Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[ice grillin you]

McCain excelled in the foreign policy exchanges. He just has more experience. He's been there and done that.

definitely and it showed...and it wasnt even like barry embarrssed himself or was bad it was just that mccain was much better

[reese125]

i think obama agreeing with him is a breath of fresh air if thats what he was doing

agreeing with him is a breath of fresh air for a new kind of political debate, and for the people on Obama's side, but for the one's that are the fence it doesnt exactly scream commander

Im not saying Obama lost by a landslide here because I thought both held their own, but the edge went to McCain...and he surprised me based off of his current one-on-ones

It was refreshing though to see that you finally have 2 intelligent men knowing whats going on and speaking about them in detail. Bush couldnt hold either one of these guys jockstrap...but thats not a big surprise

[shorebird]

Well, ABC didn't call McCain out on any of his accusations after their "fact checking". Didn't address it at all. Guess that means everyting McCain said had some truth to it.

[rjs246]

The one foreign policy point where Obama really had an advantage was whenever past judgment was discussed. Experience is no contest, but judgment is something Obama should have hammered at more.

[reese125]

Maybe he just got tired of saying 8 years is enough

because when he brought up the point of agreeing with Bush 90% of the time, he threw a comment out there, but McCain backed it up (somehow) and he let it rest. Obama could of farging drilled him there

[Father Demon]

I watched the whole thing.  It was essentially two debates IMO, the first half economic and the second half foreign policy.  Aside from Obama calling McCain John, and sitting in the background saying "That's not true, that's not true", I thought Obama had a slight edge on the economic topics.  Not a strong edge at all, but very slight.  However, because he was supposed to own McCain in that area, I can certainly see where McCain may get a positive push out of it.

The foreign policy was bad for Obama - very bad.  Again, as someone said, he didn't do or say anything to embarrass himself, but he was absolutely and superiorly outclassed by McCain's experience in foreign policy.  McCain owned it, and it wasn't even close.

I agree that agreeing with McCain isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't exude leadership, which is disappointing in our culture.  There's nothing wrong with having the same idea as your opponent.  But, especially with the videos coming out repeatedly showing Obama saying "You're absolutely right" is going to sway a few on the fence.

[Diomedes]

Watched the whole thing, viewed it as a pretty good debate and if you have to say who "won," then I'd call it a draw.

[Cerevant]

God that was boring.

I will say that McCain was a lot more articulate and coherent than I expected.  I think that is the advantage of him playing on his "home turf" of foreign policy.

I was pleased to see Obama didn't have the discontinuity and stuttering in his presentation that shows up in press conference and other "off script" speech.  He was obviously well prepared to answer some non-stock questions.

Both candidates stuck to their talking points, and did not stray from the path.  I think that is a loss for both of them.  Neither of them said anything that will be a powerful sound bite (positive or negative) for the next news cycle.

I don't know if the other networks showed this, but CNN had a running graph showing the reaction of focus groups of each party in real time.  The dems and repubs pretty much followed the party line, although I was surprised how often both parties rated what one candidate or the other in the positive realm.

What I thought was interesting was the reaction of the independents:  Whenever Obama attacked Bush, they reacted negatively.  Whenever McCain rolled out his condescending "you don't understand" they reacted negatively.  Overall, I think the overall reaction results in a tie.

I think Obama came up short on the economy, where he really could have stolen this debate especially since it was supposed to be entirely about foreign policy.  He did hold his own, however, and according to the focus group reaction, completely thrashed McCain on Iraq.  While most of the areas of the debate were a wash, McCain had the net-zero-neutral on Iraq: repubs positive, dems negative and independents neutral.  On the same topics, dems and independents were positive and the repubs were neutral.

Overall I don't think either candidate will get anything in the way of a poll bump from this debate.  No new information.  Nothing interesting to talk about now that it is over.  In that sense, I think the debate itself is a loss for McCain, because this was the debate where he needed to gain some points on Obama.

As for net effect, it is a very small win for McCain, because it breaks the miserable news cycle he has been in.  Obama has been pulling away in the last week - I expect things to level out (with Obama still leading) after this debate.  This was a chance for Obama to close the deal, and he couldn't pull it off.

Now McCain needs to figure out how they are going to survive the VP debate.  I saw Biden on CNN after the debate, and he is just chomping at the bit.  Meanwhile, rumors are trickling out that in mock press conferences and mock debates, Palin has been a train wreck.  I will say that I'm glad it is Biden and not Obama debating Palin - Obama is too polite, and she could beat Obama on personal energy alone.

[Eagles_Legendz]

All of the news organizations are reporting viewer polls have Obama +10 in the debate.  We'll see.  I thought it was fairly even, but I thought Obama looked better than I expected.

[Geowhizzer]

I'd have to say that it was basically a tie.  Obama was slightly stronger on the economy, McCain was slightly stronger on foreign policy.  I didn't think that either did much to win the undecideds, but we shall see.

McCain went "personal" on Obama much more often, while Obama seemed to take measures to show his "bipartisanship" with his "you're right" statements to McCain.

Basically, I don't believe that this debate changed the landscape of the race significantly in either direction.  Long term, that could benefit McCain, because he was supposedly in more trouble if he had decisively lost the debate.

[Cerevant]

Interesting: CNN just reported on TV, that their focus group of uncommitted voters from Ohio went 60-40 for Obama tonight.  CBS had a poll of 500 uncommitted voters and it came out 40 Obama, 22 McCain, 38 tie.  It will be interesting to see what the big polls say in the next few days.

[PhillyGirl]

On a message board I frequent...with a LOT of political talk...most undecideds were extremely turned off by McCain's failure to even look at Obama or his condescending attitude. While he might have won with his foreign policy talk, Obama selected Biden as his running mate....showing that he knows where he is lacking to McCain and Biden fills that space. And it shows that he understands his shortcomings but would surround himself with the people needed to make his Presidency work.

However, McCain's selection of Palin gives nothing to him. What you see from him is all you get. And they have no feeling of comfort that he would select the right people to surround himself with once in the White House. He came off as a mean old man to these undecideds....one who is so set in his own bubble, he wouldn't take the time to see where his own shortcomings are.

To almost every single undecided on that board, it was a draw at best for McCain or a definite, no doubt win for Obama.

I admit to only having seen about 20 minutes of it, I will watch the rest online tomorrow...so I won't add my own opinions yet. But I wanted to share that since Cerevent just posted his surprise.

[Seabiscuit36]

I cant believe you would cheat on 

[SD_Eagle5]

I'm a huge Obama supporter and watched the entire debate but I thought McCain won. Obama was on the defense and agreed with McCain too much. McCain was distorting facts and truths half the time but it helped him keep on the offensive. I'd give Obama a slight slight edge on Economic matters but McCain killed him on foreign policy.

With all that said I think people will forget all about this debate once Biden destroys Palin next week. I'm dvr'ing that bloodfest.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I'm making popcorn for the VP debate.

I did not watch the whole thing, I was flipping between the Mets, Phils and the debate. I am watching it now on CNN again.

I thought Obama did well. I also did not like how McCain refused to basically acknowledge Obama. I liked the economic portion by Obama too....now they are on the foreign part. And quite honestly I'm tired of hearing about Iraq and bitching about it. Just formulate a plan and get out.