Live Blogging – Second Debate
10:35 PM EDT
Curtains.
Is it me or do the ground rules really put a damper on any truly spirited debate and new discovery? Anyway, nothing too earth-shattering tonight. And I’m eternally grateful that Sarah “Barracuda” Palin wasn’t mentioned.
Winner: Obama (but I’m obviously bias). McCain gets a smiley face for not blowing his stack.
Special thanks to Simon and Leslie at C-SPAN’s Debate Hub for linking to me.
10:20 PM EDT
The gloves are off and Brokaw seems to have surrendered. Go figure. I bet he can’t wait for this to be over.
10 minutes are left.
McCain promises to “get Bin Laden”, but doesn’t say what he’d do differently. Just trust him, “he knows how to win wars.” And did he just say Obama was right about something? Wow. Then he blows it by claiming Obama has yet to acknowledge the success of the surge, which he has done dozens of times now. Is McCain lying or just not paying attention?
10:13 PM EDT
Obama’s answer on hitting Bin Laden across the Pakistani border was good. He make a commitment to do it if we ever get actionable intelligence.
McCain (the man who sang about bombing Iran) says that Obama “talks loudly?”
10:08 PM EDT
Foreign Policy:
Sadly, all of the pie-in-the-sky good deeds McCain is referencing have been tarnished by his party over the past 8 years. And it will take a lot of work and new blood to start fixing it.
The Obama Doctrine: Cautious. Non-committal.
The McCain Doctrine: Wastes the first part of his time bashing Obama instead of laying out his own vision. He touts the importance of judgment, wisdom, temperance. In the end – cautious and non-committal.
9:58 PM EDT
Great question from Brokaw on how best to inspire energy innovation.
Weak, low-class joke about hair transplants by McCain.
Excellent health care question from the crowd and follow-up by Brokaw. And Obama nailed it. How does the most powerful country the world has ever seen NOT have universal health care? For a country like us – health care is a human right.
9:45 PM EDT
Listen. Obama’s tax plan leaves 95% of tax payers alone. Is that taxing the rich? Sure. But McCain won’t win an election by playing to the 5% who will be paying more.
We are at the halfway point and, IMHO, Obama is easily winning.
9:39 PM EDT
Herbert Hoover? Did McCain know him?
Obama’s facial expressions are great if you’re lucky to get a glimpse (reaction shots are against the “memorandum of understanding” governing this debate.) He’s smiling and looks as cool as a cucumber.
9:33 PM EDT
If you’re watching on CNN would you agree that the lines at the bottom (representing the sentiments of the audience) and spiking for Obama’s answers more than McCain’s?
9:30 PM EDT
Obama does a much better job of relating to working class people, hands down.
Brokaw is going to go nuts if these guys don’t start respecting the time.
Great question about sacrifice and not an easy one to answer. Americans don’t even like to think about sacrifice. Then McCain goes off on earmarks again, as if that’s a sacrifice. Maybe he’s playing to a parallel universe that only he can see.
9:23 PM EDT
I’m surprised it took McCain this long to bring up earmarks. Unfortunately, even if they were completely eliminated it would have no effect on the budget. Annual spending on earmarks is actually not that big. 
9:21 PM EDT
Ok. That lady is definitely undecided and we can all relate to her. Let’s hope she’s not the only one in the room. I admire her open disgust with both parties.
9:16 PM EDT
The ice is broken.
Obama:
I like the way Obama labeled the current financial crisis the “final verdict” on the Bush administration. Keep hammering that home. Good opening for Obama.
McCain:
McCain launches right into a canned response and he’s not very good at making it look like an answer. Ending our dependency on foreign oil is not the “fastest, most direct” way to alleviate the current suffering on the middle class. Listen to the questions, Senator.
McCain: Bailout versus rescue, oh sure. And I can’t believe he mentioned “suspending his campaign.” And then, he takes the first shot at Obama’s associations and blames the housing crash on Obama.
Obama: I like his focus and composure. And the fact that he is actually answering the question while saving time to address McCain’s cheap shot.
9:04 PM EDT
Showtime. Nice warm greeting with very little teeth-grinding by McCain.
8:10 PM EDT
Tonight’s debate is “town hall” style with supposedly undecided voters asking the questions. Undecided voters? These two candidates couldn’t be more different. On this issue, I agree with the folks at The New Republic who “wonder whether a voter who at this point says he or she is ‘uncommitted’ is most capable of formulating a telling question to the candidates.”
7:25 PM EDT
According to Politico, McCain advisers are worried about their candidate’s inherent grumpiness. I would be too. But I also don’t see him making any progress by forcing a smile – we’ve seen that before and it was creepy.
You can read my debate Warm-up here.
About the Author: Randall H. Miller is an American college educator/blogger. He is also a former U.S. Army officer (82nd Airborne) with a M.A. in Diplomacy (focusing on International Terrorism) and a B.A. in Criminal Justice. Use the form on the right to sign up and receive notifications of new content. The words and ideas expressed here are 100% his own and not those of his employers or affiliated organizations.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Hey, McCain just made a joke!!! He’s doing better than I thought!
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
McCain’s answer on what the bailout would do for the little people was lame. He just used it as a device to talk about Fannie and Freddie and didn’t answer the question. Obama started by answering the question and then moved on to correcting McCain’s false assertions. Point Obama!
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Yeah cynicism!!! I’m with her on that question. Neither party is pure.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Yes, McCain is right: the system is broken. McCain, however, is full of it when he claims he has taken on the special interests. His campaign is FULL of lobbyists. He has sold out completely and he has turned his back on his maverick status on every single issue. He’s voted with Bush 100% of the time in 2008. Once a maverick does not mean always a maverick. He’s a sell out. BS meter off the charts.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Does reaching across the aisle include swearing at people? If so, McCain’s definitely reached across the aisle.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
McCain could start with making the Pentagon find out what happened to the over $1 trillion that has gone missing.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
I agree with your comments about sacrifice and earmarks. Obama has made an excellent point about the inappropriateness of Bush urging people to go out and shop. The leader of our nation needs to be someone who can offer more than that.
Rebecca | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
“Nailing Jell-o to the Wall?” Kinda harsh, eh grumpy?
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Good point on unfair burden sharing and using a scalpel instead of a hatchet.
Rebecca | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Okay, it’s been what, five or six times?! If McCain slurs his ‘My Friends’ one more time…
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
I share Obama’s frustration with trying to correct McCain’s falsehoods about his tax plan.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Rebecca, he did it again…
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
McCain talking about too many lobbyists makes me LOL!!! How many lobbyists are working on his campaign?!! What a frickin’ hypocrite!
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Oooo, good question for McCain on the environment. He’s running with a beauty queen who doesn’t believe that global warming is manmade! “Nuclear power is safe and it’s clean.” Really, Senator McCain? I wonder how the folks that used to live around Chernobyl feel about that statement.
Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
RHM,
I’m surprised at how partisan your commenting is. If you watch the debate objectively they are both doing a good job of expressing their positions and their plan for making changes. You might not agree with one or the other, but that’s no reason to criticize.
Hands down Obama is a better orator, but I don’t know that this alone qualifies him or makes him a better candidate then McCain.
RHM | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Hey, I grew up about 25 miles from a nuclear power plant and I turned out fine.
RHM
RHM | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
@Porsche Boy
It’s not partisan commenting. I just appreciate thoughtful answers as opposed to rushed talking points in no logical sequence.
Try to keep up.
RHM
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Oh Obama just nailed McCain on being in Congress for 26 of the last 30 years of congressional inactivity and pointed out his terrible voting record on alternative energy.
Obama wins another round.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
RHM,
So that explains your radiance!
Rebecca | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
McCain thinks he’s so funny… “goodies”? Seriously?
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Excellent question on health care. Profit in health care has destroyed our health care system.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
I’m so glad Obama brought up the business community coming out against McCain’s health care plan. That is very damning.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
We are peacemakers? I don’t think so. We might have been at one time, but we forfeited that when we adopted preemptive war, just they way that McCain has forfeited the maverick moniker when he flip flopped on every issue, including torture. What a total lack of integrity.
Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
@RHM,
Just more partisan trash. Again, no doubt Obama is a better speaker. Put that aside, take their policies and lay them out side by side and make your decision based on that.
RHM | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
@Porsche Boy,
I’m guessing by your name and avatar that you’re a 5 percenter.
Try to put that aside, “my friend.”
RHM
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Did McCain just say we need a cool hand at the tiller? His record is full of going off half cocked and his colleagues who have worked with him don’t want his hot hand on the red button because he’s anything but cool! This is a man who called his wife a c**t in front of reporters! That’s not cool!
Rebecca | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Our “most precious Source… American blood?”
I’ll take Nationalism for 300, please
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Oh god, I don’t even have it in me to complain about McCain’s opening on Obama’s position on Pakistan. He can’t open his mouth without lying.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Thank goodness Obama DOES have it in him to correct the untruths.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
So glad that Obama made the same point that you did about McCain talking loudly.
Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
@RHM,
So what if I am? I make more so I should pay more? That’s crazy? I’m not patriotic if I don’t pay more? Isn’t that what Obama has basically said?
I, or others like me, as a result of our success should pay more? That’s what Obama is saying.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Obama said it needs to be fair. The top 5% have unfairly profited for 8 years under the Bush administration. Correction is needed. The rich have gotten much much richer under Bush, while the rest of the population has been lucky to just stay even. When you take inflation into consideration, the vast majority of the population has been slip sliding away. The very wealthy should take a little trip back to the history books to remind themselves what happens when the populace falls too far behind…
DJS | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran! Nice.
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Yeah, being a POW doesn’t mean you know how to win wars. Where does his winning wars experience come from? He crashed a lot of expensive jets during his military career, but he didn’t have any military successes. Where did he pick up this knowledge?
Jin Jirrie | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Hands down to Obama. McCain obscures any positive message he is trying to sell with the usual bankrupt lies and slurs.
Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
@LaPaix,
John McCain is a true war hero and one of the very few alive today. To disparage his service record and to suggest he “crashed a lot of expensive jets” is just pure ignorance.
Regardless of your politics or party, support for US troops, their service and sacrifice should never waiver.
Your comments about McCain border on offensive and sound like most John Kerry supporters.
DJS | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Naval Academy, Worked Post-War relations with Vietnam, numerous military offices in the Senate. And you also don’t just get your Naval Pilot’s license over night. Have to take a few military tactical, intelligence and officer training courses… I am just guessing now
LaPaix | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
He did crash a lot of jets and anyone else would have had their ability to fly them taken away, but because his father was the head of the Navy he got to keep flying. He had a very undistinguished military career. I was not a John Kerry supporter. I voted for him in the end because there was no way in hell I would ever vote for GW. I might be “offensive” because I am highly offended by what has happened to our country in the past eight years. It scares me to death that there are people who would vote for someone who would carry on the same policies that got us where we are today.
Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
@LaPaix,
Give my best to Cindy Sheehan. I’m assuming you and she must be very close…
DJS | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
“undistinguished military career”
Really believe that?
Anyway all. Good night!
DJS
dickmill | Oct 8, 2008 | Reply
Sitting in the sun Wed AM in Las Vegas – thanks for all the comments – missed the debate – was at Caesar’s Palace. US decadence at its best. Enjoy it while you can. If McVain/Barracuda get in (1 in 1000) we’ll all be drafted into the surge.
LaPaix | Oct 9, 2008 | Reply
Yeah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFM1xqqTX_g&feature=rec-fresh