Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


DEBATE LIVEBLOGGING….Here it is. The main event. Obama vs. McCain. Is your skin tingling? Are you drunk yet?

Wrapup – Am I off base, or was this one of the most soporific presidential debates in a while? Frankly, I didn’t think either one of them did very well. There was way too much rambling, and way too few sharp points. Overall, McCain was more lively than Obama, but if the point of the debate was for Obama to show that he could hold his own on national security, then count it a win for Obama. I wouldn’t call him a big winner, but he certainly did at least as well as McCain, and that might have been all he needed.

Of course, within a few minutes I expect conservatives will all be telling us that McCain was simply brilliant tonight. Absolutely masterful. I expect many repetitions of McCain’s talking point about Obama being naive. If they say it often enough, they figure eventually everyone will agree with them.

10:36 – McCain says directly that he thinks Obama is unprepared to be president. Was that a good move? Or too much?

10:32 – Why does Obama keep starting to make a good point and then suddenly veer off to something else? He was about to make a good point about the danger of overfocusing on Iraq, but suddenly he’s off on China, then healthcare, then the economy, then veterans affairs. Shouldn’t he instead drill home a point about winning in Iraq requiring that Iraqis themselves take responsibility for their own security? Or something. But finish the point, in any case.

10:29 – Obama supports missile defense? I didn’t know that.

10:24 – Todd Gitlin notes that Obama looks at McCain and reacts to him, but McCain stares rigidly ahead and refuses to make eye contact with Obama. Weird.

10:22 – McCain is really driving home two themes: (1) He’s visited everywhere and met everyone, and (2) the world is full of threats, threats, threats. Will his constant repetition of these things wear on people? Not sure.

10:17 – Obama had some opportunities to drive home his point on preconditions, but I’m not sure he did. Conversely, McCain’s little burlesque about sitting across the table from Ahmadinejad while he insults Israel was demagogic, but it might have been effective.

10:07 – Obama says the Iraq war has made Iran stronger. That’s a good point, and maybe one that a lot of viewers don’t understand. But he didn’t really make the sale.

10:04 – According to the audience-o-meter, even Republicans didn’t react to McCain’s reference to “existential threat” and “second Holocaust.”

9:52 – Decent answer from Obama about what we need to do in Afghanistan in Pakistan. Things are picking up a little bit.

9:39 – McCain: I hate President Bush. I’m a maverick!

9:34 – How did we get on nuclear power plants? Wasn’t the question about what programs they’d cut because of the cost of the Wall Street bailout?

9:31 – This is just excruciatingly boring.

9:27 – Obama just said we have to free ourselves from dependence on Mideastern oil. I think that’s one of our bingo squares. Hooray!

9:25 – McCain is kinda rambling now.

9:22 – If the audience-o-meter is any indication, these guys are putting the entire country to sleep.

9:20 – Hmmm. Obama has decided to refer to McCain as “John,” not “Senator McCain.” Good idea? Or bad?

9:19 – McCain: Spending is bad. Earmarks are evil. Gateway drug. DNA of bears. Yada yada yada. Obama: Senator McCain is absolutely right. But….tax cuts for the wealthy. CEOs! 95%! McCain: Earmarks! I’m the sheriff! Sigh.

9:13 – Come on, guys. Let’s pick up the pace. So far this isn’t even as interesting as a stump speech.

9:08 – Wow. McCain actually had the balls to say that House Republicans “decided to be part of the solution to our problem”? That’s chutzpah.

9:07 – John McCain is feeling better tonight. Why? Because Republicans and Democrats are sitting down together to work on our financial crisis. You could have fooled me….

9:05 – What is that weird line at the bottom of the CNN screen? Instant audience reaction, it seems. Is that really necessary?

9:02 – Ah. “National security” includes the global financial crisis. Glad to get that cleared up.

8:59 – Apparently the French conduct better debates than us. Sheesh. We’re losing our global lead in everything.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate