I'm going to be a little more methodical in this liveblog. Less moment-by-moment reactions, more general thoughts on larger themes.
6:06: They're seated and both look relaxed. This format will likely make both more appealing. McCain is working very hard to look relaxed and human. He's been instructed to look at Obama, and he's trying that. He's not looking into the camera, as Obama does. These are stagecraft issues, and it looks like McCain has finally caught up on taking it seriously. After ten minutes, McCain is slipping back into contempt.
6:10: Joe the Plumber. This is the new everyman (your days are done, Joe Sixpack). Wow, did Joe get some serious face time. If he doesn't have a reality show by Spring, he missed a hell of an opportunity.
6:18: The thing that Obama recognizes is that debates aren't about scoring points. He doesn't care at all about getting McCain's goat. He is not going to squabble, he's going to stay presidential and serious. McCain, constantly smirking and trying to score points, looks like a guy who's sparring in a locker room. It's death among women voters. It's a dog-whistle among male Republicans, who eat it up. Guess who will decide the election?
6:27 - 6:40: Schieffer asks the question about the nastiness, and McCain goes into this long spiel about he's the victim. All of that played immediately into Obama's hand because he could redirect them and talk about the poison of campaigns. Obama looks presidential. In his rebuttal, McCain went into an aggrieved rant that was built on lies or grossly misplaced pique. It's one of the most amazing sections in a debate I've ever seen. We're into territory we've never seen before. As the exchange continues, McCain repeats the Ayers and ACORN accusations with great pique. It's bizarre. Obama doesn't exactly know what to do with it because he is coming off like a lunatic. (Obama dispensed with the ACORN and Ayers stuff brilliantly.) I'll try to get the video.
6:55: McCain is boiling with rage. He's firing out random talking points--most of which are lies--with a seething hiss. I've never really seen anything like this. It unravels on him the second Obama has a chance to respond, because he is calm, engaged, and sane. He rebuts McCain easily (insane rantings being easy to rebut), which ... enrages McCain more.
7:15: McCain needed to come in with a gameplan. His task was simple: reverse the image that he's unhinged and erratic, and offer a coherent plan for change that would compete with Obama's and credibly give swing voters a reason to view him as the change candidate. He is doing the opposite in this debate. He's chaotic, confused, angry, and he has no plan whatsoever, just a series of talking points that will appeal only to the fringe right. I don't see a single thing that he did right on the points, and the overall effect is much more devasting. Energy: drill. Abortion: demonize pro-choice voters and ridicule Obama. Etc. It's a doomed strategy.
Final analysis: it was an incredibly interesting debate if you were an Obama fan. (Apparently also if you were a McCain fan.) Obama killed McCain.
Showing posts with label liveblog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liveblog. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Liveblogging the Second Debate
I'm going to try to be a little more sedate this time around. We'll see how that works.
6pm: One minute to go.
6:05: McCain looks Obama in the eye when he shakes his hand--someone coached him. Shocker! First question's about the economy. Obama's solution: WPA. McCain is talking around the question sort of like Palin. This is not what they envisioned, the Palinizing of McCain.
6:10: McCain: my treasury secretary would be the founder of eBay, Meg Whitman. Seriously.
6:15: McCain launches a broadside at Obama for causing the Freddie/Fanny debacle ("with his cronies"), and Obama starts by ignoring it. Later he goes back with a pointed rebuttal. It raises the question of how much he should engage McCain's unhinged personal attacks. Probably he should ignore the old crank.
6:17: McCain claims to have warned in a letter of the mortgage crisis. That's a letter I'd like to see.
6:21: Obama deftly deflects the question trying to blame both parties for the state of the country. This could be a touchstone he could return to. McCain's response: never mind who's to blame, I'm a bipartisan maverick and I can fix it!
6:28: Priorities. McCain won't list priorities--"we can work on all of these at the same time." Obama: energy independence, health care, education. No waffling. Interesting.
6:29: McCain invokes a spending freeze again. Someone's going to have to hit him on that. It's obviously not just a verbal tic anymore.
6:35: Obama goes into a Carteresque section about saving energy. It lacks only the cardigan. He could have had a JFK moment. Missed it. However, he does come back nicely to say that the spending freeze hits people unevenly.
6:35: Brokaw doesn't like the candidates failing to follow the rules. He's really pissy about it--we seem some distance from Cronkite here.
6:40: Seems like we've gotten into a consistent flow here. McCain is angry and assualtive, Obama is pleasant and open. I've even fallen into the habit of judging each man against his established role. For people tuning in for the first time, I think Obama probably is killing McCain.
6:45: Green question. Not shockingly, Obama crushes it while McCain flails. Another observation: this debate isn't limited to McCain's "strength" (more precisely--the only issue he thinks about), which means there are a great many more potholes for him to fall into.
6:55: McCain seems to be talking about health care. I'd dozed off. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
7:00: "Did we hear theprice size of that fine?" I'll come back to this, but it was really bad for McCain. Very bad.
7:05: Other livebloggers with CNN are saying Obama killed on the health care issue--100% of undecided women had him at the maximum rating. Healthcare!
7:10: Iraq question. Totally boring--we've heard all of this 47 times already.
7:15: Foreign policy has provoked some contentiousness. McCain wants to physically attack Obama. Obama's subtley provoking McCain, and McCain is seriously ticked.
7:20: Fascinating exchange in which there was an alpha male showdown. Lots of dominance behavior from McCain. Obama provokes him because he sees McCain is losing it. (This is during the Iraq/foreign policy section.) Obama looks at McCain mildly, infuriating him.
7:23: A Navy man asks a question. What a set up. I want a UChicago prof to ask the next question. Truth is, I'm tuning out, and I assume everyone else is, too. This debate conforms pretty closely to expectations, which is a huge win for Obama.
After the debate--
NBC "truth squads" the debate. They look at the two men's claim that they saw the mortgage crisis coming. They show a clip of McCain saying he didn't see it coming--in other words, his claim in the debate was a total lie. Obama's claim, that he sent the letter (I posted it yesterday) two years ago. True, obviously, but NBC dings him because they think it wasn't soon enough. What the hell? This is exactly why we read blogs instead of the MSM. They have fully abrogated their responsibility to illuminate events. They are now in pure arse-covering mode ("don't criticize us--buy the Cialis we hawk!")
6pm: One minute to go.
6:05: McCain looks Obama in the eye when he shakes his hand--someone coached him. Shocker! First question's about the economy. Obama's solution: WPA. McCain is talking around the question sort of like Palin. This is not what they envisioned, the Palinizing of McCain.
6:10: McCain: my treasury secretary would be the founder of eBay, Meg Whitman. Seriously.
6:15: McCain launches a broadside at Obama for causing the Freddie/Fanny debacle ("with his cronies"), and Obama starts by ignoring it. Later he goes back with a pointed rebuttal. It raises the question of how much he should engage McCain's unhinged personal attacks. Probably he should ignore the old crank.
6:17: McCain claims to have warned in a letter of the mortgage crisis. That's a letter I'd like to see.
6:21: Obama deftly deflects the question trying to blame both parties for the state of the country. This could be a touchstone he could return to. McCain's response: never mind who's to blame, I'm a bipartisan maverick and I can fix it!
6:28: Priorities. McCain won't list priorities--"we can work on all of these at the same time." Obama: energy independence, health care, education. No waffling. Interesting.
6:29: McCain invokes a spending freeze again. Someone's going to have to hit him on that. It's obviously not just a verbal tic anymore.
6:35: Obama goes into a Carteresque section about saving energy. It lacks only the cardigan. He could have had a JFK moment. Missed it. However, he does come back nicely to say that the spending freeze hits people unevenly.
6:35: Brokaw doesn't like the candidates failing to follow the rules. He's really pissy about it--we seem some distance from Cronkite here.
6:40: Seems like we've gotten into a consistent flow here. McCain is angry and assualtive, Obama is pleasant and open. I've even fallen into the habit of judging each man against his established role. For people tuning in for the first time, I think Obama probably is killing McCain.
6:45: Green question. Not shockingly, Obama crushes it while McCain flails. Another observation: this debate isn't limited to McCain's "strength" (more precisely--the only issue he thinks about), which means there are a great many more potholes for him to fall into.
6:55: McCain seems to be talking about health care. I'd dozed off. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
7:00: "Did we hear the
7:05: Other livebloggers with CNN are saying Obama killed on the health care issue--100% of undecided women had him at the maximum rating. Healthcare!
7:10: Iraq question. Totally boring--we've heard all of this 47 times already.
7:15: Foreign policy has provoked some contentiousness. McCain wants to physically attack Obama. Obama's subtley provoking McCain, and McCain is seriously ticked.
7:20: Fascinating exchange in which there was an alpha male showdown. Lots of dominance behavior from McCain. Obama provokes him because he sees McCain is losing it. (This is during the Iraq/foreign policy section.) Obama looks at McCain mildly, infuriating him.
7:23: A Navy man asks a question. What a set up. I want a UChicago prof to ask the next question. Truth is, I'm tuning out, and I assume everyone else is, too. This debate conforms pretty closely to expectations, which is a huge win for Obama.
After the debate--
NBC "truth squads" the debate. They look at the two men's claim that they saw the mortgage crisis coming. They show a clip of McCain saying he didn't see it coming--in other words, his claim in the debate was a total lie. Obama's claim, that he sent the letter (I posted it yesterday) two years ago. True, obviously, but NBC dings him because they think it wasn't soon enough. What the hell? This is exactly why we read blogs instead of the MSM. They have fully abrogated their responsibility to illuminate events. They are now in pure arse-covering mode ("don't criticize us--buy the Cialis we hawk!")
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