The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (October 07, 2008) - Live-Blogging Nashville
10.33 pm. I love debate and was trained as a boy in the British system to be a debater. I debated dozens of times at Oxofrd. All I can say is that, simply on terms of substance, clarity, empathy, style and authority, this has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out.It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate. It reminds me of the 1992 Clinton-Perot-Bush debate. I don't really see how the McCain campaign survives this. wow. I d n see anything so marked, so different fr first debate btw the two.
10.11 pm. "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda." This is a Democratic candidate. Can you remember the last one who used rhetoric like that on national security?
10.07 pm. McCain's response on the surge and genocide was a good one. I'm not sure that the surge has solved anything rather than simply freezing the civil war in place, but he has a decent moral point on this. But Obama's measured mix of moral concern with pragmatic alliance-building was very strong. It's really a return to Niebuhrian realism.
9.59 pm. On CNN, Obama has reached the maximum with women voters a few times and literally couldn't go up any further. The gender gap is very powerful in these debate insta-reax polls at least. Even Palin ran well behind with women.
9.56 pm. Mandates? I thought I sat through countless debates with Hillary when Obama was opposed to mandates, while Hillary was in favor of them. His response about his mother wrt health care was very powerful.
9.51 pm. Why is McCain wandering around the stage while Obama is talking? yeah I noticed that at one specific point, maybe this one. It's weird. it did look weird. and he made a gesture, as if at someone. He looks like an old man pacing aimlessly. And he doesn't look at Obama while Obama talks the way Obama looks at him when McCain talks. This is not that important but I don't think it helps McCain.
9.49 pm. Two flashes from McCain so far: "that one," referring to Obama [ "That One" » The moment the contempt spilled over: (3 sec clip)], and citing Obama's "secret." did I miss that? what was he referring to? Nasty, uncivil and not even effective. that's about how McCain has seemed to me.
9.48 pm. The format: I'm surprised because frankly, I think this format is helping Obama, especially since it emphasizes movement. And Obama is physically very fluent. McCain sadly is. is not.
9.42 pm. I like McCain on social security. The old pre-Rove McCain was someone I loved. loved? what was great about him? how could he have been great and now be behaving so badly? But I can't trust him on this any more after this campaign, I'm afraid.
9.33 pm. Obama's response on the question of sacrifice of citizens was out of the park. huh, I don't recall this. He was able to ask for sacrifice without seeming like a scold or a doom-monger. That's tough. And his insistence that he too favors off-shore drilling and reveres military service and wants others to shoulder the burden now uniquely born by the military was exactly right. This is overwhelmingly now in Obama's favor.
9.29 pm. I have to say that Obama is winning this so far on substance, crispness and authority.
9.21 pm. Obama's riff on the Republican fiscal profligacy was important. It's vital not to forget the Republican responsibility for our fiscal mess.