McCain won the debate No. 1.

Obama’s main advantage over Hillary during the primaries is that “He’s RIGHT on Iraq War in the first place!”.  Last night, his brilliance with that line has gone wrong.  In fact, his major strength is supposed to be Foreign Policy because his “Anti-Iraq” campaign.  He was supposed to emphasize that and he lost.  His worst statement is the pseudo-gaffe on the “bracelet”… Obama lacks originality and he couldn’t immediately name the soldier…he doesn’t know that soldier personally.  His worst lines were the 9 times he asserted “that McCain is right”.  It’s a debate.  Technically, debate means that there are two opposing ideas… not the same ideas.

A different McCain showed last night. A real presidentiable.  It’s a good thing that McCain was not so familiar with the name of that Adminddajdwsoed… who?  It emphasizes his position in not meeting the Iranian President without pre-condition.

On the accuracy of these two men, based on what I’ve read this morning, Obama has a problem with his mis-understanding of Kissinger’s previous statement.  That’s the danger of naming a person that you don’t personally know. 

I will wait for Debate 2 and 3 and see if Obama can regroup.  I will not yet vote (our State is one of those who can already vote earlier).  I’ll give Obama a chance.

It was a draw.  Both had good and bad moments.

Obama looked into the camera and defiantly denied endorsing the bombing of sights in Pakistan without their approval – which he did a couple of months ago.  Frightening.  Then, to make matters worse, his explanation then defended his original position.  McCain was right, Obama’s failure to carefully study these matters is dangerous.  McCain should have hammered him on his failure to call his congressional committee together – ever – on foreign affairs.  McCain also said that Obama had been in the Senate 3 years – thus giving him more credit than he deserves.  It was obvious that McCain’s mind was elsewhere.  The country was in financial turmoil, but Obama was only thinking of himself and his own timelines.

Obama has a stu-stu-stuttering problem.

McCain won the debate and he is going to win many more to come….

Hands down, Senator McCain won the debate # 1. He appears straightforward and honest looking the camera straight into the eye. Senator Obama’s eyes wondered around the room as he made his strongest points. This was a very poor sign.

I didn’t get to watch the full debate, but from what I saw I would have to say McCain won.  Obama looked agitated as the debate wore on and his comments were confusing with all the “uh” and “ah”.  McCain should’ve mentioned the nearly $860 billion dollars in earmarks Obama secured for Illinois during his tenure as Senator.  Seems Obama only votes when there is a chance to get more money for his State.  McCain should’ve spent a little more time explaining why Obama’s so-called tax cut for the middle class is a bad idea and how his increase in corporate taxes will simply get passed down to the consumer.  Maybe McCain is playing poker here and waiting til later to show his cards, who knows.  I hope Palin has a very good showing this week.

“McCain should’ve mentioned the nearly $860 billion dollars in earmarks Obama secured for Illinois during his tenure as Senator.”

They did discuss earmarks but where did you get your facts? All earmarks combined add up to only under $17 billion.

Here’s a great chart to look at..
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/09/28/weekinreview/20080928_MARSH_GRFK.html?scp=1&sq=federal rescues&st=cse

McCain sounded like Bush many times in this debate. This is not a good thing…

.God Bless.

McCain won the debate; however, he failed to bring up the many weaknesses in Obama’s tax policy, such as how Obama declares war on the upper class with his tax increases. McCain needs to do a better job of attacking Obama on specific weaknesses.

I’ve heard a lot made about Obama’s “stutter,” so when watching the debates I paid special attention to this. To be honest, I don’t have a clue what people mean when they use this particular word. A “stutter” is typically when a person’s speech is interrupted mid-stream: “But I d-d-d-d-don’t w-w-w-w-wa-want any more p-p-p-p-potatoes.” Obama’s pre-vocalizations seem well within the acceptable range for a thinker when framing a considered response. Maybe I’ve spent too much time around academics, but what he does is completely normal in the arena of college and university classrooms. From all the attention people pay to this vocal habit I expected him to get flustered and break up in the middle of making a point. But he never got fatally hung up; his delivery was usually sharp for someone thinking on his feet. That behavior wasn’t half as distracting as McCain’s grimaces, laughter and facial tics, not to mention the frantic scribbling, which was not only continuous but fairly audible throughout. From the standpoint of public speaking, McCain’s antsy condescension seems more of a turnoff to me. Most polling on the subject suggests that Obama came across more collected.

As for the debate itself, they both did better than I thought they would. Each had memorable moments. They seemed well-prepared to answer the claims of the other. McCain demonstrated solid foreign policy experience; Obama effectively pointed out his misapprehension of Iraq. McCain, unfortunately, kept returning to the refrain of “out-of-control spending,” instead of using his time to elaborate points with information that might have brought a little more clarity. Obama deferred to him too much. I would call it about a draw. I think naming a winner of this one is like taking a Rorschach test.

I watched it two times and the first time I wasn’t sure if either of them had one.  But the second time it became clear that Obama was much more presidential than McCain.  I think Obama definitely needs to control the pauses, the ums….and McCain needs to come off as something more than a spoiled, petulant child.  People complain that Obama agreed with McCain too much but I actually find that encouraging.  We need someone who is going to be able to work with other people, see their points of view – McCain seems to think that he knows it all already.  We need a uniter – not a divider and that is what he is in my opinion. He also needs to stop that obnoxious smirk.  Really irritating.

Suzanne, I agree with you on the subject of Obama’s agreements . I read them in a similar way that night. I just knew, though, they’d immediately be used against him.

Has anyone told BHO that he was not a US senator in 2003? He was elected to the senate in 2006. I don’t think he had a vote in 2003. He was busy passing laws to kill babies in the Illinois senate back in 2003.