Who won?

[Reaganfan]

I voted a "tie" because both men did very well...but if I had to honestly choose, I would say McCain. He put Obama on defense alot...and make him look aloof on foreign affairs. The way McCain read off random names of leaders in Europe and Russia was better than Will Ferrell on SNL back in 2000.

Obama comes across kind of like a well-scripted robot...while McCain seemed to engage better. Tie.

[cp]

I voted a "tie" because both men did very well...but if I had to honestly choose, I would say McCain. He put Obama on defense alot...and make him look aloof on foreign affairs. The way McCain read off random names of leaders in Europe and Russia was better than Will Ferrell on SNL back in 2000.

Obama comes across kind of like a well-scripted robot...while McCain seemed to engage better. Tie.

No offense, but coming from you that pretty much means Obama won hands down.

[Likely Voter]

Dick Morris says Obama won.

hmmm....maybe Dick Morris will move IA from Safe McCain to Lean McCain after this

[Keystone Phil]

LOL @ this forum

It was a tie but I'd give McCain the "win" based on aggression.

[cp]

I voted a "tie" because both men did very well...but if I had to honestly choose, I would say McCain. He put Obama on defense alot...and make him look aloof on foreign affairs. The way McCain read off random names of leaders in Europe and Russia was better than Will Ferrell on SNL back in 2000.

Obama comes across kind of like a well-scripted robot...while McCain seemed to engage better. Tie.

LOL @ this forum

It was a tie but I'd give McCain the "win" based on aggression.

Hot Damn! Obama must have killed tonight!

[Reaganfan]

LOL @ this forum

It was a tie but I'd give McCain the "win" based on aggression.

EXACTLY. Obama's "Well John" ... "Ya Kno, John".... "That's not true, John" sounded like they were taken from a text to speech application on a computer.

Not once do I recall hearing McCain say, "Well Barack".

[J. J.]

J.J.:

If we are to assume that what CNN says is always right, then I'm afraid your contention that McCain won is quite wrong. The analysis across the board is that this was a tie, or by default, an Obama victory because he wasn't clobbered on the foreign policy issue.

I give it a minor victory, but McCain did the one thing he had to do, which was not look old.  I actually had to ask myself which candidate was older, because McCain looked vigorous.

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Obama's interruptions, his facial expressions.  It was noticeable, if not longstanding.

Neither candidate actually connected and BOTH failed on the economy.

[exopolitician]

LOL @ this forum

It was a tie but I'd give McCain the "win" based on aggression.

EXACTLY. Obama's "Well John" ... "Ya Kno, John".... "That's not true, John" sounded like they were taken from a text to speech application on a computer.

Not once do I recall hearing McCain say, "Well Barack".

Because he was talking over Obama most of the time and not letting him talk. He showed he was frustrated, thats usually not what you want to do.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

This swing voter came out liking McCain much more than before the debate.

[YRABNNRM]

McCain (lean Obama voter)

[Keystone Phil]

LOL @ this forum

It was a tie but I'd give McCain the "win" based on aggression.

EXACTLY. Obama's "Well John" ... "Ya Kno, John".... "That's not true, John" sounded like they were taken from a text to speech application on a computer.

Not once do I recall hearing McCain say, "Well Barack".

Because he was talking over Obama most of the time and not letting him talk. He showed he was frustrated, thats usually not what you want to do.

He was "talking over Obama" because it was McCain's turn to talk.  

[The Mikado]

Stalemate.

Haven't read any commentary yet (Atlas or otherwise), so that's my opinion pre-exposure to partisan hackery.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

This swing voter came out liking McCain much more than before the debate.

So what happened to your red avatar?

I've been studying the history of conservative ideas and finding myself agreeing a lot more with conservative philosophy than liberal philosophy.  I could write a very long post about how I depart from the modern Left.

I yearn for the return of the party of Eisenhower, though.  McCain struck me as someone who could be a different kind of Republican, not the unmitigated disaster that has been the Cheney Administration.

[cinyc]

Dick Morris says Obama won.

Thank God!  Please tell me Gergen said the same thing.

McCain won this on foreign policy.  He was hurt because the full debate wasn't on foreign policy.  Had it been, McCain would have been the clear victor.

The one jab McCain took at Obama that I'm surprised isn't getting more press is when McCain tied Obama's stubborn insistence that the surge isn't working to the Bush administration's perceived stubbornness -  stating "we need more flexibility in the a president" than that.   It was a jab at both President Bush and Senator Obama - and I thought, pretty effective.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

I sat down to this debate really wanting to believe in Obama, really wanting to believe that he was capable and understood what it will take to manage this massive ocean liner in a sea full of iceburgs.  I hate Bush, and I hate the dishonest, slimy way that the McCain campaign has been run.  What I got out of Obama was:

-I have no idea how to balance the budget.  I do know how to spend lots of money, and I'm an expert at blaming the rich and the previous regime for everyone's trouble.

-I can get us out of Iraq in 16 months even though I have no clue what strategies work and why.  I can somehow get the Iraqi state to take care of itself, but I'm kinda fuzzy on the details.

-Sitting down face to face with Ahmadinejad with no preconditions doesn't legitimize his hate-filled, anti-Semitic, inflamatory remarks.  Yes, I'm that naive.

Last time we elected a neophyte with no clue about foreign policy and fuzzy ideas about what to do at home, we got... George W. Bush.  Someone too inexperienced and unknowledgeable not to allow crazy ideologues to take over the administration.  Will that happen under President Obama?  Who knows?  Will it happen under McCain?  Not a chance.

[panda_priest]

I thought Obama was too nice, McCain kept saying "he doesn't get it, he doesn't get" over and over and I kept hoping Obama would point to McCain and say "No, sir... YOU DON'T GET IT."

[Sam Spade]

Dick Morris says Obama won.

Thank God!  Please tell me Gergen said the same thing.

Gergen said it was a tie, which means Obama won.

[Sbane]

-Sitting down face to face with Ahmadinejad with no preconditions doesn't legitimize his hate-filled, anti-Semitic, inflamatory remarks.  Yes, I'm that naive.

How the hell does sitting down with Ahmadinejad legitmize his hate? You think just pretending he doesn't exist will help us? Believe it or not there is an insane regime in Iran that can only be changed by it's people and to keep the rest of the world safe we have to engage them in every way possible. And as Obama said before there would obviously be lower level talks before he meets with anyone. Stop hyperventalating. If force needs to be taken against Iran, that can only happen after we convince the rest of the world that action needs to be taken. If not we will have another quagmire like Iraq. If we want the rest of the world on our side, we cannot continue the regime of cowboy diplomacy in Washington.

[MR maverick]

I say that Obama won because he held his own when it came to foreign policy.  Its all Obama needed to do in this debate.  The first part I thought Obama looked sharp on economic issues and McCain never said anything about working famlies.   Iam going to say  a tie = obama win.


In other words he didn't hurt himself.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Last time we elected a neophyte with no clue about foreign policy and fuzzy ideas about what to do at home, we got... George W. Bush.  Someone too inexperienced and unknowledgeable not to allow crazy ideologues to take over the administration.  Will that happen under President Obama?  Who knows?  Will it happen under McCain?  Not a chance.

Sarah Palin?

[Brittain33]

Jim: If you approve the $700 billion bailout, what are you going to cut to pay for it?

Obama: I'm going to spend money on this, and this, and this, and this, and this.

I noticed that too. It annoyed me like it annoyed Lehrer, and I respected McCain's more honest answer.

That said, would you care to argue that his response wasn't good politics? That's what we say politicians should do. If he'd been honest, everyone would have called it a mistake.

[Brittain33]

This swing voter came out liking McCain much more than before the debate.

This Democrat came out liking McCain significantly more than before the debate, FWIW. Not as if my vote is up for contention.

[Brittain33]

You know what? Both sides are happy with how their candidates presented themselves and there was a substantive exchange of ideas. We all won. It was a good debate and not a waste of time.

[The Hack Hater]

It appears that I'm part of the consensus. Neither side really gained or lost ground. Yeah, Obama was a touch light on specifics, and yes McCain didn't look his best, but they both defended themselves when the other tried to make a claim about something.

[Dan the Roman]

I sat down to this debate really wanting to believe in Obama, really wanting to believe that he was capable and understood what it will take to manage this massive ocean liner in a sea full of iceburgs.  I hate Bush, and I hate the dishonest, slimy way that the McCain campaign has been run.  What I got out of Obama was:

-I have no idea how to balance the budget.  I do know how to spend lots of money, and I'm an expert at blaming the rich and the previous regime for everyone's trouble.

-I can get us out of Iraq in 16 months even though I have no clue what strategies work and why.  I can somehow get the Iraqi state to take care of itself, but I'm kinda fuzzy on the details.

-Sitting down face to face with Ahmadinejad with no preconditions doesn't legitimize his hate-filled, anti-Semitic, inflamatory remarks.  Yes, I'm that naive.

Last time we elected a neophyte with no clue about foreign policy and fuzzy ideas about what to do at home, we got... George W. Bush.  Someone too inexperienced and unknowledgeable not to allow crazy ideologues to take over the administration.  Will that happen under President Obama?  Who knows?  Will it happen under McCain?  Not a chance.

Take a look at McCain's Foreign Policy and Economic teams, he has long since been taken over by lunatics. In fact, most of the same ones who ran the Bush Administration into the ground before the President had the good sense to fire them in 2007. All three Kagans, Scheunmenn, Perle, Wolfowitz. Gramm and Moore on econ. Its a whose-who of people who should not be in government.

Obama at least has competent people like Rice(Susan) Summers, Ross and Rubin advising him.