It’s ridiculous, the fact McCain brought it up at all is lame gimmick and the fact Obama felt he had to go along with it is just stupid.

And frankly, if there are people in this country who go, “You know, I really thought that guy didn’t care about a soldier who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country… but since the guy’s wearing a bracelet I’ve TOTALLY changed my mind” then that person is a retard.

I disagree though. McCain was clearly the winner. He had ball control. He took the offensive, and Obama took the bait. Obama felt the need to defend himself every time McCain took a swipe at him. This made Obama look weak and anything but self assured. McCain on the other hand rolled with some of the punches and did not see the need to respond to every one of Obama’s attacks. McCain showed his maturity. As I was watching, I was inwardly chuckling, imagining Obama verbally sparing and parsing his words with foreign leaders. McCain looked strong and presidential. Obama did look presidential at times, but he looked childish with all his quibbling.

I did laugh when Obama said I gotta a bracelet too! C’mon, you can’t write this stuff. He played into so many Obama stereotypes with that aside. Especially when he could not remember the poor man’s name until he read the bracelet! Priceless!

McCain’s story about the Eisenhower letters—awesome. Obama clearly was making the debate about his talking points, while McCain was able to post talking points, answer the questions and throw in what appeared to be off-the-cuff, relevant material. McCain tried humor a couple of times, showing a lot more warmth than Obama. At the end of the debate I’m sure Obama was relieved it was over. McCain, I think, could have gone several more rounds. McCain seemed to have more material than Obama.

McCain seemed more relaxed, more comfortable.

Still, it was a narrow victory. Hopefully the undecided will make up their own minds about the debate instead of drinking the kool-aid the press has and will be offering. But I agree McCain needed to do better especially considering this is his forte, and Obama is really going to make the next debate all about the economy. But, as long as McCain doesn’t self destruct, maybe the press will say, “it’s a tie, and since this was Obama’s strength, McCain won.” Yeah, that’ll happen.

End perception – McCain can claim this one. Obama started awkward, recovered quickly and engaged well on the economy in the first half, but found himself too often on the defensive in the second half (no surprise). McCain didn’t really hit his stride until the national security part, but took the reigns there and did well holding on to them. And since its the latter part that folks remember, post-debate perception will favor McCain.

I watched on PBS (cspan shifted it to cspan2 and screwed my dvr the bastards, glad I double checked to make sure it was recording, only missed part of obama’s opening). Watching a couple minutes of the post-debate commentary, i’m glad i wasn’t just imagining things about McCain not engaging Obama.. Obama seemed to try to address McCain personally frequently, but never the opposite. A generational difference maybe?

I may be in the minority, but can Lehrer moderate all the debates?

Although if I have to be beat over the head one more time by McCain about the fact that he was a prisonor of war I’m putting in for a Purple Heart.

I do think he was disrespectful of Obama, but as McCain liked to point out several times, he’s never been voted “Miss Congeniality”.

In fact, McCain mentioned that phrase so many times I’m beginning to wonder if he has gender identification issues. Maybe he feels he’s missed out on not winning such contests.

Would we be surprised if Israel invaded Palestine? Would we be surprised if India invaded the Kashmir region? South Ossetia has been a disputed region and will continue to be so. We haven’t seen the end of that hotspot.