John McCainiac gave his all. He huff and he puffed and he got really "eye-blinky," but Barack "Hopey McChangey" Obama's house refused to blow down. While the pundits considered whether or not the "angry," Ayers-obsessed McCain would come off better than the slightly less peeved, but cowed McCain, early polls by CNN and CBS showed, once again, an overwhelming tilt towards Obama winning the debate.
This last debate was McCain's last big chance to tell America what his vision for the country is. Instead I got a lot fussing, eye rolling and grunting, compounding with tons of wasted minutes on what will ultimately go down as the "Joe the Plumber" debate.
This was a lively exchange than the previous two debates, no doubt. Mostly because McCain's body language and attitude were a raw, exposed nerve on a confused and irritated body. I once joked during the primaries that it seemed like Hillary Clinton was moaning R&B singer Deborah Cox's 1998 hit "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here." Now McCain has taken that ballad and turned it into a torch song to his misfortunes.
How did this Obama guy get here?
He's not supposed to be here.
It's bad enough I got beat by Bush last time.
My Purple heart says no, no.
He's not supposed to be here.
Then Obama came along making me lose my mind.
This debate was largely the best debate though because of the format and the moderator, CBS long-time political reporter and host of "Face the Nation," the pithy Bob Schieffer. Unlike Tom Brokaw, who came off petulant and prissy during the last debate, Schieffer breezed through, asking interesting questions that sparked lively debate while keep the training running on time.
Obama largely stuck to the "West Side Story" play book by humming "boy, boy, crazy boy, stay cool boy" in his head for 90 minutes no matter what flapdoodle came out of McCain's mouth. That is an amazing talent of his. Plus, McCain heartily took the negative campaigning bait and did what the Republican base wanted him to do, but once again forgot all about the voters in the middle. The one's who may have taken offense to him using "air quotes" when saying the word "health" in reference to abortion rights. Claiming health was an over used argument when the whole abortion debate is about health -- health of the mother and health of the fetus.
Seriously. What was he talking about? Did he really go there? But I guess if you're going to blow through the last debate, knowing that in all likelihood no matter what you say it won't move the needle, why not act a damn fool? Sure, it's about two debates too late. McCain does everything two or three moves to late. If he were boxing his own shadow (which he does at times), his shadow kicks his ass somedays.
Obama had opportunities to open up on McCain and probably would have if he weren't sitting on a lead he didn't want to blow. Obama didn't have to do anything but keep from uttering a major gaff, or stuttering too much (which he did do at times). Other than that, if we're grading the debate based on who accomplished their mission, the obvious winner is Obama. McCain threw everything, including the William Ayers sink at Obama and he just shined on through.
It's "Groundhog Day" for John McCain. Every debate was "Grondhog Day." It's deja vu all over again.
Side note: More on Michelle and her dress later (and me getting um ... a little tired of the pins). More pictures. Updates will be late today!
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