The Second Presidential Debate - LIVE ELECTION DEBATE - TIME
10:46 p.m. - JP - My wrapup: Congratulations, Commission on Presidential Debates! You managed to take an encounter with real Americans and drain it of any possible human interest!

10:34 p.m. - MG - And so they finish up: Change vs. Experience. Are campaigns really necessary?

10:32 p.m. - JP - What don't I know and how will I learn it? Um, the candidates' concrete plans to deal with the credit crisis, and—maybe by watching the next debate?

10:30 p.m. - MG - GREAT question, Peggy in New Hampshire!

10:27 p.m. - MG - I repeat: This format sucks. It's just side-by-side stump speeches with human props. That said, if this was your only exposure to the campaign, you'd probably have enough information to make a reasonably informed decision.

10:25 p.m. - JP - McCain''s "maybe" on "Is Russia an Evil Empire?" perhaps his best answer of the night. A nonanswer with a cogent explanation of why it's a nonanswer. [ ~ If I say yes, it's another cold war; if I say no, ignores their behavior. ]

10:22 p.m. - MG - ..so far the moment I'll remember from this one was McCain's little gotcha about how Obama voted for Bush's energy bill--which was actually a legitimate gotcha, because that bill sucked, but he said it in a way that suggested it was totally shocking that for once, Obama sided with Bush and McCain was on the other side. That's Obama's whole point. ah right, that it's not what you would expect, because, as is Obama's point, he almost always sided against Bush and McCain with Bush

10:16 p.m. - KT - McCain: "I'm not going to telegraph my punches." You mean, like having your campaign tell the papers this weekend that you are going to go negative, so you can change the subject from the economy?

10:13 p.m. - JP - Obama: "You're doing a great job, Tom." Fortunately did not call him "likeable enough." (as primary debate, right? "you're likeable enough, Hilary." I kind of dig that he said that. didn't see it, though, so I don't know what I'd think of it in context.

10:07 p.m. - JP - McCain: Next time you say foreign policy requires a "cool hand," go for a little less glowering and intense. And maybe don't make a fist.

10:06 p.m. - MG - I'm having trouble concentrating, because I'm trying to decide whether the United States is the greatest force for good in the history of the world. It's become one of those silly talking points, but it's really an incredibly provocative idea.It would be a great essay question: Discuss.

10:04 p.m. - JP - @KT: Seriously, it's like someone coached him to get into every frame possible.

10:03 p.m. - KT - I'm very distracted by McCain standing behind Obama and looking really, really mad.

9:59 p.m. - JP - Seriously, on that health-care-as-right thing: the dial-group's women had their dials jammed at the maximum for Obama for nearly his full answer. I think he may have broken the equipment.

9:56 p.m. - JP - Health care: right or responsibility:? Amazingly, they both answer. McCain says responsibility, Obama, right. I am going to sound partisan here, but just politically: You call health care a right. You just do it. I don't care what you actually believe. And the dial group, at least, seems to concur.

9:53 p.m. - JP - On health care, a Bill Clinton would have laced his answers with little questions to the questioner—"Your premiums have gone up, right?"—that would prompt affirmations. Neither candidate is doing that, and I don't know why.

9:50 p.m. - JP - McCain looming again. It's like he's going to come up on Obama with a blackjack.

9:47 p.m. - JP - The crowd of voters is doing an excellent job of looking unenthused. (right: on after-show, said audience had been told not to show expression ~!~)

9:43 p.m. - KT - Third "my friends." You know what to do.

9:41 p.m. - JP - Where is this magical "table" you sit down to to solve all our problems? Why couldn't they just bring it out on stage?

9:41 p.m. - MG - The stage directions would have said:
MCCAIN (laughing creepily) "I'll answer the question."


9:36 p.m. - JP - "Senator Obama's secret, that you don't know..." Oh my God! He's going to play the Muslim card! Oh, wait, no, it's taxes. oh ok that's when McCain said "secret"

9:35 p.m. - MG - McCain is really staking his claim on taxes. In Florida this week we've been deluged by Obama-will-raise-your-taxes ads. They seem very 1994.

9:35 p.m - JP - Why not ask the $35K a year teacher to tighten her belt? Her reward is in Heaven!

9:35 p.m. - JP - @MG: Next debate: Presidential foam fingers! what was McCain's gesture?!

9:33 p.m. - MG - @JP: He's like those guys behind the basket trying to distract the free-throw shooter!

9:32 p.m. - JP - McCain stands during Obama's response and sort of weirdly looms behind. He seems to be doing a lot of moving for the sake of moving. ah ha. three of three live blogs I've read contain reactions to this. and I wondered about it. I say this maybe even more than the "that one" is the standout moment of the debate.

9:27 p.m. - MG - Obama is an allegation-answerer. McCain is a allegation-ignorer. I have no idea which comes off better. It makes McCain look like the aggressor, since he doesn't bother to answer Obama's charges. But maybe it means that Obama's charges stick.

9:27 p.m. - JP - Surprised that Obama actually does rank his economic priorities in order, which seems begging to be made into an attack ad. But doesn't take the bait to put entitlement reform on his list, since it automatically means goring someone's ox.

9:26 p.m. - JP - Staffer who gave Obama the current price of gas in Nashville gets a little something extra in his paycheck this week.

9:24 p.m. - MG - Did McCain just say he'll make sure the $700 billion (the bailout, right?) won't end up in the hands of terrorists? Or did I miss an antecedent?

9:22 p.m. - JP - @MG: And neither is taking any chance to phrase these concerns in kitchen-table terms. Somewhere, Bill Clinton is throwing things at the TV.
9:21 p.m. - JP - McCain tells a voter that he understands her "cynicism"? what's the problem, just that it seems a negative characterization? I'm pretty sure Obama said it first, that he understood her __ and her cynicism, didn't he?
9:20 p.m. - MG - This is almost useless without follow-ups. It's like they take turns delivering their stump speeches.

9:15 p.m. - KT - Nancy Gibbs notes that this is maybe not the best day for McCain to invoke Meg Whitman: Agence France-Presse Page 18 2008-10-08 01:21 AM 'Internet giant eBay Inc., which has seen sluggish growth in its online auction business, announced Monday it was cutting its global workforce by about 10 percent....' so the person he mentioned liking for treasury secretary is the CEO of ebay? that seems int.
9:14 p.m. - MG - I'm interested in hearing politicians pointing fingers! Why aren't the American people?
9:12 p.m. - JP - Wasn't Obama directed never to say "I agree with John" about anything? Wasn't McCain directed not to mention his campaign "suspension"?
9:09 p.m. - JP - 1.3 million Americans make their living off eBay? Factcheck.org, please? Although, give it a few weeks, and it will probably be true. Can you sell tin cups of pencils on eBay?

9:03 p.m. - JP - McCain shakes Obama's hand AND looks at him! and even did the thing of putting other hand on his arm , I think

8:54 p.m. - JP - Only 68% of the CNN undecided focus group think the country is headed in the wrong direction? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the most optimistic people in America.

8:51 p.m. - MG - I would also like to say that like all those undecided voters in Columbus, I'm really looking for a candidate who will lay out a plan. With real specific details, not just vague political talking points. Because I'm a liar, and I know that's what I'm supposed to say when they put a camera in front of me.
8:44 p.m. - JP - By the way, what does Soledad O'Brien think about again being consigned to undecided-voter-panel hell in Columbus again? Also, as a Michigan Wolverine, I resent people from Columbus getting to speak for America's undecided. Although who am I kidding, the entire city of Ann Arbor is voting Obama.

8:41 p.m. - MG - Did Cindy McCain really say that Obama is running the dirtiest campaign in history? ... Next they're going to say Obama is too old to be president. word!

8:41 p.m. - JP - On CNN, someone—I believe it was Suzanne Malveaux—said that because of stereotypes Barack Obama cannot afford, as a black man, to appear too angry or use humor. Really? Not even a "white people dance like this..." joke?