Posted by
Andrews on Thursday, October 16, 2008 2:41:00 AM
Sorry for all the typos and mess in my live debate coverage below. It is late, but I just came back to read over them and noticed a lot of misspellings, a few stray words, and one or two places where my hands didn't keep up with my thoughts. Once I get settled in at work tomorrow and find a few free minutes I will come back and clean them up. So if anything doesn't make sense now, come back tomorrow afternoon and read it again.
I should also have digested the whole debate by then and have some more elaborate conclusions.
Right now all I have to say is that McCain was much stronger than I expected, but he still seems to be holding something back. I think we may have some sort of October surprise in store. (Maybe Rezko?) I also think Obama stepped in it when he made some statements about Ayers and especially ACORN, some of those statements being outright lies. He also got lost in too many specifics, which bored and confused the audience, made him sound like a meddling micromanager, and tied him down to a specific plan while opening the possibility of being charged with lying, as he has said many, many contradictory things in the past about free trade, health care, and so on.
Finally, I think McCain did do a great job of painting Obama as a big government, tax and spend liberal. Actually, Obama did a good job of painting himself that way. His endless detailed plans, filled with rules, exceptions, and other piddling details really did not help him. He came across as more of a Mike Dukakis than a JFK.
Not Obama's finest hour by a long shot.
But, as I said, it is late, so I will be writing more tomorrow, as well as cleaning up my earlier posts.