dagblog - Comments for "Debate live-blog"

Hey, bee! Long time, no

DF — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:50:07 +0000

In reply to Hey, I didn't know you were

Hey, bee! Long time, no see. It was kind of a last-minute thing. Sorry about the lack of notice.

Hey, I didn't know you were

workerbee — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:41:02 +0000

In reply to Debate live-blog

Hey, I didn't know you were doing this

Catch ya next time.

that tactic of staying on

Deadman — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:01:04 +0000

In reply to Excellent. I didn't know that

that tactic of staying on message, question be damned, may work, but it still pisses me off, and Obama was annoyingly good at it tonight. I thought this debate was yet another snooze-fest; I was kind of hoping McCain would throw some desperate haymaker zingers. No such luck. Just the same bunch of talking points and ticky-tack, back-and-forth shit we've heard over and over again ... from both sides.

The only interesting thing to me was that I thought McCain looked tired, old and somewhat confused at times (I mentioned to my girlfriend that I thought he was also breathing very heavy). I agree that Obama again won, 30% on the strength of his own performance, and 70% by default because McCain needed a gamechanger and didn't find one.

I predict that there will be

Michael Wolraich — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:39:14 +0000

In reply to It was kind of a last minute

I predict that there will be a lot of "Obama won," as there seems to be already, but less of the "McCain didn't look at Obama" and related body language divination crap.

It was kind of a last minute

DF — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:33:00 +0000

In reply to Excellent. I didn't know that

It was kind of a last minute decision. I'd never done it before. I'd probably do it a bit differently next time, but all in all it was fun.

I think you nailed the post-debate analysis. I hadn't quite placed my finger on Obama's shift in delivering his answers, but I think you're exactly right. McCain needed him to screw up. Not only did he not screw up, but he improved.

I guess we'll see how the spin comes out.

Excellent. I didn't know that

Michael Wolraich — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:22:58 +0000

In reply to Debate live-blog

Excellent. I didn't know that you were live blogging tonight. Well done, sir.

I second the win. Further, I think that this is the best debate Obama has done. Cool, on message, and presidential looking, as you've mentioned, but something more. He often has a tendency to get stuck in his head, like he's thinking hard about the question and forgetting that he's supposed to be communicating to an audience. You didn't see that in this debate. Instead of focusing on answering the question in a way that precisely measured his thoughts on the subject, he focused on the message that he wanted to present to the audience, question be damned. This tactic used to piss me off when Reagan did it, but doggone it, it works.

Big loss for McCain tonight, not because he lost badly but because he desperately needed a big win. And wasn't the townhall format suppost to be his element?