OK, so some of us are not going out tonight to hang out and watch the debate. I’m just too tired to go through all of that. But I’ll be watching. And if you are hanging at home, feel free to join me 🙂 The debate starts at 9pm EDT.
According to the AP:
The debate, expected to reach a huge viewing audience, was supposed to focus on foreign policy, a topic generally viewed as a McCain strength. But given the roiling economic situation, moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS indicated he wouldn’t be constrained by the boundaries the two campaigns negotiated months ago.
I suspect we’ll hear quite a bit about the economy tonight, with some foreign policy stuff thrown in for good measure. And from the above linked article, it appears that the campaigns are trying to downplay expectations.
We’ll find out soon enough.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
And just to set the appropriate background, remember: desperate times call for desperate men.
You may not remember, but at the last party at your place, I went with the Grumpy Old Man as the drink of the evening. I was going to stick to the bourbon, and an All American…but something tells me whiskey and the drink known as the Flying F@#$ would be more appropriate. Or I suppose I could do both and go for an All American Flying F@#$.*
(I admire anyone who can watch these stone cold sober. I can’t.)
*Good thing MB reminded me about the filtering on your site!
Good video.
And I’m sober – just a Diet Coke here.
So what are we expecting, here? What are we hoping for? This time around, I’m expecting Obama to hold steady, and McCain to swing. McCain will paint Obama as an appeaser, and Obama will try to calmly explain that he’s no such thing. I do worry that Obama will fall victim to the if-you’re-explaining-you’re-losing paradigm that seems to infuse most “debates.”
What do I hope? Presuming that the first couple/few questions touch on the economy, I’d like to see Obama lay down a blistering attack on the GOP dereg fetish. I don’t think it will do him (or more importantly, us) any favors to take a moderate (i.e., timid) approach on that subject. After that, watching McCain blow his top would be pure icing.
Risks? As noted, I think Obama tends to take a much lower key approach than I think is appropriate (or helpful). You can play rope-a-dope, but that only works if you come out swinging at some point. Also, he has a tendency toward nuance that our idiocracy doesn’t reward. Finally, McCain has a demonstrated willingness to not only speak – but then stand on – straight up lies. That’s incredibly hard to counter effectively in this situation.
I am not expecting much. Really – haven’t we pretty much heard everything already? I expect a lot of talking points, very little meat, a lot of posturing. Nothing earth-shattering.
And I expect them both to play it safe.
Finally, I expect their positions to be fairly close to each other’s.
McCain has the most to lose from a poor performance, and his support is shaky already.
Obama will be reactionary (not that there’s anything wrong with that) in part because of the uncertainty about which John McCain will show up.
I predict a howling good performance. Obama will be light and not too strident.
And we’re off! I’m watching CSPAN and switching over to Current
q1: Financial recovery plan
Dang — Obama still doesn’t know how to put on a tie.
McCain and Bush pushed for oversight of Fannie Mae — the dems shot it down.
Obama jumped right in, McCain is stalling.
@ time McCain/Bush pushed for oversight, the R’s were in charge.