McCain - Obamalama debate LIVE THREAD

Me | 9/26/08 | GeorgiaDawg32

[GeorgiaDawg32]

Mods, if one already exists (I couldn't find one), please delete this one..many thanks in advance..

First things first..what are the drinkin words?

xxx = take a sip xxxx = take a gulp xxxxx = bottoms up

[luvie]

Howdy! Gotcher popcorn ready?

:D

[Norman Bates]

The McCain List.

Senator John McCain kicks off the first of three presidential debates tonight at 9:00 pm Eastern in Oxford, MS against Barack Obama. The focus will be foreign policy with some expected time on the economy.

[unspun]

INFORMAL POLL (please copy this question in your answer, so the poll can continue) .......... While we have time, before the debate: Is this the IDEAL time for McCAIN to unload on OBAMA about ACORN, the 20% and their shared radical Marxist history? Yes? No? Present?

I vote YES!

[Jay Thomas]

No, Rush is not making it up. All I'm saying is this gets no play from the leftest, scum-sucking, bottom-feeding, Dem A$$kissing, Noboma worshiping media.

[mylife]

Hi there M&M! :)

[snippy_about_it]

I’m sure Obama has been assured of soft treatment.

Before the drinking begins let me thank you, a fellow South Carolinian for your service in the Navy. The Navy holds a very special place in my heart.

[luvie]

XXXX=”that is above my pay grade”

[Lucky9teen]

[RetSignman]

[“As I’ve said before...”]

Don’t forget his....Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnndso,

[LegalEagle61]

As we are waiting, for your reading pleasure...(yes i know it's Morris but at leats it is something to read...lol)

Dear Friends,

I am participating in the 2008 Presidential Debates Project, an exciting new initiative brought to you by VoterWatch.org that can be viewed after each debate at DickMorris.com. Using VoterWatch’s unique technology, I will blog within video coverage of the three presidential debates and the one vice-presidential debate.

Please visit DickMorris.com to access my analysis of the 2008 Presidential debates. The blog will be located in the top right column starting Saturday morning, September 27th.

Thanks,

Dick

DEBATE MORNING LINE: IT'S OBAMA'S CHARISMA VS. MCCAIN'S GUTS

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

Published in the The New York Post on September 26, 2008

In a TV debate between a tall man and a short one, the tall guy usually wins - we haven't had a short president since Harry Truman. Young man vs. older one? The younger usually wins.

Handsome, charismatic candidate against a man who's neither? Well, you get the point: John McCain will have three strikes against him as he enters the first presidential debate tonight (assuming it goes ahead).

But McCain will have two things going for him. The subject will be on national security, his strong suit, and he'll be coming off a bounce driven by his dramatic intervention this week in the financial-rescue package.

Zogby's Interactive poll showed McCain gaining five points on Wednesday, going from a three-point deficit to a two-point lead. (Other polls aren't one-night samples because they're conducted over the phone and, so, take longer to field.)

McCain speaks in commands and sound bites. He abhors nuance as something to cut through. Barack Obama, a law-school professor, loves to explore subtle distinctions and prides himself on keeping his grounding and cool at all times. Without a teleprompter, Obama has a hard time rising above complexity and seems allergic to declarative sentences.

Obama has a John F. Kennedy-like distrust of passion, while McCain is more like Bobby Kennedy - embracing passion and using it to empower him.

All of this is to McCain's advantage. But it will be hard to overcome the electorate's innate tendency to want a Democrat in the White House. And the contrast between an old, short man and a young, dynamic, charismatic hero will be more than evident on TV.

The late, great media consultant Bob Squier used to analogize candidates' first meeting in debate to grade-schoolers' first day in the schoolyard. Just as kids rapidly decide on a pecking order based on who can beat up whom, so the candidates take one another's measure and get elated or depressed based on their conclusions. That psychological hangover lasts for the entire campaign.

It was clear that Hillary Clinton had Obama's measure in the Democratic debates. His policy answers were fumbling and elusive, while hers' were wonkish and detailed. The contrast always worked in Hillary's favor. Doubt it? Then why did Obama turn down additional debates when Hillary suggested them as the race entered its last phases? Winners don't turn down debates.

Of course, McCain lost most of his debates in the GOP primaries. He lacked Mike Huckabee's wit, Mitt Romney's aggressiveness, Rudy Giuliani's clarity. He was inclined to mumble, and his weak, soft voice too often failed to command attention.

Debates mattered little in the primaries, in part because there were so many. In the general election, however, they'll count for everything. In 2000, Al Gore led George Bush by 10 points after the conventions, but his shoddy performance in the debates gave Bush the lead.

(John Kerry won the first debate in 2004, putting him back in that race - but Bush gained strength with each match and ultimately won.)

If McCain can use his momentum and foreign-policy expertise to defeat Obama in this first contest, the Democrat may find it hard to recover. The concerns about his lack of strength and absence of a killer instinct will resurface, feeding doubts that he's all celebrity, no substance. Others will take his penchant for complexity and see a Hamlet figure paralyzed by his own analysis.

But the force is with Obama: It's a Democratic year. McCain must keep pulling rabbits out of hats to keep in contention. All Obama has to do is persuade voters to do what they're inclined to do anyway - vote Democrat.

[GitmoSailor]

The cat was not photo shopped as far as know.

My air group was stationed at Gitmo for six weeks while the USS Kitty Hawk did sea trials in 1961. We then returned aboard and went around the Horn to San Diego.

Here's another!!!!!!.....

[luvie]

Howdy, MY! Ready for some fun?

Hope I don’t miss it...hubby is grumbling for dinner...

Can you believe that guy!!!

[Lost Dutchman]

I bought Guinness for tonight...

Only the best to see Osama-Bama get nuked.

[Syncro]

IMO these “live threads” that start 3 to 4 hours before there is anything “live” are counter productive.

[Miss Didi]

Harry Reid starts off by saying "We don't know what to do" and then Mr. "Don't know what to do" tells Sen. McCain to stay away. Pure genius at work that is beyond our ability to comprehend, no doubt.

Wait you forgot Dingy saying--we need McCain and so McCain comes in and then the Dems tell him to get lost.

[pctech]

I’ve had my White Castles, I can take any crap the MSM can dish out tonight.

[LegalEagle61]

My vote is a resounding YES!!!!!!!!! This is legit if they talk economy, and we know they will, so McCain needs to show the American people the whole connection here including and especially Obama’s connection.

[rep-always]

Not a problem. I love ice tea, too. Please keep us abreast of every little bit of information in case some of us vino drinkers miss something.

[Miss Didi]

This deserved a Drudge siren big time.

[Bobalu]