Before I offer any debate-related commentary, I have to couch these statements in that I only watched the last half-hour of the debate. For the first hour, I was hosting Gun Nuts Radio as I do every Tuesday night at 9pm Eastern time. From what I understand from reading the punditry, everyone is saying that McCain lost the debate, which would mean that the first 2/3rds of the debate must have been terrible for Sen. McCain, because the last third that I saw was a clear win for him.
The last half hour of the debate was mostly taken up with a couple of questions about Russia, during which Obama stumbled badly. McCain was able to make very clear and concise points about supporting our allies and opposing Russia’s aggression, while also addressing the fact that Russia controls a large amount of the energy to Europe. Obama looked out of his depth on the Russia issue.
On the very last question, McCain also looked better than Obama. The question was “what don’t you know and how will you learn it” – Obama tried to say “well my wife will always remind me of what I don’t know”; but instead of sounding funny it just came off as fake. McCain came back with “I don’t know what the future will hold, but America is awesome so let’s kick some ass” (slightly paraphrased – ed) which to me felt like a much more honest, genuine response.
Like I said though, I only saw the latter 1/3rd of the debate – since Republican strategists are saying that McCain didn’t win, I have to assume that the first 2/3rds of the debate were an absolute train wreck.
I watched the whole thing and I thought overall McCain did better. He seemed a lot more comfortable, funny, and “with it” than Obama. I thought Obama was pretty stiff and dry.