Mississippi Debate

[Via Crooks and Liars] How did things go for John McCain last week? Lindsey Graham, who usually flacks McCain with a psychopathic, operatic zeal, got...

Obama's campaign appears to have staked its confidence on the surveys showing a lead among debate viewers -- which suggests that the Iraq issue did not hinder Obama's overall standing.

The real insights came in the revelations about the way each man thinks under pressure, and the way they interacted. The overall effect was exactly the opposite of what McCain hoped to achieve.

This week Congress did the one thing I never would have expected: the members of Congress lived up to their responsibilities. In both houses, in both parties.

Good evening everyone! What on earth are we doing tonight? Seriously? Wasn't this stuff suspended? What is going on? Honestly! Today was my day ...

Tonight I think we know who the next President will be. McCain kept repeating that Obama doesn't "understand." But he clearly did. McCain made up no ground.

It was a good night for Obama because, when 83 percent of the country believe we are on the wrong track, standing toe-to-toe with McCain on foreign policy is all you need to do. And Obama clearly did that.

The result tonight was another frustrating piece of American media that is at once far too polite, and at the same time, dismissive of an American public's need to know anything beyond jingoistic self-aggrandizement.

This debate underscored the central question that each of us must ask ourselves before choosing our next president: Will our children and our children's children fare better than us?

Obama won on key issues demonstrating that our foreign policy is more than just about the surge. McCain frequently reverted back to clichés calling his opponent naïve and lacking judgment.

Obama did not win this debate. He didn't lose it either. But McCain was given far too much leeway in my opinion without counterpunching, which might reinforce the trope that Democrats don't know how to fight.

McCain, to be fair, showed some of his knowledge in a good way. But he's too old, he's from the 20th century, the country doesn't need him now.

Nora Ephron: Ringside: There was a moment, when the debate ended and the wives came up on stage, where I actually knew, or thought I knew, who had wo...

McCain just badly misstated the history of Pakistan. McCain said Pakistan was a failed state before President Musharraf came to power. That is not true.

Obama will trounce McCain because Obama isn't completely bought and paid for. He will then get a two point bump that will disappear in the subsequent debates as McCain surfs the tide of low expectations ala Kerry vs. W. Bush 2.

I'm glad that Senator Obama brought domestic issues to a foreign policy debate, because fixing "home" would alter our foreign relations.

I have to say, I did want to see more fire from Obama. I did want him to let the anger loose. I did want him to slap back at McCain's endless patronizing tone.

I think I feel the same as most Americans when I say I am beyond tired of hearing John McCain sell this war and passing it off as great leadership. To me, McCain proved himself as the stubborn one.

Obama tried to remind Americans of what is morally right and what is morally wrong, and that was fantastic to witness. McCain defends the status quo instead of the moral right.

Where McCain was unserious and petulant, Obama was forceful, sharp and, at times, magnanimous. Hell, McCain couldn't even look Obama in the eye. Not once.

Ironically, the fact that Obama granted his opponent the courtesy of pointing out the places where they agree is the very quality of leadership that McCain continues to falsely claim as his own.