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Tue Oct 7, 8:47 PM Pacific
Voters: McCain's 'That One' Remark 'Childish,' 'Unrespectful'
Tue Oct 7, 8:05 PM Pacific
McCain Refuses Handshake With "That One"
Tue Oct 7, 7:56 PM Pacific
CBS Poll - Obama Won; CNN Poll - Obama Won
CNN: 54-30, Obama
CBS: 39-27, with 35 saying it's tied. Most striking number: 80% say Obama understand their needs and problems compared to just 46% for McCain.
Tue Oct 7, 7:10 PM Pacific
McCain Calls Obama 'That One'
Tue Oct 7, 6:41 PM Pacific
Debate Open Thread #2
Obama is beating Tom Brokaw and John McCain.
Tue Oct 7, 5:40 PM Pacific
Open Thread For Tom Brokaw's Debate
One day, I'd like to moderate one of these things.
6:11: McCain said 1.3 million people make their living on Ebay. Wrong. And as pointed out in the comments, the company just laid off thousands.
6:15: I'm going to stop doing live updates here and I'll stick to the comments. But I will say that it seems like on that second question, Barack Obama may have scored a first round knockout.
Tue Oct 7, 4:38 PM Pacific
Debate Donation/Volunteer "Money Bomb"
barath's set up a debate donation/volunteer "money bomb" at Daily Kos.
Tue Oct 7, 3:31 PM Pacific
Here's What I'm Expecting Tonight
In general, I think Obama will continue avoiding personal attacks, but will be plenty tough on McCain on the issues. He might say that McCain's response to the economic crisis was erratic, but in general the contrasts will be about his substantive policy differences with McCain.
I don't think McCain will launch any personal attacks. Sure, he'll make some false accusations about policy issues, but I don't think he's going to voluntarily raise any of Sarah Palin's lines of attack, and if a voter raises it, he's going to try and say "well that's a question Obama needs to answer."
On a substantive level, Obama will aim to make the case for why we need a clean break from the economic and foreign policy philosophies that have guided the last eight years.
McCain will try to avoid those issue as much as possible, instead trying to muddy up the debate with his false Fannie/Freddie tale and his equally false attacks on taxes.
Although the economy in general will be the overriding theme of the debate, my hunch is that the most significant clashes will come over taxes and health care. I also have a feeling that McCain might not be prepared for the aggressiveness of Obama's pushback on his tax and health care plans, particularly McCain's plan to tax health care benefits for the first time ever.
If McCain can't figure out how to handle Obama's pushback, tonight could be a devastating loss for him. I'm not saying that I expect that to happen, but one can dream, right?
Anyway, that's what I'm looking for tonight. What about you?
Tue Oct 7, 3:13 PM Pacific
Running From The Issues
You gotta' love the internet. The coolest stuff just pops up from nowhere:
Tue Oct 7, 3:04 PM Pacific
Palin Takes Cheap Shot At Biden While He's At Funeral
A new low: she attacks Joe Biden while he's at his mother-in-law's funeral.
Tue Oct 7, 2:34 PM Pacific
Alaskan Independence Party Sponosored By Iran. Seriously.
David Talbot reports on what would have been the crowning achievement of Alaskan Independence Party founder Joe Vogler had he not been first killed in a plastic explosives deal gone bad:
Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue.
That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages. The rogue nation that McCain and Palin have excoriated Obama for suggesting we diplomatically engage. That Iran.
The following year, Todd and Sarah Palin attended the AIP convention, and Todd Palin joined the party shortly thereafter.
Tue Oct 7, 2:26 PM Pacific
There will be follow-up questions
Ben Smith says that Tom Brokaw wasn't a party to the agreement between the campaigns that forbade follow-up questions from the debate moderator. Therefore, Ben says, both campaigns expect follow-ups.
Tue Oct 7, 1:44 PM Pacific
Loaded For Attack
Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott received criticism for his "Hussein" comment at yesterday's Palin rally, but the thing that I really had a problem with was the fact that he appeared onstage not just in uniform, but also with his holstered firearm on clear display. If that wasn't an attempt to intimidate voters -- dare I say, terrorize them -- I don't know what is.
Moreover, Scott showed incredibly bad judgment. Taking a loaded gun onstage while attacking Barack Obama could easily have been misconstrued as an attempt to incite nutjobs.
By the way, Federal authorities are now exploring whether Scott violated the Hatch Act by appearing in full uniform at yesterday's Palin rally, using his position of authority to interfere with the election.
