Debate reactions coming in

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I really, really did not like the format for tonight's debate, it cut off any real conversation or discussion of the issues (not that any of the other debates have had much of that.) I don't think Obama did fantastic, he was solid but nothing more. But I thought McCain really did horribly tonight, he came of as condescending and angry. Take a look at these clips.




It seems to me that McCain has a intense dislike of Obama. He once again barely even looked at him, he wouldn't shake his hand after the debate and that really didn't come off well to me and I don't think voters will like it either.

Here's some reactions from tonights debate.

Snap Polls/Focus Groups:

CBS:

Obama 39% / McCain 27% / 35% Draw

CNN:

Obama 54% / McCain 30%

MSNBC:

Obama 60% / McCain 40%

FOX News:

Obama won (can't find numbers yet)

Pundits:

Taegan Goddard:

Tonight's debate wasn't even close. Sen. Barack Obama ran away with it -- particularly when speaking about the economy and health care. Talking about his mother's death from cancer was very powerful. On nearly every issue, Obama was more substantive, showed more compassion and was more presidential.

In contrast, Sen. John McCain was extremely erratic. Sometimes he was too aggressive (referring to Obama as "that one.") Other times, he just couldn't answer the question (on how he would ask Americans to sacrifice.) And his random attempts at jokes (hair transplants?) were just bad.

Andrew Sullivan:

"This was, I think, a mauling: a devastating and possibly electorally fatal debate for McCain... I've watched a lot of debates and participated in many. I love debate and was trained as a boy in the British system to be a debater. I debated dozens of times at Oxofrd. All I can say is that, simply on terms of substance, clarity, empathy, style and authority, this has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out. It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate. It reminds me of the 1992 Clinton-Perot-Bush debate. I don't really see how the McCain campaign survives this."

Ezra Klein:

"Tonight was supposed to be John McCain's night, but it was the first clear debate win Obama has scored over the course of this campaign -- including the primary. McCain, as it turned out, was badly disadvantaged by the format. This debate was more physical than previous encounters. And McCain, for reasons of age and injuries and height, has a less commanding physical presence than Obama."

Andy McCarthy:

With due respect, I think tonight was a disaster for our side. I'm dumbfounded that no one else seems to think so. Obama did everything he needed to do, McCain did nothing he needed to do. What am I missing?

Mark Halperin:

"McCain spent much of the evening trying to define Obama on his terms, but never broke all the way through."

Bill Whittle:

The things that will (should have said "would") have hit Obama in the polls were subjects that were not raised tonight and I see no reason to think they will be raised next time. The news won't cover these issues. It has to come out in the debates. And I don't see much chance that we will see that next time.

This was not a great night for our team. It's up to the 527's now I think. I don't know how else to get the negatives about Obama out there.

Marc Ambinder:

"CW says that John McCain had a 90 minute window to turn his campaign around - to put into play the McCain Resurgence Strategy, if you will, and if that's the CW threshold, I don't think McCain met it."

And check out this collection of photos from the debate. Here's a sample one. Go look at them all.


Overall? Obama was the clear winner. He did everything he needed to do and McCain didn't do anything he needed to do.

UPDATE: More debate reactions are coming in

NBC (Shrum) 9:43 PM: I think he won a win tonight, Barack Obama. Because I think the big headline of this debate is that people across the country more and more comfortable with the idea of President Obama. He projects a sense of calmness and strength that kind of grace under pressure that people prize in a president.

MSNBC (Fineman) 11:10 PM: "Another good moment for Obama was when Obama basically took control of the foreign policy debate toward the end there."

FOX News (Luntz)10:43 PM: "We seem to be getting winners out of this. Obama did better overall. "

CNN (Brown) 11:06 PM: "Number one, who did the best job in the debate? Obama 54%, McCain 30%. The debate watchers: opinion of Barack Obama, before the debate, your favorables at 60%, after the debate, they went up for Obama to 64%. Unfavorable for Obama at 38%, after the debate they went down to 34%. For John McCain, the opinion of John McCain, his favorables before the debate, 51% unchanged, after the debate again at 51%. His unfavorables 46%, and again, unchanged 46%."

CNN (Bob Schneider): I'm not sure that McCain's presenting of Iraq as a model for Afghanistan will be resonate with voters. LINK

TIME: I'm very distracted by McCain standing behind Obama and looking really, really mad. LINK

Washington Post Factchecker (Michael Dobbs): In outlining his tax policy, John McCain boasted that he would give all American families a $5,000 tax credit to allow them to go out and buy their own health insurance. This is true but it is only part of the story. The other part, which McCain rarely mentions on the campaign trail, is that the Republican candidate has also proposed taxing employer-provided health benefits, which will wipe out most of extra income from the tax credit. LINK

Washington Post Factchecker (Michael Shear): Sen. McCain claimed that Sen. Obama was the second-highest recipient of money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "in history." Having received $105,849, he falls behind Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Christoper Dodd (D-Conn.) in third place, not second. And it's unclear where McCain bases his claim that Obama is second "in history" since the sites that track these contributions don't use that kind of duration. LINK

Chicago Tribune (Frank James): McCain says we need to do something about home values. He says he will order the Treasury Sec to buy up bad mortgages. "Is it expensive? Yes." He says. Kind of conflicts with his statement a few words before that he would cut spending. LINK

TNR (Michael Crowley): Time after time tonight, McCain rushes and garbles his points so that many voters, I suspect, aren't sure what he's said. LINK

CNN (Hillary Rosen): I am fixated on the dial line at the bottom of the screen on CNN. Women are responding very enthusiastically to Obama. And women have been the larger part of the undecided vote in the battleground states. They like his specificity on tax cuts, the budget, education and energy. And now the environment has just sent both men and women to the top line. McCain only gets to the top line with either men or women when he is positive. Each time he criticizes Obama, the line flattens. LINK

Washington Post (Eugene Robinson): I think most viewers will decide that Obama won the debate, if only because he seemed more presidential and he represents a party other than George W. Bush's. These encounters, I believe, are fundamentally unkind to John McCain. LINK

Talking Points Memo: "Clear, even decisive win for Obama tonight." The debate's relatively low-key tone, combined with a series of exchanges that Obama won by at minimum a marginal amount, translate into a clear, even decisive win for Obama tonight. There's no point in mincing words: Time is running out for McCain. As multiple observers have pointed out, McCain needed to jar the electorate into seeing this race in a new way. It isn't even clear if McCain even tried to do this tonight -- there was no moment where he appeared to make an aggressive bid to take down Obama or grab the initiative. LINK

UPDATE 2: This is getting too crowded so I've not another reactions thread up here.