Karen Gsteiger posted the following on September 29, 2008 at 12:25 am.
I’m dying to know what you thought about the debate. I was a nervous wreck all the way through, and I swear to God, McCain was making my fibromyalgia act up. It’s so hard for me to gauge, because I’m so completely biased. As I watched it, I thought, “Oh, probably no one is going to be swayed overwhelmingly by either side in this debate.” Meaning that no Democrat or Republican was going to suddenly defect. I never know what’s going on in the mysterious, fickle minds of those Undecideds, so I don’t even try to speculate. John McCain struck me as rather pissy and snide throughout the whole debate. It annoyed the living hell out of me. Based on the polls and commentary that I’ve seen, I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Was anyone else in physical pain?John McCain: Flaring Up Stress-Related Disorders All Across the Nation
Karen Gsteiger posted the following on September 29, 2008 at 12:26 am.
omg, I wrote a beautiful, eloquent comment. And it disappeared!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…
Karen Gsteiger posted the following on September 29, 2008 at 12:28 am.
Oh wait, never mind. It’s back. You can delete superfluousness. Except for my beautiful, eloquent original comment. ;)
Bryan posted the following on September 29, 2008 at 12:50 am.
My take on the debate was that everybody read it differently depending on where they stood before watching.
If you were a Democrat/Obama supporter, the reaction seemed to be bummed that BO wasn’t harsher, more on the attack, and disappointed that the entire debate wasn’t filled with more moments like the “John, you were wrong” Iraq takedown.
If you were a McCain supporter, you probably took away that McCain impressed with his name dropping, and appreciated the “Senator Obama is naive” thing.
However, at this point, given how partisan the electorate already is, the job for both men was to reach out to the undecided and independent voters. Obama’s job was to reassure them that he was a safe choice, and that he was someone that could safely guide the country as our leader.
McCain’s job was to convince voters that he was a calm and reasoned hand (given the chaotic nature of his campaign the last few weeks), and to demonstrate that he was in touch with the middle class and had a handle on the economic woes of average Americans.
With that criteria in mind, I think Obama was the big winner of the night (judging from the polling and conventional wisdom that’s developed since, at least). Never getting rattled by McCain’s constant condescention, being insistent and sure in his viewpoints — and having his views on foreign policy be so common sense — seems to have reassured voters.
McCain’s body language, his fear of looking Obama in the eye, and his lack of a meaningful retort on most issues aside from “Senator Obama doesn’t understand” did not get him where he needed to go. Having “the other guy doesn’t understand” as you main response when the other guy has just spoken in such a way to make it clear he does understand isn’t effective, and judging by the live focus grouping that CNN did, Independents couldn’t stand it when he went into his rude attacks.
Basically, I wanted more red meat from Obama and was a little bummed to not get it, but he wasn’t playing to me — he was playing to the voters that weren’t comfortable yet — and now many, many more are.
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I’m dying to know what you thought about the debate. I was a nervous wreck all the way through, and I swear to God, McCain was making my fibromyalgia act up. It’s so hard for me to gauge, because I’m so completely biased. As I watched it, I thought, “Oh, probably no one is going to be swayed overwhelmingly by either side in this debate.” Meaning that no Democrat or Republican was going to suddenly defect. I never know what’s going on in the mysterious, fickle minds of those Undecideds, so I don’t even try to speculate. John McCain struck me as rather pissy and snide throughout the whole debate. It annoyed the living hell out of me. Based on the polls and commentary that I’ve seen, I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Was anyone else in physical pain?John McCain: Flaring Up Stress-Related Disorders All Across the Nation
omg, I wrote a beautiful, eloquent comment. And it disappeared!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…
Oh wait, never mind. It’s back. You can delete superfluousness. Except for my beautiful, eloquent original comment. ;)
My take on the debate was that everybody read it differently depending on where they stood before watching.
If you were a Democrat/Obama supporter, the reaction seemed to be bummed that BO wasn’t harsher, more on the attack, and disappointed that the entire debate wasn’t filled with more moments like the “John, you were wrong” Iraq takedown.
If you were a McCain supporter, you probably took away that McCain impressed with his name dropping, and appreciated the “Senator Obama is naive” thing.
However, at this point, given how partisan the electorate already is, the job for both men was to reach out to the undecided and independent voters. Obama’s job was to reassure them that he was a safe choice, and that he was someone that could safely guide the country as our leader.
McCain’s job was to convince voters that he was a calm and reasoned hand (given the chaotic nature of his campaign the last few weeks), and to demonstrate that he was in touch with the middle class and had a handle on the economic woes of average Americans.
With that criteria in mind, I think Obama was the big winner of the night (judging from the polling and conventional wisdom that’s developed since, at least). Never getting rattled by McCain’s constant condescention, being insistent and sure in his viewpoints — and having his views on foreign policy be so common sense — seems to have reassured voters.
McCain’s body language, his fear of looking Obama in the eye, and his lack of a meaningful retort on most issues aside from “Senator Obama doesn’t understand” did not get him where he needed to go. Having “the other guy doesn’t understand” as you main response when the other guy has just spoken in such a way to make it clear he does understand isn’t effective, and judging by the live focus grouping that CNN did, Independents couldn’t stand it when he went into his rude attacks.
Basically, I wanted more red meat from Obama and was a little bummed to not get it, but he wasn’t playing to me — he was playing to the voters that weren’t comfortable yet — and now many, many more are.