Presidential Debate #2

[Beatlesfan03]

I thought Barack handled himself quite well. McCain seemed rather animatronic roaming the floor. I loved watching the pulse meter on CNN dip each time McCain said my friends.

Overall, I think Barack presented himself as more in line with the common man. McCain seemed rather condescending in some of his responses.

I am biased so I say advantage Obama. In his preferred format, I hardly think this was a game changer for McCain.

[Bennett Cerf]

It was mostly more of the same, and I expect the reaction to be pretty much the same as the last one, which means Obama should hold his lead, at the very least.

I guess we found out why McCain avoided looking at Obama last time. If he forces himself to acknowledge Obama, he can't hide his contempt. Honestly, referring to Obama as "that one"??

The Obama camp must not have thought agreeing with McCain last time was a mistake, since he said it again tonight (although not as frequently).

[David R. Modny]

Personally, I thought Obama was even sharper and more comfortable tonight than he was in round one. McCain simply came across as forced and patronizing. I don't think he managed to resonate with the Indy voters, and even his base is probably going to be questioning a couple of things he said tonight. Definitely not a game-changer. He's already compromised his personal identity so many times during this campaign, that I don't feel even his most ardent supporters truly know who he *is* anymore.

[Chris M]

Interesting that McCain didn't mention Ayers. He didn't mention Palin either. I was hoping Obama would reference the Keating 5 and McCain would meltdown.

[Rspaight]

I'd say status quo. Although I thought Brokaw and McCain needed to get a room.

[Xenu]

McCain seemed to start off strong, but lagged badly by the first half-hour. Town hall events are as Stephen Colbert described them: opportunities for the candidates to pretend to answer questions before using them as pretexts to launch into stump speeches. At least initially, McCain did a better job of seeming to answer the posed questions before heading into the woods; Obama, by contrast, would launch directly into a larger answer.

(not even pretending to answer the question is a pet-peeve of mine, and I realize that it matters little in the scheme of things)

But that distinction didn't last long. By the time McCain was hatin' on the Adler Planetarium, it was shaking-head-in-disbelief time. Seriously, what sort of asshole rags on a politician for bringing home upkeep money for a planetarium?

[David R. Modny]

McCain's making the cardinal mistake of trying to be all things to everyone in order to secure the vote - also known as pandering. Is he now a social conservative and a fiscal liberal (i.e. the mortgage buyout "plan")? Used to be the other way around! Problem is, when it's purely poll-driven reactive, it's not "mavericky" anymore. It's desperation.