McCain vs. Obama Debate III Coverage

10:57pm:
I'm calling this one for McCain. Goodnight.

I'll be curious to see if the Ayers/Acorn stuff actually sticks. I would guess no, based on the Clinton experience.



10:47pm:

NBC: Williams asks Clinton how she felt sitting there -- what a LaME softball question. He grilled Romney like a burger over coals, and suddenly goes soft on Hillary.

Hillary tosses around platitudes about closing the book on Bush.

Williams asks about one-party rule and worries about that.

Hillary references 1993 -- says they had to repair the damage then and now (what a load of bull). More crap about gridlock. Americans yearning for decisions.

Williams asks about Palin: Hillary gives the same answer as Obama did. Avoids ripping Sarah. Says Obama-Biden ticket -- "No comparison."

Brings up 401k, jobs ... offering Obama as the answer, the savior, the messiah, 'da man, etc., etc..

Williams thanks Hillary and subliminally promises to vote for her in two years.


ABC: Stepanopolous says McCain rallied Republican voters. Torie Clark Rep Analyst says Obama ground game is too strong. Stepanopolous says Obama's money is too much for McCain.

I thought rich politicians were EVIL. I always heard how Republicans had more money in the 1980's and 1990's and how EVIL they were for spending more than the poor Democrats.

George Will -- "Too late!" I agree that McCain should have been against the bailout bill. Debates are bad occasions to change campaign.

Stepanopoulos defends McCain's decision b/c McCain would have been blamed for bringing bill down and economy down.

Donna Brazile -- do Democrats really think she helps their cause? She's so clearly partisan it's ridiculous!

Looks like the network anchors are waiting for the polling data -- they're not willing to call the debate one way or the other without the polls.



10:31pm:
Charlie Gibson: "Third time's the charm."

Brokaw: "They turned their backs on each other."

Both talked about Joe the Plumber -- Brokaw declared Joe the winner.

Brokaw: McCain MOCKED Obama.

Sawyer: McCain had a "Battlecry." Obama stuck to issues.

Gibson: McCain failed to make contrast on experience at end.

Stepanapolous: Tactical error bringing up Bill Ayers. Mistake in the debate. (So far, the MSM has not repudiated what McCain said).

Gibson: McCain got ANGRY about John Lewis. Took it PERSONAL. EVIL.

Sawyer: DEFENDS (!) Obama ripping McCain for "Hurt feelings." WOW.

If I get compared to a segregationist ... I'd have to be DEAD to not show passionate disagreements!

Couric: Asking her focus group about McCain taking the gloves off.

CBS shows clip of Obama punting foreign policy to Biden and Luger. McCain talking about Acorn and Ayers. "Facts are facts. Records are records."

Couric asking if this is important? One brother saying Obama didn't look presidential in his response. Brother leaning towards McCain.

White dude with glasses was impressed with McCain, cutting subsidies for Ethanol.


NBC focus group: 4 ind, 1 dem, 1 rep.

1 person thought McCain stronger on Economy; 3 thought Obama stronger on Economy. 2 undecided.


ABC: Playing "I'm not President Bush." Stepanopoulos RIPS McCain for not using it in the first debate. WHO CARES? Stepanopoulos is upset that he said it!

ABC Fact Check: McCain said Joe's last name wrong. William Ayers living room -- campaign was not launched out of living room, but "There were several coffees held that summer. One was held at William Ayers." DAMN. IT'S TRUE.

Obama had more associations with Acorn than he admited to in debate.

I think the MSM will get the facts out tonight, and then cover it up over the next three weeks ... apologize for Obama the way only a sick loyalist can.


NBC: Mitt Romney interviewed by Brian Williams.

Williams pitching that Virginia is going for Obama and 19 days left.

Romney predicting bounce, and turnaround.

NBC panel -- three out of six people switched to McCain!

Romney -- Obama having to explain abortion, spending on campaign ... game-changer for McCain.

William -- battle for soul of McCain?

Romney -- no. Ebb and flow of campaign. He brings it back to McCain positively. Rips Obama for being in extreme wing of Democrat party. Brings up Robin Hood Obama. Brings up Vouchers. Obama -- "Smooth. Quick. But left wanting. Out of the mainstream."



10:27pm:
McCain calls discussion with Obama "Healthy." Yeah, right. Poison is more like it.

Blah, blah, blah. Trying to look into that camera. At least he's making the effort, but he keeps tripping over words. He's going for the win, entering an uncomfortable space.

Long line of McCains ... sheesh. Nobody wants to hear about that, after Bush Sr. and Jr.

Obama thanks McCain and Bob both for moderating. Obama successfully debated himself and won.

Same failed politics line ... change line ...

Whoa -- I didn't invite you. You're on my TV. Let's keep this relationship platonic, buddy.

Economy of future. Lifting wages, as opposed to weights.

Bringing weights to White House ... something like that....

Convinced we can do it (pump us up) ... tirelessly ...

Scheffer -- "Go vote now. It'll make you feel big and strong."

Great job moderating.

And now ... the pun'dits!



10:23pm:
McCain rips Obama for not paying attention to D.C. voucher system.

McCain wants to reform stuff, and rips Democrats for defending programs that don't work.

McCain promises to cure Autism -- damn. He's going for that Messianic Hope vote. Good for him.

McCain -- vouchers are proven system. Yay!

Obama -- uh, oh. He's about to rip vouchers. D.C. school system sucks. G. loves McCain's smile when disagreeing with Obama. Rips McCains plan.

McCain rips Obama, "Because we don't have enough vouchers, even though it's working, we shouldn't use it? I got it." McCain seems more relaxed.


10:15pm: Scheffer asks question about education. Spend more than everybody and trail most countries. What do they intend to do about it?

Obama -- hire William Ayers. Just kidding. Hahaha.

Need more money (?). Invest (?). Huge benefits (?).

Army of new teachers, with General Ayers leading them into battle. Just kidding. Bwahaha.

People take on debt to go into college? Gee, what a shock.

$4,000 tuition credit, in exchange for service. Well, that covers a semester or two, barely. I guess Obama wants to give people another option besides the National Guard.

McCain -- believes in choice and competition for schools. I agree. Charter Schools, vouchers ... enough politics on this subject already. Give parents choice!

"Throwing money at the problem is not the answer." G. just said, "Sure it is. Throw some money this way!" She was kidding. Hahaha.

McCain offering student loan program that already exists. Yikes.

Obama -- Tradition of multiple something or other in schools. Local schools? What did he say?

"Bush left the money behind for No Child Left Behind." I guess that's how the Dems get around the Kennedy connection to that program.

Obama agrees with McCain about Charter Schools. Yay! When he gets elected, I can at least know my kids will have options.

Disagrees with McCain on vouchers. Boo! Oh, well. The voucher system would probably be too complicated anyway.

Rips McCain for calling kids "Interest groups." Ouch. Another great zinger by Obama.




10:06pm:
McCain opposes litmus test. LaME answer. Using doublespeak. Loser argument.

Obama agrees with McCain about litmus test -- I guess since McCain was LaME first, it doesn't hurt to follow him down the LaME road!

"Fairness and justice." Amen, brother. Justice!

A women named Louie Ledbetter -- was that a Pearl Jam song? Supreme Court was EVIL in this case, according to the big O. Woman treated unFAIRly. Justice!

McCain -- now we're changing the culture of America? Who wouldn't show compassion to a woman?

McCain attacks Obama on abortions -- Obama is EVIL late-term abortionist. Voted present -- classic LaME move.

Obama responds -- "It's not true." Stammers. Voted against some law that was already on the books.

Obama supports ban on late-term abortions as long as there is an exception for the mother's life. That's why he voted Present!

HE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HE VOTED PRESENT! WOW. Great Political Geek Theater.

Work against unintended pregnancy, options for adoption ... for the first time in Democratic platform? "No one is pro-abortion." WOW. BULLS###. That's pure, unadulterated, 100%, grade-A bulls###.



10:05pm:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls McCain's Insurance plan EVIL. Another Obama Zinger, "Even for you, John."



9:59pm:
McCain -- supports physical fitness for kids and employees. Maybe Arnold can go back to being the Health Czar.

Joe the Plumber is back! I wish Joe the Scanner was being referred to.

Gary Allen -- very funny twitter comments! LOL

Obama -- "Zero."

McCain -- "Zero?"

Obama brushes off McCain like a piece of dandruff of his shoulder and talks directly to Joe the Plumber again.

I no longer understand what he's talking about while typing ... which imitates the attention rate of the average American.

Just heard something about a 50% credit. 50% of what? Is it more than $5,000?

Millions of people lose employer-based coverage because of EVIL JOHN MCCAIN.

Average policy = $12,000.

Obama is ripping McCain up like a piece of JP Deskjet Off-white 90 weight paper.

McCain -- "Joe -- congratulations! You're rich!" Rips Obama for wanting to pull a Robin Hood and spread his "wealth" around like butter scraped on bread.

McCain adopts the 95% number!

Gary Allen -- he didn't even talk to that voter -- Obama did!

Pulled away from debate temporarily.




9:56pm:

Expand healthcare AND lower costs? Sorry, Obama -- any person who works for a living KNOWS you can't do both.

Obama sounds like a Tashman executive, demanding low error rates AND high productivity.

Cut premium by $2,500 per year -- HOW?!?

Prices will go down b/c of the larger pool of people. Sorry -- it's pie in the sky. If THAT was true, then insurance companies would GLADLY insure homes in Florida against flood and wind damage. INSTEAD, they run for the hills and pull out of the state, leaving citizens with Citizens, the state-run insurance company.



9:55pm: Hugo Chavez = EVIL

That should score well in Hialeah for McCain.

Restrict trade, raise taxes. Last President who tried that was Hoover -- OBVIOUSLY, McCain is a reader of the DailySkew blog comments!



9:46pm: Scheffer referencing Nixon and importing oil. Asks for specific number to reduce oil imports.

McCain -- eliminate Middle Eastern and Venezuelan oil. Rips Obama for wanting to renegotiate NAFTA due to Canadian reaction (good political geek point, but does the common man care).

McCain believes in Nuclear and Clean Coal tech for the heartland -- "Easily" eliminate dependence.

Obama -- "In ten years," can "Reduce" dependence. "Realistic timeframe."

"Nothing's more important" ... everything is a final-double-sized-issue CRISIS with this guy.

Rips oil companies for not drilling in lands with no oil ... yet again. Boring.

More crap about how EVIL we are for using 25% of the world's oil.

References Henry Ford.

Obama talks about NAFTA. Believes in free trade. Rips NAFTA. Good luck negotiating that with Canada and Mexico, Mr. Sim City.

"That's all good." Need free trade with South Korea.

McCain -- pay attention to Obama's words. "Look at." Score it. Two points. Hit that doublespeak!

Rips Clinton for some free trade. That reminds me, NAFTA was signed by Clinton!

Obama opposed Columbia Free Trade ... and, therefore, opposes stopping the flow of drugs. I love the leaps of logic. Rips Obama for not visiting Columbia.

Obama -- "Actually, I understand it pretty well." Damn, he's adroit at rebounding. Wants unions in Columbia. Supports Peruvian Free Trade ... I think people are going, "What? Who?" right about now. I've never heard of either of these trade agreements.

Bounces back to Automakers -- I guess this free trade stuff is not his strong suit.

Obama announces himself as the new CEO of GM; they WILL ... make hybrid cars with wind turbines and solar panels to be the driver of the economey ... or something like that.



9:44pm: Obama punts on the direct question from Scheffer. Applauds her special needs advocacy. Obama attempts to steal special needs advocacy -- says McCain's freeze will kill autistic babies (something like that).

McCain -- Biden had cockamamy (spellcheck that) idea about dividing up Iraq. Interesting -- I didn't know Biden agreed with Michael Savage. Strange bedfellows.

Brings up raising taxes by Obama again, a tried and true strategy.



9:42pm: McCain tells us that Palin is a reformer. Goes down the talking points, telling the story of Palin.

Brings up special needs families.

I wonder who is embarrassed more -- Republicans or Democrats.

Palin's hubby is tough guy ... okay.



9:40pm: Obama telling us how great Biden's foreign policy is.

Crime bill ... fighting for working families ... Biden and Obama share core values (whatever that means).

Reprioritize ... invest in American people ... give tax cuts to teeny-tiny smaller than Tashman Tech businesses ... make College affordable so William Ayers can fill their minds with tales of Pentagon bombings.



9:31pm: Obama FINALLY brings up Congressman Lewis -- public reports of people shouting terrorists and kill him. Congressman Lewis' point was we need to be careful.

McCain laughs and says, "You gotta read what he said."

Obama -- we put out statement saying we don't think that comparison with Civil Rights is appropriate, and Lewis agrees.

Americans cynical over the tit for tat. They want politicians to focus.

McCain -- clearly frustrated. "Sure." LOL

McCain, "Categorically, I'm proud of the people who come to our rallies." Defending his people. Dedicated, patriotic people. One person yelled at his rally doesn't represent the entire people.

McCain brings up people yelling at Obama rallies, and brings up the t-shirt! But ... he didn't go into details. Damn.

Obama -- stammering. Sheffer asks him if he takes issue. The t-shirt thing got to him. Is it a point for McCain?

Obama -- comes back to issues. Talks about Dems, Reps, and Inds coming together. "Can't characterize each other as bad people."

McCain -- brings up relationship with Acorn (Obama smiles as McCain describes voter fraud), "Old washed up terrorist" ....

Obama -- allegations ... "Mr. Ayers" ... Bill Ayers is a professor ... 40 years ago, when he was 8 ... blah, blah, blah, heard this before. Here we go with the friend of Ronald Reagan and republicans.

Does not deny that he knows Ayers. Good. He dare not lie in front of the whole country.

Acorn -- scandal had nothing to do with Obama. Represented Acorn to make Illinois create Motor Voter law.

Lie -- the video on YouTube is everywhere where he talks to Acorn last year.

Foreign policy -- he punts to Dick Luger and Biden. So ... he's going to have a Republican on his cabinet?

McCain -- brings up launching campaign in Ayers living room. I'm glad this is finally coming out on the national stage -- if it's not true, let's see how the MSM rips McCain.

Obama already chatting during McCain's rant. Sheffer ends it. McCain got the last word. Wow.

I'm not sold this whole thing is a winning argument -- see Bill Clinton if you don't believe me.



9:30pm: McCain -- every other ad was an attack on health care. Ads misportray positions on stem cell research and other issues.

Obama spending unprecedented amounts of money on this campaign -- those rich liberals from around the world are coming through for him.



9:27pm: Obama -- Campaigns are like this. Polls show that people feel McCain is being more negative. 100% of McCains are negative.

No one cares about hurt feelings, according to Obama. WHAT AN A$$HOLE. McCain apologizes and gets ripped for angry audience members. Obama lets his surrogates do the LaME attacking and gets off Scott Free in the MSM.

Obama wants to see the subject change. Politics as usual not changing things.



9:24pm: Negative campaigning. Scheffer is being fair and balanced.

Great question, asking them to say it to each other's face!

McCain -- "Tough campaign." Blames Obama for not doing townhall meetings. Tone could have been different. Regrets negative aspects. Unacceptable turns. Attacks Obama for not repudiating remarks by Congressman John Lewis -- it's political geek stuff, but he summarized it.

McCain states he repudiates when someone steps out of bounds (it's true. It's true).

McCain -- Obama lied about receiving public spending. "Highest spending since Watergate."



9:22pm: Obama supported Tort Reform, Charter Schools, Clean Coal reform -- Good stuff.

Obama takes a shot at Fox News.

Obama attacks McCain for being a supporter of Bush. Admits that McCain for being independent on some issues like torture. Says the last 8 years have not worked.

McCain -- very clear he's disagreed with Bush. Climate change. Earmarks. Iraq. Torture. Medicare importation prescription drugs ... rattling off lists is a bad move.



9:20pm: "I am not President Bush ... if you wanted to run against him, you should've run four years ago." THANK YOU.

References liberal mayor Bloomberg and HIS spending freezes. Good reference.

Obama voted for higher spending.

Goodies -- I hate that cutesy word. It's a loser.

McCain challenging Obama directly. Good stuff.



9:10pm: Obama DEFENDS earmarks by saying it's a small part of the budget. SO WHAT?!? Since it's so SMALL, we can get rid of it, right? Hello?

Here we go with the Bush surplus bull@@@@ again. Hey, a$$hole, did you hear about 9/11? War? What a jerk. Bush worked with Kennedy -- blame Kennedy!

Will McCain please attack?


9:16pm: McCain discusses Depression-era Home Ownership Program. References Senator Clinton.

McCain will cut? Starts talking about energy independence (another winning argument) to create jobs.

Cross the board spending freeze (I don't know why this argument is not a winner -- it makes sense to me to hold freezing at 2009 levels).

Opposes subsidies of Ethanol (That HAS to be a winning argument for people -- we all saw how the price of groceries were affected by ethanol fuels!).

Cut out all the pork, including the projector for the Planetarium -- the one that NPR spent a segment on this week defending on behalf of Obama.


9:14pm: Bob Scheffer is a great moderator.

Taxpayers will get money back ... we've been living beyond our means.

Scheffer brings Obama back. Obama starts talking about pay as you go. Need to eliminate medicare subsidies -- "It's a give away." Seniors just fell over.

Economic problem a "Slump."


9:11pm: McCain brings up Obama's Robin Hood comment to Joe the Plumber ("Spread the wealth around").

Why increase any taxes? This has always been a winning Republican argument.

Obama -- 95% of Americans will get tax cut. Will McCain question this 95% stat? Or will he stick to Joe the Plumber?

Ordinary families can't afford food. Need a break.

Obama would prefer not to pay taxes -- but have to pay.

McCain -- let's not raise taxes. Business tax rates 2nd highest in the world. Cut business tax to keep businesses here. Trickle down or truth?



9:08pm: Obama zinger. His smooth delivery after that stammering display is a clear winner.

Exxon/Mobil = EVIL

Homer Simpson is nodding while chomping his donut, saying, "Evil."

Joe the Plumber -- wants to help young entrepeneur now.

"98% of small businesses make less than $250,000." Is that gross or net?


9:07pm: McCain brings up the plumber. Political geeks know this story already.

Speaking to Joe directly -- McCain FINALLY looks into the camera. Stuttering ... not comfortable.

"Joe the plumber."


9:05pm: Obama -- looking into the camera again. Looking presidential. Who cares what he says. He wins the American Idol version of the Presidential Election.

End tax breaks ... give tax credits for companies hiring in U.S.

End penalties for early withdrawal of IRA -- this is a WINNING pitch. People are drawing money out of their retirement.

Fix education (damn. Every Presidential candidate says this).

9:04pm: McCain, talking about greed again. Pitching his $300 billion plan. Gives logical explanation -- important to keep property values up.