Obama Mccain Tuesday Debate

11:55 - Sam Stein: Debate In Words: Obama talks about issues while McCain says "my friends." A look at the words uttered during the affair underscore...

My God, does he realize how much gas it will take to drive to the moon?! — michael

It's time to back off the precipice, Ms. Palin and Mr. McCain.

When McCain refuses to look at Barack Obama and refuses to use his name, he is employing modified versions of a military technique -- a strategy of dehumanization.

We all know about the difference between the responses of those who listened to the first Kennedy-Nixon debate on the radio versus those who watched it on television. I did both last night and the same was true.

Obama's answer to the first question of the night was fine -- anodyne, uninspiring, reasonable, and utterly uninspiring.

Obama has erased lingering doubts that he is ready for the Prime Time Presidency, while McCain raised more doubts that he has the energy or interest in the job.

In the course of the debate, McCain was outclassed, outgunned and outrun, time and time and time again. Obama's performance was so commanding that he barely noticed a petulant McCain.

Planetaria show us the beauty and grandeur of the Universe, and shouldn't be cynically relegated to being a political bludgeon used to score cheap points.

If the people of this nation cannot tell the difference between presidential behavior and a sick and angry little man, then we're in more trouble than we are with Bush. Get a grip John. You're boring.

NEW YORK — The McCains and the Obamas moved about the stage separately for a little while after their debate, greeting people on the stage, but ...

Boooring. Yawn. Anything new? "That one?" That's the big controversy of the night? Do we miss Sarah Palin so soon?

If the question of the first debate was whether Obama would pass the threshold on national security (he did), the reality of this debate is that McCain didn't pass the threshold on the economy.

Obama missed an opportunity to explain that the health of our nation's citizens cannot be held hostage to a corporate profit motive.

McCain said Ukraine was "in Russia's sights" and repeated his oft-repeated line that when he sees Putin he sees the letters "K.G.B." This is a good line if you are pundit, not if you are a president.

Well, for a town-hall meeting, I sure didn't see a whole lot of 'town." A couple dozen of over-lit, under-whelmed people who got free tickets. As a comic, I have to say, that really looked like a tough house.

Why are these debates so incredibly boring? Is it McCain telling us constantly he is our friend while he grimaces in a way that is friendly to no one? Or is it Obama keeping his cool despite all the idiotic lies and provocations?

It was clear tonight that Barack Obama has a far superior understanding of the moving parts of government and American society than John McCain ever had.

If this was McCain's night to change the conversation, he changed nothing, looking more tired and less competent than the last debate. Obama seemed more confident and relaxed than last time out.

McCain seems to think his strong support of nuclear power is a big political winner for him. But every time he talks about nuclear, he flatlines with both men and women.

For me, the more worrisome moment of the debate came when McCain told a young, black questioner, "You've probably never heard of Fannie Mae."

Tom Brokaw put the question to each candidate, "Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?" I'm not sure what McCain meant ...

Tonight was not a debate. What we saw instead was Obama presenting coherent answers to difficult questions, while his opponent perpetuated old lies, often unrelated to the subject at hand.