during the Bill Clinton debate. McCain just looked bizarre when he was not talking. It was almost as bad as McCain walking around aimlessly during the townhall. McCain's eyes were bugging, he was sighing, or just puffing out his cheeks and making faces. Was he just trying to distract Obama?

So, McCain needed a knock out, but he did not get it. I think overall it was McCain's best debate, because he actually tried to be somewhat polite, rather than acting like a prick, but it was too little, too late. McCain gave a pretty good closing argument at the end, but in terms of spelling out a cohesive plan for voting for him, I just did not see it. Finally, the discussion of VP candidates was loser for McCain. Whatever credibility he had was destroyed when he tried to talk up Palin. Please.

from the little I actually watched he was constantly going to his notes, writing points down as Obama was speaking, it was done as an attempt to distract from what I saw. At least seemed that way to me...

I agree with him, or he agrees with me, regarding those bizarre reaction shots from McCain.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6043394

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WINNER: Obama Won, But McCain Had His Best Debate

STRATEGY: Obama: A McCain: A

STYLE: Obama: A McCain: A-

ACCURACY: Obama: B McCain: B

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