What's on your mind? What's going to happen tonight? Can the candidates afford to do anything but talk about the economy, economy, economy, economy....? Will McCain look at Barack tonight? Will McCain look at his watch, as George HW Bush (in)famously did in 1992? This should be fascinating.
Comments
I am wondering (Ron1 - 10/7/2008 7:31:00 PM)
if John McCain has an epic meltdown tonight. He has set himself up for such an event with his evident hatred of Obama and because he feels so entitled to the Presidency. This is a man that has let ambition destroy whatever other aspects of his personality may once have roamed free.
He has played every conceivable hand, and Barack has had to parry the worst of all this before. There are no 'surprises' to be had, and McCain has plenty of dirty laundry yet to be fully aired in front of the whole nation (Keating Five).
I don't expect him to snap, but it wouldn't surprise me either. Tonight could be the effective checkmate to this game if Obama really hammers McCain effectively. I expect that to happen.
Remember Joseph Welch and the McCarthy Hearings? (Jim K. - 10/7/2008 8:05:51 PM)
Wouldn't it be great if Obama in the debate did what Joseph Welch, the Army's General Counsel at the time of the McCarthy red-scare hearings in the early 1950s, did in a hearing before Senator McCarthy, when Welch looked McCarthy in the eye and said with great disgust something like, "Senator, do you have no shame?" What a good retort that would be to the slimey attacks that the McCain campaign is now making concerning the past associations of Obama. Welch's remarks took the wind out of McCarthy and set in motion a tide of public opinion against McCarthy and his tactics.
Part of the great fun of McCain (aznew - 10/7/2008 8:05:57 PM)
Who know what the Hell this erratic individual will do? Will he be rational, or a wild, mean, negative lunatic?
Who knows?
In some professions, this would be a good quality to have. President of the United States is not one of them.
Not that it matters much. This election is now out of McCain's hands.
A calm, courageous bearing wins. (buzzbolt - 10/7/2008 8:18:38 PM)
It is no longer a prizefight scored on punches. Astonishingly difficult problems are at stake here including international panic over cascading financial events. The winner will display a bearing that is calming, fearless, and constant.
My pre-debate prediction... (Kindler - 10/7/2008 8:42:27 PM)
...is that, whatever happens tonight, the media will look for excuses to say that McCain "won" or gained traction or somehow prevailed in this debate. Why? Because the media likes drama and suspense -- it sells papers. Blowouts are boring!
(For more information, see media commentary on Sarah Palin's performance after the VP debate...)
Yes, it is part of the media presidency narrative (Hugo Estrada - 10/7/2008 9:03:55 PM)
They need to have the comeback. In fact, this may be a major thing to watch out for in the next few weeks. One of the media narratives that they love is the winner that comes from behind, so we got to watch out for any extra good coverage of McCain.