The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (October 15, 2008) - Live-Blogging Hofstra:
10.15 pm. Obama seems centrist on abortion. And he called sexuality 'sacred'.
10.14 pm. McCain needs to stop the eye-rolling. It's the contempt again. But he is trying to save himself on the life issue.
10.10 pm. Obama: 'Abortion is a moral issue.' That's actually a rhetorical shift from Democratic nominees in the past. Obama played to his base more successfully than McCain on this issue. And he did better with the middle. Again: this debate is closer than the last one. But only just. And Obama is still winning this - substantively and stylistically. That can't be good for McCain. A tie isn't good for McCain.
10.09 pm. McCain on the court: no litmus test. Except Roe. But not really. But not abortion rights supporters. But it's not a litmus test. What?
10 pm. Joe the fricking plumber again?
9.57 pm. Some readers seem to think my description of Obama as boring is meant as a criticism. Subjectively, maybe it doesn't give me a Lowry. But objectively, it's brilliant. The first black president will only get there by boring a lot of white people. And haven't we had enough drama in the last eight years? Boring is fucking awesome after Bush.
9.53 pm. "Maybe you ought to travel down there." C'mon, McCain, this is weeeaaak. And petty. And incoherent. McCain's veep only got a passport last year and McCain is attacking Obama for not visiting Colombia. He needs to look like a big man to become an independent president. Instead this campaign has made him look very, very small. Even against a freshman senator.
9.52 pm. The split-screen isn't doing McCain any favors. His harrumphing and blinking and impatience remind me a teensy bit of Gore in 2000. Obama has smiled much more. And he has been positive more often.
9.50 pm. Obama is for off-shore drilling. "Use 'em or lose 'em!" Palin's rhetoric with an actual mind behind it. Still, it's boring, isn't it? Which means Obama wins, I think.
9.44 pm. McCain on Palin: completely delusional. "She understands that *autism* is on the rise?" By the way, she sure has ignited a lot of people. On that McCain is correct. Otherwise: this pick was insane.
9. 43 pm. Obama on Biden: zzzzzz.
hee. this is funny, the complimentary Obama-is-boring-me.
9.40 pm. McCain is getting ugly and petty and it isn't pretty. Maybe it's all he's got. If it is: not good enough.
9.34 pm. "I'm proud of the people who come to our rallies." Amazing. He's also angry and cranky. He seems as if he is in deep, deep denial. He also seems barely in control of his emotions. Obama seems almost preternaturally calm in the face of all this. Just as amazing.
9.30 pm. On the meta-narrative, McCain is interested in talking about the campaign. Obama keeps steering the debate back to issues. yes. managed to do so very clearly, overtly, without at all seeming to avoid the accusations, which he took up "let's get the record straight" briefly & with command, then immediately returned to the 'what we should be talking about' line.
9.27 pm. McCain is acting as if he is the *victim* of negative advertizing. yes! that's the bizarro thing, in this debate, but also in statements last couple days. McCain upside down. you put out a negative ad. someone says, that ad is awfully negative. you say: how could you attack me like that, to call my ad negative!? it's unwarranted, unacceptable, hurtful. !!!
9.26 pm. Schieffer's moral equivalence between the despicable smears of the McCain campaign with the toughness of Obama's. well ~ I did not hear a moral equivalence, though in transcript maybe it will be stark. but he had to attempt to balance the question, to ask it of both candidates, right?
9.25 pm. McCain is better than he has been in the past debates in mapping out his differences with Bush. yes. overall he was more substantive tonite.
9.21 pm. Best line from McCain in three debates: "I am not president Bush. If you want to run against president Bush, you should have done that four years ago." But the "sure, I will," to the notion that he will balance the budget in his first four years.
9.26 pm. Schieffer's moral equivalence between the despicable smears of the McCain campaign with the toughness of Obama's.
9.25 pm. McCain is better than he has been in the past debates in mapping out his differences with Bush.
9.21 pm. Best line from McCain in three debates: "I am not president Bush. If you want to run against president Bush, you should have done that four years ago." But the "sure, I will," to the notion that he will balance the budget in his first four years.
9.05 pm. Is McCain still promising to buy up every bad mortgage in the country? By the way, as I begin this last lap, I feel as tired of this as John McCain and Barack Obama look.
Obama said it:"Campaigns are tough." (in question re negative campaigning.) he comes across as so realistic, so gracefully realistic.