Is it just me, or is Obama aware that he's running against John McCain. He keeps on alluding to the decisions Bush made... but he's not running against Bush.

Oooooo McCain just hit him on that. I love the "I saw 3 letters in Putin's eyes. K. G. B."

Just like Jay says... McCain is definitely inside Barry's OODA loop.

Barry lied? I'm SHOCKED....but then, it isn't the first time.

If Barry was hoping to get McCain to loose his cool...I didn't see McCain smirking or smiling nervously.

Barry sure agreed with McCain enough times....is he running against him or not?

Obviously Barry thinks he's running against Bush.

Definitely thinks he's running against Bush. I remember a couple of times (discussing the war, and Putin specifically) where Barry SPECIFICALLY told McCain something along the lines of "You took us into the wrong war.." or "You looked into Putin's eyes."

Definitely not paying attention to who he's running against. It's one thing to try to paint McCain as Bush 44, but to actually mix the 2 people... that was just weird.

Did anybody forgot to tell Hussein Obama to practice for the debate? he looks like a little boy looking at some notes in his dek....

Obama told a number of whoppers.

I do think McCain was probably right not to instantly jump on them -- he couldn't fall into the trap of being reactive to Obama's points and letting HIM drive the discussion...

Hopefully we'll see a few new ads hitting him on the lies, though.

They both did well with where the real contest is, the battleground states and the real group of folks who have not decided or whose decision is weak. That's tonight. People will sleep on it and their views will sort themselves out over the next couple of days as local people who influence others decide how they think.

Now on Steve's deal; yep Steve, Obama really said it and I heard him. And I agreed with him with a couple of caveats. McCain said nobody has really governed that area of Pakistan since Alexander the Great. He is almost right. To govern that area outside the fundamental interpretation of the Koran, you would have to Vlad the Impaler about 30% of the population every few years, in my opinion and we ain't gonna go there and do that. The Brits had a tenuous hold on the area and they did it by killing so many, there weren't enough left to cause much trouble.

Maybe you have another strategy Steve, like paying the Mullahs off like we used to do in Iran until Jimmuh (dumbass) Carter cut off the funds. If so, I would be grateful if you would share what you know.

SenMcCain is too slow to miss responses to O'Bama;s claims.

He needs to catch BHO in his trite one-lines ie., about Afganaistan and troops - Mc should point out our European allies from NATO aren't succeeding as we'd hoped; Economic rply to Lehrer "what I would cut" to deal w/ 700B bailout - BHO replied with ALLLLLL the programs he couldn't sacrifice - Mc should have quick quippped "that's a lot of programs senator O'B - how are you ging to pay for them when taxpayers have already had to pay $700B to bailout bad morgages?"
SenMcC needs to be quicker and more prepped for O'B's slick scripted claims.

PHD:

Unless McCain was prepared to torpedo the ongoing negotiations underway in Washington, he had to keep quite on a numer of issues. I believe he put the country first instead of nailing Obama.

L.
Yes, McC showed statemanship, re: 700B bailout, but he still needs to be btr prepped for ANY of the standrd BHO one-liners about Iraq, Afganistan, AlQaeda, etc.
Unfortunately we next have debate about domestic policy and here O'B's gonna try topaint McCain as Bush.
Sen John needs to prepar some lines to distinguish from current Admin policies. Partcularly on Immigartion, Health Care, and SocSec...

Listen: I thought Obama's performance was inept. BUT. He is absolutely correct on the al Qaeda Pakistan issue. He said -- and I agree entirely -- that if we know where bin Laden is, we will consult with the Pakistanis, but they are unwilling to go after him, then we will do it ourselves. Are you really suggesting that we don't have the right -- the obligation -- to attack bin Laden and his scumbags where-ever they are are? Yeesh. That is exactly what Bush is now doing (finally) and I agree with it 100%. If you don't please explain to me why we shouldn't go after the homicidal maniacs who attacked and killed 3000 of our innocent civilians on our own soil.

The point is WB, that you do it, but YOU DON"T SAY IT!

Exactly, epador!!!

I thought McCain could have made Obama squirm a bit with that, as the Pakistanis have stated that if we do something like that again, they'll start shooting at us (as well they should as we'd be invading their territory... AGAIN). What Obama originally espoused, and what Bush finally green lighted, is somewhat wrong. McCain did, sorta, call 'da big O on that.

McCain came as close as he could to saying "Dude, shut up about Pakistan. If either of us have to send troops into an unstable nuclear power after al Qaeda, it's best for the country to have some deniability."

Obama remained in lala-land, with a Kerry-esque "Nobody said we'd attack Pakistan, I said we'd attack Pakistan if. . ."

Kerry at least is an experienced idiot, it should have been years before Obama could come up with that fark-up of a statement.

wbgonne - "Listen: I thought Obama's performance was inept. BUT. He is absolutely correct on the al Qaeda Pakistan issue. He said -- and I agree entirely -- that if we know where bin Laden is, we will consult with the Pakistanis, but they are unwilling to go after him, then we will do it ourselves. Are you really suggesting that we don't have the right"

Are you suggesting your so far removed from the news cycle you've missed the number of times Bush has ordered Preditor strikes inside Pak when intel warranted it?

"Are you really suggesting that we don't have the right -- the obligation -- to attack bin Laden and his scumbags where-ever they are are?"

Dude, what part of "unstable nuclear nation" are you having trouble understanding? Have you been watching the news in regards to Pakistan?

Vote Obama for idiot!

Obama remained in lala-land, with a Kerry-esque "Nobody said we'd attack Pakistan, I said we'd attack Pakistan if. . ."

Note to Obama: Pakistan is a nuclear nation ya dumb ass.