Somebody has got to say it--- McCain is doing better than I thought.

[trumad]

[oviedodem]

1. He is rambling way too much

[ORDem]

20. Agreed. He is all over the map. Maybe he was prepped by Palin. n/t

[Tatiana]

2. Oh I already said so. He was clearly prepped and never had any intention of skipping this debate nt

[NYC Liberal]

3. Only if you expected him to fall asleep at the podium.

He's doing just as I, personally, expected: poorly. He's gotten pissy at a few times and is also rambling.

[JI7]

4. he doesn't come off as Presidential

Obama is coming off as more the type you would trust and mostly Presidential.

[sandnsea]

5. These are his talking points

Did you think he'd just forget them all?

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. you must have had extremely low expectations

cause he is bombing, IMO.

[ChazII]

I agree with you.

He is breathing at the moment.

[AZBlue]

7. Well, he hasn't thrown the podium yet or called anyone any four letter words yet.

So, yeah, I'll agree with that.

[Virginia Dare]

8. He'll eventually get frustrated when Obama doesn't bow to him..n/t

[Doityourself]

9. NO HE'S NOT

[nomorewhopper]

10. he's doing well

so is obama, but so far nobody's a clear winner and nobody is a clear loser.

i'd say that mccain has taken over the debate and focused the entire debate on spending and taxes, which is about as well as mccain could have hoped for

[Zuiderelle]

21. Yeah, they need to get off spending and taxes NOW. It's just going in circles.

McCain: LIE LIE LIE
Obama: You did this, you supported Bush
McCain: LIE LIE LIE

[Haole Girl]

11. Um... no

:eyes:

[terrya]

12. Calling for a blatantly impossible spending freeze is doing ok?

[Peregrine Took]

13. He is doing a ton better than I thought he would. He is a gamesman, for sure.

He acts "stupid" for several days and then BOOM he acts almost normal.

[Genevieve]

14. i think he sucks.

[mucifer]

the press is gonna love him again

[KathieG]

15. Boooooo!

:thumbsdown:

[renie408]

16. Well, he's speaking English and he hasn't drooled on himself. But that shit eating grin

is creepy as hell and he can't say anything but 'cut spending'.

[Ichingcarpenter]

17. Well he's doing better than Palin....

[RollWithIt]

18. This might get deleated, but I have to say it, ARE YOU FUCKING RETARDED???

What debate are you watching?

[Ichingcarpenter]

24. You have to know the poster n/t

[grannylib]

19. He's not totally falling apart yet, but he's really rambling and incoherent

and YOU'VE BEEN THERE 26 YEARS...WHEN THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO START??? with all this reform shit?? Give me a break. We are not fooled, old man. Not for a heartbeat.

[Awsi Dooger]

22. You must have expected Fee Fi Fo

McCain is listless and dull. The words might seem fine in print several hours from now, but the delivery is awful.

Now he's defaulting to the lame Miss Congeniality junk.

[nickgutierrez]

40. That Miss Congeniality line has Saturday Night Live written all over it.

It's got cross-dressing, ridiculousness, and repetition, all wrapped up in one weird package.

[calmblueocean]

23. He can't give a speech to save his life, but he's "good" at debates.

He throws out a bunch of lies and creaky catchphrases, but he's not the train wreck Bush was.

[smoochpooch]

25. Obama has replies for every "spending" point he says,

Plus, McCain just said he's against ethanol subsidies; that's a big deal in the Midwest.

[ikojo]

34. Not as big a deal as before, not with rising food prices nt

[wildeyed]

26. I expected him to do well.

Problem isn't his debate style or abilities, it is that he is so wrong about so much.

[gabby garcia]

27. if by "better" you mean lying his ass off..

then I guess.

asshat.

[ShadowLiberal]

28. I agree, I think McSame and his lies are winning the debate so far

[MadrasT]

29. I'm not seeing it... creepy grin, blinky, head down... n/t

[SeattleGirl]

30. Huh? He's saying the same thing over and over and over again.

No, he's not drooling all over his shirt, so I guess by that measure, he's doing well.

[krabigirl]

31. Actually, I think he's doing awful. Puts me to sleeeeep.

[sunnybrook]

32. he is hammering on the few points that some voters

associated with him in the past... against "wasteful spending", etc... joe six pack will always love those lines, forget if he is truthful. yes he seems to not be having a total mental breakdown yet... so C- or D: genius level for Repug

[AlCzervik]

33. Trumad is in the vodka i see, cheers Trumad.

[Not a robought]

35. That's just the botox shots talkin' nt

[depakid]

36. Obama just doesn't know how to call him straight up on his bullshit

[Raine]

37. No, he's doing worse than I thought

I guess it depends on where you expectations were to begin with. I was afraid he would do well but he's rambling all over the place.

[Blue Diadem]

38. Well, he's standing there. That's more than I thought he'd do. n/t

[Life Long Dem]

39. Obama just hammered McSame on his bad decisions in the military!

On Iraq. Hammered him!

[undeterred]

41. you need a drink

[October]

42. I expected this.

The idea that he was AFRAID to debate was insane.

It was a ploy.

The repugs are masters at LOW EXPECTATIONS.

[paparush]

43. He's perfect the Bush Smirk-Snort-HandGesture Combo (tm)

[paparush]

44. He's perfected the Bush Smirk-Snort-HandGesture Combo (tm)

[tinrobot]

45. I agree. He's saying exactly what conservatives want to hear.

...and not self-immolating.

[nytemare]

71. Yep, snide being that he is.

He continues to say "I don't think Senator Obama understands ______".

See, there was another one. Obama needs to forcefully show he does understand.

McCain doesn't understand that Spain is in Europe, and not Latin America.

[Zuiderelle]

46. Actually I think he's doing just about as badly as I expected.

He's combative and full of unsubstantiated lies. And he can't look at Obama... NOT ONCE that I've seen in the last HOUR.

[Malikshah]

47. ??? Talking points recycled from Reagan, Bush I and Bush II? THat's doing good.

You, sir, and I apparently have different levels of adequocity... ;)

Obama is more than holding his own against McCain; McCain is making erroneous statements and spinning generalizations out of the GOP playbook. Without specifics.

That fact that he is not drooling is an up, but not much.

At the same time, I see McCain being on the defensive most of this debate thus far.

[City Lights]

48. Unfortunately, I have to agree. nt

[demo dutch]

49. lies and lies!

[JoFerret]

50. He has a good touch

he is doing better than we might have expected. he is a total ass however. But fair is fair.

[salin]

51. if one knows nothing about current events - perhaps

and sadly that is the case with a lot of our population. Who knows.

Two other thoughts - McCain is doing some odd "hold my eyes really really wide open when I speak" thing. Comes off a little creepy.

The other - is I don't remember sensing so much hostility between debaters as I am picking up on tonight. Maybe time just erass my memory of emotional valence between past presidential debaters.

[LynneSin]

52. McCain is doing better than expected in an areas where he is stronger

but it's foolish to think that McCain is doing badly

[Carolina]

53. disagree, he sucks

spews soundbites
reminisces about Reagan
repeats shit (Miss Congeniality)

[OKNancy]

54. Sorry to say, but I agree.

He sounds reasonable to the no-brain audience, I'm sure.

[smoochpooch]

55. The line about Obama not going to Afghanistan hurt.

But I think that's the only big one so far.

[deucemagnet]

56. I agree.

It's certainly good enough to satisfy his base, and the bar was never set very high for McCain. BTW, did you know he was a POW?

[LooseWilly]

57. I'm a particularly big fan of the way

he goes on and on about the damage the military would suffer if we "lose" a war... so we can't ever leave Iraq. Ever.

Ohh yeah, and Iran is an existential threat to Israel, so they're Nazis...

[mtnsnake]

58. I've said all along not to underestimate him in the debates. He is such a fucking liar, though

and that gives him some breathing room.

Anyone who is smart is going to be siding with Obama. A lot of stupid people, though, are going to think McCain is making good points.

[Ichingcarpenter]

59. Troll thread ......... trumand has given the chum for this....

Look at all the little fishies!

[trueblue2007]

64. but he can't say that ackmadigidad 's name!!!!!!

[AllieB]

67. dupe

[AllieB]

68. trumad is hardly a troll.

Please. He has crappy taste in football teams (Phins), but he's not a troll. ;-)

[bmbmd]

60. I agree..

At worst, a Mcain "win". At best, a draw.

[PaDem]

61. He's holding his head above water........

but Obama looks more presidential in my view, which is what matters most.

[a kennedy]

62. Please don't be mad at me.......I think mcsame sounds better on the

radio then Senator Obama. Please, don't hate me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and holding my breath. I don't like Senator Obama saying he agrees with mcsame. DON'T AGREE, or at least don't say you agree.

[krkaufman]

63. He's only doing well because he keeps hitting his traditional "troops", "The Surge" talking points.

Obama just nailed McCain with "muddled through" quote. Nice.

McCain is all about patriotic generalities.

[musicblind]

65. I had expected he would throw things and shit his pants.

So I'm guessing he actually IS doing better than I thought.

[LibraLiz1973]

66. Are you watching the same debate I am?

He is doing MUCH worse than I thought.
I really thought he would be a lot tighter & a lot more coherent.

I guess it's the glass 1/2 full and the glass 1/2 empty.
You expected him to be god awful, I expected he would be a decent debater.

[FVZA_Colonel]

69. "Better" doesn't mean "good."

Or "winning."

[dailykoff]

73. Right.

[demo dutch]

70. doing better than I thought in the beginning, Obama getting better now though

[dailykoff]

72. But he's not doing better than Obama, not by a mile.

He's not Dumbya and he knows the game is rigged in his favor, so all he has to do to "win" is stay awake. But the reality is he's losing badly.

[Time for change]

74. I agree

Far worse than Obama, but I'm afraid not so far worse to be evident to a lot of people.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

75. Lowered expectations

[jayfish]

76. Presentation Wise, He's Doing Well.

To bad he's full of shit and I don't think anyone but the faithful are gonna buy it.

Jay

[Cosmic Charlie]

77. I miss the 'Skip It' function

[Swamp Rat]

78. Nowhere near as good as Obama.

[Kahuna]

79. I agree. He didn't do his "POW" schtick once.

:applause:

[Ilsa]

80. He is unable to answer a question without throwing barbs and lies. nt

[Fran Kubelik]

81. I expected him to do well, despite the way they tried to manage my expectations

He's no idiot. But he looks bad and angry.

[spanone]

82. laughing at your opponent doesn't go over well in america