by Teh Nutroots | I mention this, because it was new to me, and it startled me: McCain will declare a spending freeze....but the US government, which he vows to pare down, is going to buy up all the bad mortgages? The hell? The government is going to keep housing prices artificially high? Wouldn't that be the effect?
Oh, but apparently Obama already "touted" this plan. Still don't get how it wouldn't just mean keeping housing prices from coming down (and they need to). At any rate, I don't see how you can do that AND have a "spending freeze," as McCain proposed. UPDATE: Aha! I see what Obama meant---the government buys up the actual mortgages in the instead of the mortgage-backed securities! That would have made sense as part of the bailout---but does it make sense as an additional step? I don't see how it would fix the economy. Stormy at Angry Bear suggests that the real problem lies elsewhere, and though I'm a simple economoron, what he says has that ring of common sense.
Like McCain, me no understand the economy. But it's nice to see he's endorsing Obama's ideas and claiming them as his own, even if without attribution.
Meanwhile, Bill Kristol didn't seem to care for this idea of "McCain's," because bailouts aren't for ordinary folks.
Conservative pundit Bill Kristol wasn't too impressed with McCain's jumping on the mortgage buying bandwagon.
"We will hear much more about this $300 billion mortgage plan of the next day or two," Kristol said. "It might end up hurting McCain. It is a pretty chaotic campaign. If you were going to do this, you [would need] lay the groundwork for it."
That settles it; if Kristol is agin it, I must be for it. Ergo I'll have to vote for McCain unless Obama can wrest the idea back again. Sigh.
On to the parts I did understand.
Perhaps McCain has a cunning plan to spin gold out of straw or something. He reminds me a bit of the irasicable Rumpelstiltskin, especially when he jabbed his finger sidewise at Obama without looking at him---and snarlingly refers to him "THAT ONE." Andrew Sullivan: "Nasty, uncivil and not even effective." But I guess it's a step up from when his campaign was trying to cast Obama as The One (i.e., the Antichrist). See McCain say it here. He needs to be careful. At the end of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, the little old man gets so furious he sinks into the earth or explodes or something.
There was also that unfortunate prior moment when he assumed out loud that a young black man who asked about the economic crisis had never heard of Fannie 'n Freddie....
McCain's heroes: Reagan....and Teddy Roosevelt. "Speak softly and carry a big stick." And he wants E-bay's Meg Whitman to be Secretary of the Treasury, that is if Warren Buffet is really in the tank for Obama? Sadly, Ebay just today let go 10% of its employees, according to this. But maybe that's the way to cut big government? He jabbered for a bit about cutting out some of the government agencies.
As somebody liveblogging somewhere said, a drinking contest based on the number of times McCain said, "my friends" would have left everyone passed out on the floor. McCranky needs to cut that out. It sounds phony. I am not his friend and nor do I aspire to be. "My fellow Americans" may be hokey, but at least it ain't phony and a lie.
To be honest, I thought the debate was snoozeworthy, with both candidates reiterating their standard talking points and stump speeches. The only times I woke up were when they swung at each other. Obama wins the prize for getting in the hardest blow: after McCain went after him for saying what he didn't say about Musharraf and Pakistan, and blathered on about antagonizing our enemies, Obama---HOW DID McCAIN NOT SEE THIS COMING??---mentioned McCain's "Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran" moment.
Otherwise, for once in my life, I agree with the Malkin: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Wonkette too, of course:
Oh boy howdy this has been a bunch of yammering interspersed with Tom Brokaw complaining about how long the yammering has been going on.....
This whole debate has been John McCain tremulously snickering and breathing awful thin breaths into his microphone while Barack Obama perches on his stool with a serene little smile on his face. What does this Obama know that we don’t? Why is this man smiling while the rest of America weeps? Oh hell.
To find out how the candidates played to people who aren't like me, I like to look at what neolibs and defected conservatives thought. They may be partisan, and they are, but they're not as partisan as I am.
Sullivan, after citing his credentials to make the call, said that Obama mauled McCain. Look:
This was, I think, a mauling: a devastating and possibly electorally fatal debate for McCain. Even on Russia, he sounded a little out of it. I've watched a lot of debates and participated in many. I love debate and was trained as a boy in the British system to be a debater. I debated dozens of times at Oxofrd. All I can say is that, simply on terms of substance, clarity, empathy, style and authority, this has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out.It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate. It reminds me of the 1992 Clinton-Perot-Bush debate. I don't really see how the McCain campaign survives this.
Sullivan must know what he's talking about. Via Sam Stein, here is the breakdown of some of the insta-polls:
BC's focus group of undecided Pennsylvania voters had the Illinois Democrat winning by roughly a 60-40 split. Frank Luntz's focus group, over at Fox, showed undecided voters leaning towards Obama because of his position on health care. CBS's focus group of independents had the Democratic nominee winning the debate at 39 percent to McCain's 27 percent, with 35 percent of the respondents saying it was a tie. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a Democratic polling firm, had a focus group of undecideds leaning to Obama by a margin of 42 percent to 24 percent.
Meanwhile, SurveyUSA interviewed 741 debate watchers in the state of Washington, 54 percent of whom thought Obama was the "clear winner" compared with McCain's 29 percent. That same polling firm had the first debate as a tie. In tonight's survey: 42 percent of respondents said McCain was too forceful.
And the CNN focus group of undecided voters in Ohio had the margin at an even wider spread: Obama 54 percent to McCain's 30.
Ambinder was less impressed.. He thought Obama was getting more time to speak. He hated the format. "This is the worst debate format ever. Seriously. Whenever the format itself becomes a topic, the format is a big problem."
The questioners were mostly props, the format, negotiated by both campaigns, was terrible, and there weren't any memorable moments. CW says that John McCain had a 90 minute window to turn his campaign around - to put into play the McCain Resurgence Strategy, if you will, and if that's the CW threshold, I don't think McCain met it. With the exception of "That One," McCain seemed less irritable, although his jokes seemed hokey and fell flat - they don't work when no one laughs. Obama got off to a slow start; he does that a lot, but his last 45 minutes were much stronger. (Ambinder)
And he had a prediction---one I hope will come true:
The funniest thing SNL will do Thursday night will be about Brokaw trying to get control of this debate. (Ambinder)
Yeah, that was pretty funny. Wonkette did the best job liveblogging the discomfiture of Brokaw:
9:37 — Barack Obama wants to respond, leading to the fortieth lecture from Brokaw about how they LIED TO HIM when they said they wanted these rules. “Fuck you fucks, I knew LBJ” Brokaw says.
9:38 — [Brokaw cries about dumb ineffectual rules for another minute]...9:46 — Someone finishes answering a question, meaning Tom Brokaw has to yell at them both again. How do you teach those who don’t want to learn? Answer: catty sarcasm. Brokaw basically asks them if they’ve heard of clocks, which can be very useful — they tell the “time” — and especially useful during, say, TOM BROKAW’S LAST DEBATE BEFORE HE DIES. John McCain says “no”, he doesn’t know about these new Apple time gadgets or whatever, and thens asks Tom to act like a crazy retard with hands flailing to tell him the time instead....
10:23 PM — ....Brokaw says, “Simple yes or no question,” and then asks the most provocative meatheaded warmongering question ever asked by a journalist.
10:25 PM — Question: How much do you love Israel? A lot, or a whole lot?....10:34 PM — ....Brokaw yells at them for getting in the way of his teleprompter. We are finally done!....
10:38 PM — MSNBC, with Chris Matthews: “And John McCain, out of nowhere, attacks the moderator, Tom Brokaw.” This is that weird point when Brokaw asks both candidates whom they might choose for Treasury, and McCain snarls, “Heh heh, well not you, Tom.” WTF?....
Yes, I think this was McCain's little joke with Brokaw, only----like all his little jokes when he's not on his own turf---it fell completely flat.
Ben Smith thought it was a pretty ersatz town hall too.
I wrote earlier that this would likely be an empathy contest, but between the odd rules, the candidates, and the visibly displeased moderator, that's not really happening. The questions are basically impersonal, and the questioners then disappear.
I hate town halls. I wish what this could come true and British pit bull (a real one, not a puppet pit bull with lipstick) Jeremy Paxman. He'd know how to shut them down (by force if necessary) when they start rabbiting on about their talking points. See an example here.
Last observation: Lots of speculation about why John and Cindy buggered off out of there ASAP, leaving Obama and Cindy to work the room. Ooooh, bad decision. But of course, it probably past McCranky's bed time. Lately he's been kind of testy, according to The Politico.
When Politico’s Ryan Grim approached Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after the evening of the Senate bailout vote, the reporter didn’t even get his question out.
“Excuse me, you’re bothering me,” McCain said.
It was a surprising rebuke from a politician who once was famous for palling around with reporters, and who was so media-friendly that he was sometimes known as “the senator from ‘Meet the Press.’”
But...yeah. BAD STRATEGY.
10:42 PM — Switching over to C-SPAN. Barack and Michelle are still there, talking to everyone, walking around, taking pictures with people, what is going on, where is McCain and Cindy?
10:43 PM — So weird. They bolted. And Barry and Michelle are really just individually working the small crowd. Why won’t the people talk about this on CNN and MSNBC?
10:43 PM — Please go to C-SPAN, see what’s going on.
10:43 PM — C-SPAN announcer: “You should know Sen. McCain and his wife Cindy have left.”
10:45 PM — Wow.
10:45 PM — Seriously, switch to C-SPAN. Barack and Michelle are STILL working the room like a private party, and McCain and Cindy are LONG GONE. What is up, did they just surrender, like in Michigan?
10:46 PM — What’s remarkable, here, is that Barry and his wife are doing a thing you’ve seen, if you’ve seen the Clintons work a room, back in the glory days of the 1990s. Totally involved with everyone, smiles, charm, concern, serious looks as they listen.
10:48 PM — What does this MEAN? Why won’t CNN and MSNBC show this video?
10:49 PM — They’re all doing group pictures now, with the Obamas. This has become an Obama private party of supporters.
10:50 PM — And now Barack is talking to a group of well-dressed white men and women, business people, country club types. They’re all nodding and looking serious.
10:53 PM — GO TO C-SPAN, WATCH THIS, IT IS REMARKABLE.
Teagan Goddard's got a round-up of reactions. Memeorandum has debate commentary.
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Well done Senator Obama.
John McCain overestimates his record and qualifications to be commander-in-chief. As the Fang of Gabon say, “The tree that grows at the top of the hill believes that it is taller than other trees.”
Posted by: Guy Blaise | October 08, 2008 at 03:10 AM