As a Matter of Fact, I Like Beer
Jesse Walker | October 7, 2008, 10:40pm
Who "won" the debate? As usual, I will not presume to speak for the plain people of Peoria. But sticking to my personal reactions:
John McCain made some genuinely good points tonight. He scored a hit with his attack on Fannie and Freddie, he seemed aware that entitlements are going to be a problem down the road (though his "solutions" were inane), and his comparison of Barack Obama to Herbert Hoover was both surprising and on target. In the economic discussions, he made sense more often than Obama did. But that's a low bar to clear. McCain's repeated calls for the government to buy up bad mortgages, his obsession with the chimera of "energy independence," and his support for the Wall Street bailout should put to rest any lingering suspicion that he has a free-market heart.
In foreign policy, on the other hand, I have to give the edge to Obama. I didn't agree with everything he said, but his comment that John "Bomb Iran" McCain doesn't "speak softly" was as solid a punch as McCain's comment about Hoover. And I strongly suspect that it impressed more viewers.
The winner? As far as I'm concerned, it's Bell's Kalamazoo Stout. I'm on my third bottle.
Matt D | October 7, 2008, 11:50pm | #
I'd give it to Obama narrowly, but I think McCain did a pretty good job anyway.
Things that jumped out:
1) Buying mortgages? Did that come out of left field (no pun intended) or what? I mean, I may have just missed it, but it seems like if this is his solution for immediate relief he maybe should have been pitching it in Washington as an alternative to or component of the bailout. Was he doing that? Has he mentioned it before?
2) I still don't get why having diplomatic contacts with Iran is such a bad thing.
3) McCain seemed to focus on a lot of pet issues, whereas Obama took a broader view that in a lot of cases was inclusive of McCain's ideas.
4) The "that one" comment is going to get a lot of play but really I think it was just McCain stumbling over his words.
5) Speaking of which, when Obama stumbled, he just seemed like he was stumbling--when McCain did it, man, he seemed fucking old.
6) CNN had bloggers in the studio... to blog?
7) CNN's pre-debate coverage was ridiculous.
8) McCain has a reputation as a hawk so I think his "walk softly" line didn't go anywhere. And Obama nailed him on that anyway.
9) Obama flat out says he's going to offer a middle class tax cut. McCain... doesn't believe him?
10) Obama's answer about not starting a war with Pakistan sort of missed the point that military operations on Pakistan soil is actually a pretty good way to start a war. Although for all his talk, I get the impression that McCain only opposes this because Obama favors it.
11) McCain uh still doesn't know what a strategy is?
