sort-of-live-blogging the town hall debate...

My original plan for the debate was to have a few friends who I had watched the VP debate with over at Casa De Mad. Unfortunately, that fell through, so I watched it alone at home on CNN while drinking a glass of smuggled two-buck chuck Merlot from Trader Joe's.

I wasn't planing on live-blogging it, but I decided to take some notes in Word. Which pretty much turned into a liveblog, so I'm just going to paste it into this post. I'm watching it on CNN, mostly for their "uncommitted Ohio voter meter".

So here's what I have:



Obama – trickle down led to these problems - hey, I’m doing OK.

-mccain’s buy up mortgages and reduce the principle to home values – eww. So because I got a reasonable loan, on a reasonable house, and only lost a little money, so I don’t get free money.

meg Whitman for treasury secretary– ewww. McCain just lost the vote of a bunch of eBayers who hate the regular fee increases

Obama is asked if the economy is going to get worse. He says no. Never mind that he just criticized McCain for saying the economy was doing OK a few weeks ago.

Obama and mccain are both fighting over whose letter on the subprime mortgage crisis that got ignored was more important. Even if either of you saw the crisis coming, the fact that you couldn’t get anyone to act isn’t exactly something to brag about.

Obama is talking about how when Bush came into office, we had a budget surplus. When GB came into office, we were also at the end of the dot-com era, which Clinton didn’t cause and Bush didn’t end. We also didn’t have 9/11 – and even without Iraq, it hurt the economy and Afghanistan wasn’t free.

McCain is talking about the evils of pork, and the CNN pres-o-meter just took a dive. Evidently, undecided voters love pork. I said before that focusing on pork isn’t going to help, and it looks like that’s true. And now he’s back to energy independence (which I think is a pipe dream) and the meter is back up.

Mccain is talking about how we aren’t going to be able to fund retirements like we used to. The CNN meter went down. Evidently, undecided voters hate reality

Obama just compared energy independence to getting to the moon. If we say it, we can do it. Never mind that people have been trying to find alternative energy for decades.

Obama is talking about programs – cutting programs, making ones that work cheaper. Men stayed at 50%, women went up to 90%. I don’t know what this means, but it’s interesting.

Obama just criticized Bush for telling people to shop after 9/11. CNN poll is flat at 50%. But going shopping wasn’t a bad answer – it was normal, and it powers the economy.

Obama is talking about taking land away from oil companies for not drilling. Huh? Is he talking about federally owned land? If not, shouldn’t companies be allowed to choose how they want to develop their land?

Brokaw just asked about the country getting drunk and running up debt. Madanthony isn’t drunk, but he’s had two glasses of cheap merlot, and he’s a little buzzed. And thinking about pouring another glass.

Obama - class warfare for the win!

Obama is criticizing McCain, unfair burden to spending freeze. He’s going to use a scapel, not a hatchet. But we need a hatchet.

Nailing jello to the wall! Comparing Obma to hoover. I like it, but the cnn group doesn’t. Mcain is defending small business, and women hate him for it.

Mccain wants to double the tax credit for children. Any of the ladies out there want to make a baby with me? Seriously, why punish me for my inability to get laid?

Brokaw just cut off Obama. Nice!

Social security – Obama is saying he wants to solve it, but doesn’t have time in the first two years. And now is going back to his tax plan. Didn’t a bunch of dems criticize palin for this?

A few percent? WTF?

McCain is saying we know how to fix social security. Evidently, all it involves is sitting down. But doesn’t say what to do. Medicare? A commission. More sitting down. No actual proposals. Grr.

What will you do to create green jobs? I prefer my jobs beige. Or maybe grey.

Mccain wants us to be more like the French – at least on Nuclear.


Obama just said that the computer was invented by a bunch of defense scientists. I think he meant the internet.

Obama just critcisized Mccain for drilling, saying it won’t solve our problem. Wasn’t he just talking about how he’s going to make oil companies drill on their name?

Mccain is talking about how he votes against bills that are loaded with pork, like the energy bill. Or like the bailout bill…. Um, wait.

Should healthcare be treated as commodity for profit? Well, healthcare might be expensive, but it’s also pretty damn good, and healthcare for profit seems to do a good job of you know, keeping people alive.

Obama says he’s going to lower costs by preventative care. Will the government make me lose weight and stop eating deep-fried cheese? And govement health insurance for everyone, will no rejections for pre-existing conditions. Which is going to be hugely expensive, because people will not get insurance until after they need it – when they get diagnosed with cancer. That means fewer premiums, and massive payouts. That’s bad..

Mccain is talking up his healthcare plan, and viewers are dropping. He didn’t address the preexisting condition thing, which granted is pretty hard to sound-bite.

95% of the American people…. 95% seems to be the popular number this debate.

Obama. Healthcare is a right. Grr.

Children are cheap to insure? That’s not what I’ve heard from people with kids.

Obama is defending requirements that insurance cover certain things, and is against people going out of state to buy health insurance. Never mind that those requirements drive the costs up, and sometimes mean people have to go with no insurance instead of insurance that doesn’t cover everything.

Obama is angry that mccain didn’t personally go after Osama Bin Laden, Or something.

Obama blames Dafur on Iraq. Or something.

Obama is anti –holocaust. How brave. He wants to intervene where we don’t have a national interest. But not when we do!

Mccain is talking about Obama’s lack of support for the surge. And cnn polls are plunging. Now he’s anti-genocide, and voters are up a little.

Nibbler just hopped on my lap. She doesn’t seem to have much interest in the debate. To be fair, neither candidate seems to be courting the feline-American vote.

Mccain is – rightly, I think - saying that announcing you are going to ignore a country’s boarders is a bad idea. But cnn’s undecided voters don’t seem to agree…

Obama – nobody is going to invade Pakistan. Unless they don’t do what we want. Then we’ll have to do things. Like invading Pakistan.

Both Obama and Mccain are going to get Bin Laden. Doubtful. Asymmetrical warfare is difficult, and we haven’t gotten him because he’s very hard to get, not because of Bush

General Petraus is working with the Afgans. Why am I thnking of grannies with handmade blankets?

I’m not hearing much that we didn’t at the first debate. Although evidently cnn undecided voters hate Russia too- just went ot like 90% while Mccain is talking about putting pressure on Russia.

Obama seems flustered on Russia, like he’s killing time while he figures what to say. And the cnn meter just took a dive.

Obama put out a statement on Russia/Georgia in April. So he issues statements nobody notices, and that’s why we should vote for him?

Is Russia the evil empire? I liked the explanation that followed mccain’s maybe.

Mccain was beating up on Iran, and the cnn people loved it – until he brought up the without preconditions thing (which I think is a good point)

Obama is advacating talking to Iran and North Korea – which I think is nuts, you can’t negotiate with a nutjob – but the CNN people like it.

What don’t you know and how would you learn it? I hate these kinds of questions. Obama talks about his wife, talks about how it’s what you don’t expect, and the opportunities and his family. And totally ignores the question.

Suceeded in a way I couldn’t anywhere else in the country. Umm, I think he meant world. And now he’s talking about all the problems facing the country. And bashing Bush. And change.

Mccain – don’t know what’s going to happen here and abroad. The unexpected. Also giving a shout to his family.