What a night

I'm trying to put together some kind of consensus on the debate, so this may be a work in progress. Senator Obama did great against the more "experienced debater" McInsane, getting off some good ones -- the 'bomb bomb Iran' thing was a hoot! -- but the old coot was not as strong as I thought he would be. He started off looking tired, later his voice shook, and he came across as a whole to be all sneer, eye twitch, sneer, sneer, smirk. Very rude.

From AmericaBlog:

Reviews are pouring in from the debate. Lots of focus on the petulant GOP candidate. What's almost funny is how some of the pundit types are acting a little surprised that McCain was so angry and nasty. For Christ sakes, they all know he's got a temper and can be a dick. What's very disturbing is that McCain couldn't control it at the first presidential debate -- a very big event in the campaign. It's not good for McCain when the takeaway for many was his sneer. The sneer and the fact that he couldn't even look at Obama.

Josh Marshall:

I said above that McCain didn't have any freak-out moments. But he did have that sneer and there did seem to be this thing where he was so contemptuous and angry at Obama that he couldn't get himself to make eye contact. I think we'll hear more about that.

Angry, angry, angry. Part of the key here is that McCain is clearly miffed that he even has to debate or run again Obama. He thinks it's an insult.

Eugene Robinson:

Here’s the politically incorrect way of phrasing one of the central questions about tonight’s presidential debate: Did John McCain come across as too much of a grumpy old man?

That might not be a nice question, but it’s an important one. Americans like to vote for the nice guy, not the grumbling prophet of doom. Throughout the 90-minute debate, McCain seemed contemptuous of Obama. He wouldn’t look at him. He tried to belittle him whenever possible -- how many times did he work “Senator Obama just doesn’t understand” into his answers? His body language was closed, defensive, tense. McCain certainly succeeded in proving that he can be aggressive, but the aggression came with a smirk and a sneer.

I was over at C 'n' L posting in the live debate thread and a lot of us were saying the same thing. And everytime McInsane got contemptuous, the audience reaction lines at CNN took a dive.

George Harris, the Kansas City Star:

I suspect that women voters especially would be turned off by McCain's sarcastic tone because women do tend to be the conciliators in our society and saw Obama display those conciliatory qualities very well in the debate. Obama looked at McCain, and McCain wouldn't return the eye contact but rather glared or displayed a tight and angry expression.

I wanted to bitchslap the smirking little fuck. Marc Ambinder:

CBS News/Knowledge Network undecideds give debate to Obama {Both MSNBC and CNN online polls favor Obama also}.

Despite John McCain’s purchase of internet ads earlier in the day proclaiming victory before he even agreed to participate, the first debate turned out to be a win for Barack Obama. Obama was cool, calm, and presidential. McCain spent the debate searching for ways to take cheap shots against Obama while making several factual errors. Errors ranged from his statement on Eisenhower’s two letters to the names of foreign leaders. John McCain wasn’t even consistent in his attacks.

Hell, he wasn't even wearing a flag pin!!1!!! : )

And from Faux Nooze:


Heh.