It is half an hour till kick off time, and I just wanted to first get a few preliminary ideas and feelings about who will win, how and why, before we get to it.

After the debate I would like to focus on the issues brought up, the plans that are laid out, the valid or invalid criticisms the candidates exchange, and the over all....who won.

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Allow me to start.

Obama has an advantage in the polls coming in......an advantage on the economic issues (according to the polls)......and if we learned anything from the Kennedy/Nixon debate, an advantage on appearance.

I think (and I KNOW Fox News will disagree even if McCain eats and infant on stage) that Obama will be a clear winner here.

What do you guys think......I will keep my asshole in check, if you do.

First question to obama, says cutting back of regulations led to economic crisis.

Wasn't the decades of artificially low interest rates dictated by the fed a main cause?

I missed the first 7 minutes.

So far, Obama's kicking ass as usual.

They're both starting to stutter a little too much, they're tripping all over themselves

Watching it currently on the only trusted new network there is.

since when does McCain want to bypass the U.N. by making a "league of democratic nations". I'm pretty neutral but that sounds like Team America: World Police, rather than a truer democratic league of nations, such as the U.N. is, where all members vote on issues.

on another note, Obama needs to stop tossing around $10 billion a month to prove every point

I just heard 5 minutes of a radio feed.

Bam Bam was talking about Georgia & fledgling democracies. Yeahyeahyeah.

Blahblahblah. Tough talk to impress the violent. Show them that he's a Big Testicled Man. Which, of course, is quite impressive. For those that think that is very important. Now if he only had big horns, like a ram, bull moose or a big horn sheep. He could bang horns with others to prove his great maleness & right to breed.

Perhaps a POTUS should have more on the ball than that? More complex ideas are too hard to impress the public with though.

Id say that Obama won the night

My favorite line was by Obama when he said "And that means that the ordinary American out there who's collecting a paycheck every day, they've got a little extra money to be able to buy a computer for their kid, to fill up on this gas that is killing them."


Great logic, Hussein.

I went into watching this debate with little hope for McCain, as he didn't watch an anti-American Negro speak for 20+ years in a fiery tone. But all in all, McCain trounced the Black Beauty. Obama stuttered and did...the... one.. word a second thing quite a few times trying to cognate a reply. I was very satisfied with the sharp mind of such an old man. I am looking forward to the next two debates.

Yes, perhaps he should have resorted to McCain's tactic of storytime with grandpa blinky.

I think the most memorable point in the debate is where grandpa answered yet another serious question, with a story involving a women who gave him a bracelet to wear and told McCain to win in Iraq and not let my son die in vain.

To which Obama responded "I have a bracelet, too" given to me by a women who wanted me to make sure no other mothers go through what she went through. Then reminded McCain that no soldier dies in vain.

I would have said "I have a bracelet, too, given to me by a grieving widow who wants exactly the opposite, stop with your pathetic appeals to emotion, and pity, and answer the questions. For the love of God, no more stories blinky".

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McCain talked about how he would fix things is by taking his pen and eliminating earmarks, to which Obama remined him that "earmarks are only 18 billion" of the budget, the nation building in Iraq costs 10 billion a month. AND Bush/McCain tax cuts cost America 300 billion in tax revenue.

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This is what I ultimately took from the debate.

McCain is living in the past, he is the old way, his ideas are dated. This is perfectly illustrated by his little stories involving the past.

Obama talks about the future, and where our country should be 20 years down the road.

Unfortunately, I'd have to say McCain owned Obama. More sharpness to his answers, more clarity, more pathos. He even had Obama blurting out "No no that's not true" on at least one occasion in defense of himself. Although there were times when McCain was on the defensive too, I'd have to say he won the majority of the debate.

I am sorry, when someone asks you an intelligent questions and you resort to answering "this reminds me of a story", and then engage in storytime, that is not sharp, clear or crisp.

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Had it ever occured to you that McCain had Obama blurting that out because McCain was outright lying?

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I don't gauge who wins a debate, by who was more aggresive. That is foolish. If you and I debate, all I have to do is accuse you of things (whether true or not) to keep you on the defensive, and I win by default?

I gauge who wins when a person makes a case why their ideas are superior to the others. McCain did not convince me that tax cuts for the wealthy, are superior. He did not make a case why not communicating with leaders without preconditions is superior to engaging in diplomacy when you can.