Wednesday, October 15, 2008

"I'll whip his you-know-what" - Final Debate Liveblog!

11:09- A few thoughts: McCain needed a home run, and he didn't get it. I actually thought it was McCain's best debate, just for the amount of shit he threw out there. McCain out maneuvered Obama on the tax stuff early, but Obama recovered by the end of the debate and rebutted him well.

I will say though, one of my highest original hopes for Obama was his ability to mainstream progressive politics, and it was upsetting to watch him "prove his worth" by naming the times he triangulated against his base. That's not just Obama by any means, but it's harder to watch since I had higher hopes for him than I do with most dems. The idea that you have to prove your worth by listing the times you sold out our supporters is a strange tactic as well, one that I really don't understand. As 6.54 said in the comments, there's a reason why McCain has to do that, those positions are unpopular! You're on the popular side, Barack! And as Chris Bowers said, Obama wasn't very appealing to progressives tonight, but then again, everyone around him told him this is how you win elections. I sincerely hope that's its a tactic and not his beliefs, and the good news is he'll have 8 years to show us the answer to that question.

11:00-
@6.54, No need to qualify that. If there are any high information undecided voters out there, they are idiots. I have no problem saying that. Enough info is out there that you should be able to make a choice one way or another. And anyone who has watched those groups on cspan knows what I'm talking about.

10:51-
Matt points out how McCain rolled his eyes when Obama mentions the murder of workers in Columbia. This is how he feels, and it shouldn't be shocking. They don't matter. They are an obstacle, and their lives have no value. This is the conservative world view, without exaggeration. What a disgusting human being, and what a despicable way to view the world.

10:47-
Wow... 100 comments, that's a record! Thanks for your contributions everyone, it makes these debates worth watching.

10:38-
@WB: Yep, just glad it's over... and I'm waiting for my stake of Joe's shop too! I thought the government was dividing it up and giving away his fortune! Maggie's farm 2008! Viva la revolution!

10:35-
Good point by Rachel Maddow: That whole ridiculing defending the life of the mother exception. That should probably be a big deal, right?

10:32-
I think I got so angry about Obama praising Michelle Rhee that I blacked out during the closing statements. Anything interesting?

10:25- Stop praising vouchers! Stop praising charter schools! Because the way to fix the school system is to take it's precious resources, and give them to one school. But kids all have a chance to get into that school! See it's fair! Woooo, praising the union busting Michelle Rhee! How low can we go!

10:20-
Ugh, Charter schools. What a flaming turd.

10:17-
@Helen: Speaking of their family, I'm really glad he mentioned Nancy Reagan at the start of the debate. Should we mention that for 20 years Nancy Reagan has hated McCain for cheating on, and then leaving his wife because she was disfigured in a car wreak? Anyone?

10:14-
McCain is going hard on this pro life stuff, I didn't expect him to make this that much of an issue. You usually try to distance yourself from positions that only 35% of the country agrees with.

10:10-
@ DHR: They're going through the Ohio phone books for every plumber named Joe as we speak.

10:07-
"I'm a federalist, I believe things should be in the hands of states."

10:04-
Joe, you should be able to avoid providing health care to your employees... thats YOUR RIGHT, dammit.

10:00-
I hope Joe doesn't have a pre-condition, cause no one will ever provide him health insurance again.

9:57-
I'm glad that McCain made Columbia the center piece of his trade argument, it's by far the easiest to ridicule, unless you're a fan of murder and such.

9:52-
Peru had the same bullshit protections as NAFTA! How can you differentiate one from the other! They are literally, the same. Election season, close ranks, ignore democratic free trade bullshit...

9:50-
Woo! Trade makes an appearance! Holy crap Columbia! Crush it Barack! Fucking send it of the park!

9:49-
@Helen and 6.54: if you say it's clean, it must be true!

9:44-
@DHR: Haha, yeah, she really has the party through the shared values of bigotry and ignorance.

9:40-
Palin vs Biden, at least we get this softball.

9:38-
Lies, lies and lies, Barack debunked them right there, and McCain's allowed to repeat them. I don't even know what to say.

9:36-
Credit to Obama for laughing at the Acorn nonsense.

9:34-
Maybe John McCain needs to go more of his own rallies.

9:33-
THANK YOU! Mention those rallies! This isn't funny you asshole, your rallies have turned into racists mobs. Hilarious!

9:31-
Yeah, he did denounce those remarks! I was pissed, but he did!

9:28-
Obama, nail him on his bullshit, NOW.

9:26-
Look how much our own parties hate us! Parties and politics are bad! We can't be bothered with either of them.

9:24-
And Barack lists most of his crappy positions to show how mavericky he is... Fannnnnnnnnnntastic.

9:21-
Barack references the percentages instead of the dollar values for earmarks, someone told him since the last debate that saying that big numbers aren't significant isn't a good look, no matter how true it is.

9:17-
A hatchet and a scalpel, McCain is a man of many knives.

9:14-
35% sounds a lot higher than 0%.

9:11-
Say that if Joe the plumber makes less that $250,000 dollars, his taxes won't go up!

9:08-
But Joe the plumber doesn't want to pay his workers or give them health care, Barack! Don't you have a plan for that?

9:04-
Concern trolling here, but should McCain have said angry 4 times in the first sentence?

8:58
- Maybe it's the hype, but I'm sensing this could be a historic low tonight. Watching MSNBC, and I guess if we needed another reminder, Chris Mathews is a joke. It's nice to have a millionaire explain why Barack Obama doesn't relate to working class voters.

Tonight 9PM.

Interesting stuff going into the last debate. If someone had accused me of "palling around with terrorists", I probably would have brought it up at the last debate, but regardless it looks like the Ayers nonsense will make an appearance tonight.

Also, McCain actually did say that he'd "whip his you-know-what" in the debate tonight, which I suppose speaks for itself.

It's his last chance for a "game-changer", which means it's probably going to be really ugly.

See you then.

Note: I'm going to keep this at the top of the page as an announcement, so check below for new posts.

114 comments:

  1. this debate is like being up by 14 late in the 4th quarter. just run it up the middle, Barack, and don't fumble

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  2. love the give away to banks point.

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  3. pretty quiet here so far tonight, it's getting lonely here in The Train of Thought war room (or, to be more specific, our living room)

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  4. nice stat on small businesses

    Take Joe's wealth and spread it around ..... What?

    class warfare?

    I WISH we were actually talking about redistribution of wealth

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  5. Yeah...where is everybody?

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  6. wow, McCain really loves talking about "Joe the Plumber"

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  7. Hello! Sorry, I had a photoshoot that just ended.

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  8. very early into this debate, it's clear that schieffer is hands down the best moderator of any of these things

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  9. Back to the $3M projector....

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  10. And what's with that weird watch?

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  11. Nuclear power = not a permanent solution, which I guess is the point.

    And I guess I don't need to tell you guys how disgusted I am that anyone is even considering drilling as a solution to anything having to do with energy.

    And preemptively, because I know someone will mention it: clean coal does not exist and will never exist.

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  12. isn't there some correlation between rapid blinking and lying

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  13. very early into this debate, it's clear that schieffer is hands down the best moderator of any of these things

    I loved Lehrer, but things like "Like what?" and "Time's up" and "This committee thinks your totally full of shit about decreasing the deficit" are really pushing me into his column.

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  14. "I am not president Bush."

    Good line.

    Way too late.

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  15. oh em gee, McCain actually said Obama's name! but he still looked like he was about to throw up as he struggled to glance in his general direction

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  16. Thing is, Obama doesn't need to worry about not having a record of standing up to the leaders of his party.

    1. It's not an issue, because people like democrats this year.

    2. He IS the leader of his party!

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  17. WTF? Obama did "repudiate" those remarks.

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  18. Tight. 100% of the ads. Fucking right. I was afraid he was going to bungle that question.

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  19. Obama: 100% percent of your words have been negative
    McCain: that's not true.

    wow, fighting accusations of negativity... with a negative statement. gotta love it.

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  20. As someone who is currently taking a class that's literally on "Objectivity", I can explain to you at length how McCain probably does not know what the term means, and in any case definitely does not use it correctly.

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  21. proud of the people who come to his rallies? who say "kill him"?

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  22. I love all my supporters! The most patriotic! He's so fucked...

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  23. "I'm proud of the people who come to our rallies!" WOW!!

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  24. And the fact that he thinks that people who come to his rallies are patriotic is EXACTLY why he can never be president.

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  25. ...and McCain with a sad attempt to defend the people at his rallies. "fringe" people, John? yeah, these are the likeliest ones to put Obama's life in any real danger. and he all but admitted that these people have been at his rallies! you're done, son.

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  26. great answer to the Ayers BS

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  27. Hate that he's throwing ACORN under the bus. SIGH.

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  28. If only they knew how much $$ has been being moved to ACORN by every progressive foundation in the country....

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  29. If I remember correctly, the actual ACORN response to the scandal was hilarious. Basically,

    "These are legal documents. We are legally required to turn them in. We even flag the ones we think are bogus so as to be helpful, but we don't even have to do that. WTF."

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  30. let me count the ways Biden differs from Palin....hmmmm...

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  31. He's a MAN! See! Look how sexist you liberals are!

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  32. Wait, since when have we gotten to know Sarah Palin?

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  33. Let me just say, for the record, that Sarah Palin is not my role model.

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  34. Oooooh, the reformer, energy expert Sarah Palin that exists within John McCain's head...


    No, we still don't know who that is.

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  35. ignited (with hate) our party...

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  36. Good answer: "She's a capable politician."

    Damning with praise so faint it might not even be praise.

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  37. Actually, climate control would be a more accurate term than climate change.

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  38. here comes the clean coal BS

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  39. Yeah! Fuck Hugo Chavez! He's nationalized his economy!

    oh, wait...

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  40. ugh, not happy Obama talked about offshore drilling either

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  41. BTW, biodiesel doesn't work either, because there's a limited amount of arable land in the world, and we're using most of it that can be easily used. Aside from the algae route (which has its own problems, since if it was done properly it'd kill everything in a lake) there's a direct correspondence between the price and availability of food and the price and availability of biodiesel.

    And since we rely on these fuels to gather the crops in the first place...

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  42. off-shore drilling is such bullshit...So what if the price of gas goes down a few dollars a barrel? Wouldn't that money developing off-shore drilling be better spent developing technologies that move towards energy independence?

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  43. so, am I to understand that Colombia is now a political ally of the United States?

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  44. uh-oh, D Reichs is in the building!

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  45. Yo, helen and dhr: enjoying that Pumking?

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  46. joe the plumber, joe six-pack, hockey moms...this all makes me want to bang my head against the wall

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  47. Actually, yeah... Why we be more like Canada?

    Oooooh, shit: "I'm happy to talk to you, Joe... if you're out there!"

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  48. we didn't drink it until now cause we didn't know it was Ok with you

    but now, yes, it's really good

    thanks!

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  49. McCain looks like a confused robot when Obama is speaking...does not compute, does not compute

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  50. 6.54 Yeah, we're getting pumkin-ed!

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  51. You know, the thing with these debates is, I don't trust anything either of these people say about their plans for the country.

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  52. God that poor joe plumber dude-- the media are gonna eat him alive.

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  53. Yeah, we're getting pumkin-ed!

    Awesome. I've got my last Dogfish "Punkin" here.

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  54. 6.54, i found a store down here on M street that sells the dogfish head pumpkin & there's one left in our fridge now too... wait, is there a debate on or something?

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  55. oh it's OK they're just talking about roe v wade...

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  56. nice job on the equal pay for equal work story. sexism, what?

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  57. At least he was there!

    Zing

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  58. This abortion debate makes me insane....
    How about talking about federally funded abstinence only education that has been repeatedly shown not to work?

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  59. Can we get a factcheck.org analysis on there being any small-business-owners named Joe in Ohio?

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  60. FINALLY! Sex education, yes, Obama....

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  61. Here comes the pedophile retort!

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  62. Obama is eloquent! MacCain speaks truth at last!

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  63. oooooo....not so sure you want to bring up Cindy and your very, very strange family......

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  64. 6.54, i found a store down here on M street that sells the dogfish head pumpkin & there's one left in our fridge now too... wait, is there a debate on or something?


    Oh yeah... the debate!

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  65. affordable college ....yes ...lack of scientists, non-profit employees

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  66. nice plug on how hard it is to pay back loans as a researcher

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  67. @dhr yeah but every time he says Obama is "eloquent," he accuses him of twisting words around and not saying what he actually means. the sad thing is that most Americans will accept McCain's definition of eloquence as the correct one

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  68. Lay off Julian, that's their family values talking....you always serve those divorce papers at the hospital - Gingrich, too, remember?

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  69. America's youth are not interest groups! YAY!!

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  70. he's lying thru his teeth about head start

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  71. Sarah Palin knows jack about autism

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  72. Get the fuck out of DC policy unless you give us representation

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  73. @ Helen:

    Yes. Absolutely. Damn them.

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  74. Obama: DC's school system is in terrible shape.

    yeah, no shit! i wonder why McCain brought it up as the shining example of school vouchers anyway

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  75. so, what did i miss?

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  76. Like I said: how dare either of them mention DC without bringing up that we are a colony. Fuck them.

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  77. helen said...
    Get the fuck out of DC policy unless you give us representation

    10/15/08 10:26 PM
    cheers to that, helen!

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  78. Maybe the best closing line ever: "Go vote now. It'll make you feel big and strong."

    Amazing!

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  79. Also, this is entirely my own bias, but that cheer was totally for Michelle, not Cindy.

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  80. wb- over the last 4 weeks I feel I"ve had a very special education in levels of physical and mental pain and I have to say the last two hours have established a whole new threshold for endurance...
    "good night, and good luck..."

    (when do I get my share of Joe's take?)

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  81. yes- definitely for Michelle
    And McCain looked like he could barely stand to shake Obama's hand

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  82. Who's watching what commentary? We're on PBS, as it's the only channel we get (sad but true)

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  83. Hi wb!

    I'm watching CNN's online coverage, which is different from their TV coverage.

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  84. CNN online is universally raping McCain's "Joe the Plumber", and half/half praising Obama's use of it.

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  85. @ wb i think joe the plumber is a children's show on Nick Jr. his response can be seen tomorrow mornig right after dora the explorer's.

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  86. ha, check out fox...

    FEAR THE 'OTHER'

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  87. Now PBS is bringing up Rev. Wright ...good lord.

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  88. wb! yes! someone log that man on so he doesn't have to post as anonymous

    Can't you get a doctor's excuse so you don't have to watch this insanity?

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  89. From TPM/Josh Marshall:
    10:28 PM ... I've been thinking about this and we're pulling the video. But the part of the debate where Sen. McCain seemed to mock the issue of a woman's health was weird and ... well, kind of disgusting. It's hard for me to see how's he seriously pushing for the women's vote. Here's what TPM Reader PT had to say: "I haven't seen this on the TPM front-page liveblog, but it deserves attention. McCain's mocking of a mother's health during the abortion exchange was easily his low point tonight, even if the moment was too fleeting to have a substantial impact. He called the idea of a mother's health exemption extreme. But that's not all. If you were watching closely, you would've heard John McCain saying "health" in a mocking tone, and suggesting that Obama's support for a mother's health was nothing more than, to put it bluntly, smooth-talking bullshit. Stunning and appalling."

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  90. OMG! There are still undecided voters! How can this be?

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  91. Undecided voters=stupid voters.

    I mean, not quite. Buuuuut, yeah.

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  92. all this focus on uncommitted people

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  93. wb-@helen and undecideds - Daily show had a spectacular piece on this complete with pie chart of categories which showed 45% "incredibly stupid".
    We're on MSNBC which declared "joe the plumber" the winner with franchise offers by the a.m.
    They are giving it to Obama - including Pat Buchanan (!!) All agree the scoffing at "health" of the mother a bad move (uh, yeah....)

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  94. Everyone go vote for Obama on Drudge...

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  95. Roll of eyes at murdered workers and organizers; scoff at women's repro heath issues

    and yet, and yet, there is still positive commentary out there

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  96. wb-
    MSNBC has Keith, Rachel, Eugene Robinson and Pat Buchanan........go for it!

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  97. glad, as always, to be a part of these discussions. when no one was commenting at the beginning, i thought this would be our slowest live blog but almost 110 comments! wow! thanks to all for participating in each of these live blogs & i'll see you guys around

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  98. Yeah, this was fun. Next live blog = election day? Is there anything between now and then?

    For the record books, Obama totally demolished McCain in the snap polls.

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  99. Yo, CNNonline just asked their two representatives from the left and right:

    "So, 'As' for both your candidates"

    Blogger for Obama: "Absolutely."

    Guy from national review: "Well, uh, I mean, what does "A" even mean?"

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  100. sorry i missed the party. not portable computer. but thought id put my 2 cents in even if its over. i still can't believe mccain pulled his shit together for the first question in this debate. it must be one of the few moments of lucidness he's got left him.

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  101. Why would you think he would mainstream progressive politics when he doesn't have a progressive voting record, or positions (other than withdrawing from IRAQ)?

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  102. Just to clarify, that's a question aimed at JJ's last thoughts re the debate.

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