I am going to be liveblogging this debate, so stay with me to see how I score it. Please also tune into my friend Jen’s blog at http://jen-sized.net for complete liveblogging coverage from two Memphis bloggers very interested in the outcome.
8:02 that was a terse handshake
8:03 Obama talks about the economy. “The worst economic situation since the Great Depression”. He seems a bit stiff. God is he ever nervous.
— oversight
— taxpayers should be able to get money back
— none of that money should pad CEO bank accounts
— helping homeowners
8:05 McCain also seems nervous but a bit more together than Obama. He’s “feeling better” about the economy because Dems & Repubs are working together.
— loans to failing businesses instead of government taking over
8:08 Does Obama favor this plan? “I am optimistic about us coming together about a plan.” Obama asks how we got into this situation in the first place? He’s right.
8:09 “How is it we shredded so many regulations”
8:10 McCain says he warned about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, “a lot of us saw it, this trainwreck coming”. “We’ve got to also start holding people accountable”. It sounds like they actually fundamentally agree.
8:11 Obama counters slightly: “We need accountability but not just when its a crisis.”
8:12 Lehrer: “I’m just determined to get you two to talk to one another.” Everyone knows that McCain doesn’t like Obama.
8:13 McCain: “We gotta fix the system”, Main Street is paying, etc. “I have a fundamental belief in the strength of the American worker.” Yes, we know.
8:14 Fundamental differences? McCain: “Spending is out of control in Washington.” Earmarking is “A gateway drug”. Says Obama has asked for $930 million dollars in earmarks
8:16 Obama says he suspended requesting earmarks until the system cleaned up. McCain is asking for 300 billion dollars in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations in America. Obama wants to grow the economy “from the bottom up”.
8:18 McCain says Obama suspended his requests “after running for President”. Boy McCain is working overtime with the cliches. McCain claims Obama is asking for $800 billion in new spending.
8:19 Obama says he’s going to close corporate loopholes to pay for his programs which is where the $800 billion is going to come from.
8:20 McCain says businesses pay 35% tax, Ireland pays 11%. He wants to cut the business tax so we’re on par with countries where jobs are being shipped. “Senator Obama is a recent convert after asking for $932 million dollars of pork barrell projects.”
– Double dividend for every dependent child in America
8:22 Obama: 95% of Americans get a tax cut. Business taxes on paper are high in this country. But the loopholes are so heavy that businesses pay the lowest business taxes in the world thanks to loopholes.
He says McCain intends to tax health benefits. If you lose your health care, you have to go out on the market and buy it.
8:23 McCain talks about the energy bill with tax breaks for oil companies, Obama voted for, McCain voted against. Trying to paint himself as the fiscal conservative. Two tax brackets, two dividends.
8:25 Obama: I was opposed to those tax breaks (to oil companies). McCain is laughing at him. What an a-hole.
8:27 As President what will you have to give up in terms of spending? Obama: investing in alternative energies, education, science, infrastructure, eliminate programs that don’t work and make programs that do work more efficient.
8:28 McCain says “we have to cut spending”. Get rid of “cost-plus contracts” — oh like um, the ones in Iraq? We need “fixed cost contracts” and of course “defense spending”. “I saved the taxpayers 6.8 billion dollars by negotiating a contract between Boeing and DOD…”
8:31 Obama - “Right now we give 15 billion dollars to private insurers as subsidies to the health care system because lobbyists are able to shape how health care works” —
New Term Introduced: Google for Government, to show who is doing what and spending where in the government
8:32 McCain “How about a spending freeze”
Obama: “The problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a hatchet where you need a scalpel”
“We’re currently spending 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq when they have a 79 billion dollar surplus”
McCain: “We’re sending 700 billion dollars overseas” and “some of that money ends up in people’s hands that we don’t want” meaning terrorists.
8:36 McCain says that health care would be handed over to the Federal Government under Obama. Now he’s talking about spending restraint “We owe China 500 billion dollars”.
8:37 Obama: “John, It’s your President who you agreed with 90% of the time, saying you’re going to lead on controlling spending….when over the last 8 years that hasn’t happened, it’s a little hard to swallow.”
8:38 McCain: “I have disagreed with the President on _______ [issues].”
8:39 What are the lessons of the Iraq war? McCain:”The lessons of Iraq is you cannot have a failed strategy that can cause you to lose the conflict.” “The war was very badly mishandled.”
8:40 Obama: “The first question is whether we should’ve gone into the war in the first place.” Mentions Afghanistan, bin Laden, says he voted against the war at a time when it was unpopular. “I wish I had been wrong and they had been right for the sake of the country.”
“We have to use our miitary wisely and we did not use our military wisely in Iraq.”
8:43 McCain: “The next President of the United States is going to have to decide how we leave, when we leave and what we leave behind.”
8:44: Obama: “You like to pretend like the war started in 2007. It started in 2003.”
8:45 McCain: “Senator Obama doesn’t understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy.”
McCain is such a douche. He’s laughing at Obama. That doesn’t win him any points.
8:59 Every time McCain mentions something about his connection to the armed forces, you’re required to drink. Heavily. We get it, you’re a war hero and you understand how war works. Congratulations.
9:02 Obama attacked McCain on believing we can “muddle through” Afghanistan, and McCain attacks Obama for never visiting Afghanistan. McCain still believes there is a connection between Afghanistan and Iraq.
9:15 McCain is on the defensive heavily on the issue of sitting down with rogue nations. Apparently, Henry Kissinger said we should have sit downs with no preconditions with Iran — but not the President to do so according to McCain.
9:20 Obama and McCain fundamentally agree on how to deal with Russia, we’ve learned.
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