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Norah O'Donnell was in Kansas City, Missouri during the debate yesterday with a panel of undecided voters. Their responsiveness to the candidates on the specific issues of McCain's invoking of Bill Ayers and Obama's tying McCain to George Bush was emblematic of the greater take on the debate as a whole.

Look at the red line signifying registered Republicans. As McCain goes on the attack about Ayers, it drops below the horizon into negative territory, side by side with the Independent vote. As the voter O'Donnell interviewed said, the whole Ayers issue has been dealt with and it's just beating a dead horse.

But more telling, look at that same red Republican line when Obama says that the country can't afford another 8 years of Bush policies. Up, up, up! No matter how petulantly McCain tries to distance himself from Bush, it's clear that the voters aren't buying it for a minute.

Clearly, in all his debate prep, no one thought to coach McCain not to go to the third rail of the abortion issue. Boy, was that an oversight. Because not only did McCain go there, he jumped right on to it.

In trying to paint Obama as being for the great Republican bugaboo of late term abortions (because, you know, there are so many women running around and deciding after being pregnant for six or more months that being pregnant is no longer convenient for them), Obama replied that he didn't vote for the late term abortion ban because it had no provision for the health or life of the mother. And that's when McCain proved how heartless and clueless he is:

Again…just again, an example of the eloquence of Senator Obama, health (indicates air quotes) of the mother. You know that’s been stretched by the pro-abortion movement to mean almost anything.

Really? Not a legitimate concern? Tell that to these women.

(h/t Jesse)

Probably a good idea to study your opponent's stance when you plan to attack him on it in front of millions of potential viewers. Otherwise you end up like Grampy McCrankypants with his total deer-in-the-headlight look when Obama set him straight:

Obama: I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there. Here is your fine: Zero.

McCain interrupts: Zero??

Obama: Zero. You won't pay a fine because as I said in our last debate, and I'll repeat John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees who are not doing it. I exempt small businesses from having to pay into a kitty...

With Henry Paulson on record that he would not continue past the Bush term as Treasury Secretary, debate moderator Tom Brokaw asked who the candidates would choose as a Treasury Secretary. McCain's response:

You know that’s a tough question, and there’s a lot of qualified Americans. But I think the first criteria, Tom, would have to be somebody who immediately Americans identify with. Immediately say we can trust that individual. Supporter of Sen. Obama’s is Warren Buffet. He’s already weighed in and helped stabilize some of the difficulties in the markets and with companies and corporations, institutions today. I like Meg Whitman. She knows what it’s like to be out there in the marketplace. She knows how to create jobs. Whitman was CEO of a company that started with 12 people and now, 1.3 million people in America make their living off eBay. Maybe someone here has done business with them. But the point is, it’s going to have to be somebody who inspires trust and confidence.

Confidence? Hmmmmm....I guess McCain didn't read today's LA Times:

Online retailer EBay Inc., which is trying to reverse years of slowing growth in its auction business amid rising competition and a spreading financial crisis, said Monday that it would cut 10% of its global workforce even as it spends $1.3 billion to buy three Web businesses.

Even after announcing the largest reduction in its 13-year history, which EBay said would save $150 million in annual operating costs, the San Jose company saw its shares tumble by as much as 12% to their lowest level in more than five years. They recovered to close at $17.89, down 5.5%.

Investors are concerned that EBay's bread and butter, online auctions, is showing increasing vulnerability to slowing consumer spending, the slumping U.S. housing market and high fuel prices.[..]

Although EBay said the layoffs (of about 1,000 full time employees) were not a result of the economic downturn, Chief Executive John Donahoe acknowledged that the weakening economy and the strengthening dollar were affecting sales. Donahoe, who took the reins from Meg Whitman in March, has been trying to lead a corporate overhaul.

Yeah, that inspires confidence, doesn't it? But I'm curious, as the Obama debate record site shows, McCain has mentioned his good friend Phil Gramm several times as a likely Treasury Secretary. Wonder why he didn't bring him up last night?

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John McCain tried to once again attack Obama over his assertion that if he found OBL he would take him out. Somehow in McCain's mind, Obama is giving out classified secrets to the enemy by announcing that to the world. It was interesting that Obama won the foreign policy of the debate pretty easily last night. Charles Krauthammer was shocked over that development on FOX in the post debate wrap up.

Obama: You're doing a great job, Tom. Look, I -- I want to be very clear about what I said. Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan. Sen. McCain continues to repeat this.

What I said was the same thing that the audience here today heard me say, which is, if Pakistan is unable or unwilling to hunt down bin Laden and take him out, then we should.

Now, that I think has to be our policy, because they are threatening to kill more Americans.

Now, Sen. McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I'm green behind the ears and, you know, I'm just spouting off, and he's somber and responsible.

McCain: Thank you very much.

Obama: Sen. McCain, this is the guy who sang, "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don't think is an example of "speaking softly."

This is the person who, after we had -- we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, "Next up, Baghdad."

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Download | Play    Download | Play(h/t Heather)

I thought this was a powerful moment in the debate for Obama. When a candidate can get personal about an issue it always rings true and in this case Obama draws on the the horrible experience his own mom had to endure during her final days fighting cancer and the insurance company. I'm still trying to figure out what Lisa Schiffren of the NRO was complaining about.

CNN:

Brokaw: Privilege, right or responsibility. Let's start with that.

Obama: Well, I think it should be a right for every American. In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment, there's something fundamentally wrong about that.

So let me -- let me just talk about this fundamental difference. And, Tom, I know that we're under time constraints, but Sen. McCain through a lot of stuff out there.

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During the presidential campaign season, every pundit -- regardless of political affiliation -- has touted the "town hall" format as the strongest and most comfortable debate setting for John McCain. Unfortunately, McCain performed miserably in Tuesday's town hall debate with Barack Obama, once again looking desperate, rambling and uncomfortable. So how is the GOP going spin it?

C&L sources who are on GOP e-mail lists report that at least a half hour before the debate was even finished, they started receiving e-mails spinning and whining about the format and how it wasn't a REAL town hall -- therefore, it's unfair to poor John McCain. Ben Smith at Politico got the ball rolling:

I wrote earlier that this would likely be an empathy contest, but between the odd rules, the candidates, and the visibly displeased moderator, that's not really happening. The questions are basically impersonal, and the questioners then disappear.

Right. It's not the debater who failed....it's the debate format that failed him.

Let's see how many of the right wing water carriers pick up and run with that lame excuse.

During tonight's Presidential Debate Senator John McCain made the claim that he "warned" about the impending economic crisis. That's amazing, seeing as he said in 2007 that he was in fact surprised by it and failed to predict the disaster he, President Bush and the GOP brought upon America. Think Progress has the video and more:

I don’t know of hardly anybody, with the exception of a handful, that said “wait a minute, this thing is getting completely out of hand and is overheating.” So, I’d like to tell you that I did anticipate it, but I have to give you straight talk, I did not.

Obama nails him in tonight's debate:

Obama: Now I've got to correct a little bit of Senator McCain's history, not surprisingly, but let's first of all understand that the biggest problem in this whole process was the deregulation of the financial system. Senator McCain as recently as March bragged about the fact that he is a deregulator. On the other hand two years ago I said we've got a subprime lending crisis that has to be dealt with, I wrote to Secretary Paulson, I wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and told them this is something we have to deal with and nobody did anything about it. A year ago I went to Wall Street and told them we have to re-regulate, and nothing happened.

Download | play    Download | play   (h/t Heather)

MSNBC goes to the strange bedfellows tag team of Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan to give the post-mortem on the performance of the Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.  I'm reminded of my reaction to the first presidential debate.  I had been disappointed in Obama's performance, noting far too many opportunities to score points not taken by Obama.  John Amato reminded me that it's not the decideds like me for whom Obama performed; it was the undecideds.  Similarly, Maddow's and Buchanan's perceptions mirror exactly how the Palin's performance will strike the decideds on both sides of the fence:  Maddow found her scripted, lacking in genuine emotion and light on substance.  Buchanan responded to her viscerally, caring neither for her flubs nor her lack of details, but just finding her stimulating through her attractiveness.

But will it sway the undecideds?  According to the CNN poll, it looks like substance won over folksiness: 

Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Biden did the best job in Thursday night's debate, while 36 percent thought Palin did the best job.

But respondents said the folksy Palin was more likable, scoring 54 percent to Biden's 36 percent.

Both candidates exceeded expectations - 84 percent of the people polled said Palin did a better job than they expected, while 64 percent said Biden also exceeded expectations.

But on the question of the candidates' qualifications to assume the presidency, 87 percent of the people polled said Biden is qualified while only 42 percent said Palin is qualified.

So perhaps Rachel wrapped it up correctly:  "Boring, But Right" versus "Exciting, But Wrong."   That’s America’s choice.

Transcripts below the fold

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The Obama campaign has already released an ad using footage from last night's VP debate and they've scored another direct hit.

The ad targets Sarah Palin from last night's debate as she proudly announced John McCain's disastrous health care plan that allows a $5000 tax credit for Americans to purchase health care -- and then strikes right back with Joe Biden's brilliant response, reminding people that in order to offset the credit McCain's plan would tax American's health insurance premiums for the first time in American history. The ULTIMATE bridge to nowhere.  Brilliant! (h/t Jamie)

Joe Biden scoffs at Sarah Palin's assertion that John McCain's plan to give every family a $5,000 tax credit to pay for healthcare will actually be adequate and shows how the numbers just make no sense at all.

Gwen, I don't know where to start. We don't call a redistribution in my neighborhood Scranton, Claymont, Wilmington, the places I grew up, to give the fair to say that not giving Exxon Mobil another $4 billion tax cut this year as John calls for and giving it to middle class people to be able to pay to get their kids to college, we don't call that redistribution. We call that fairness number one. Number two fact, 95 percent of the small businesses in America, their owners make less than $250,000 a year. They would not get one single solitary penny increase in taxes, those small businesses.

Now, with regard to the -- to the health care plan, you know, it's with one hand you giveth, the other you take it. You know how Barack Obama -- excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you're going to get, a family will get?

He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That's how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your -- taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to the insurance company.

And then you're going to have to replace a $12,000 -- that's the average cost of the plan you get through your employer -- it costs $12,000. You're going to have to pay -- replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.

So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."

Actually, I'm curious how even McCain/Palin can claim that $5,000 could cover anyone adequately.  God forbid you have a pre-existing condition.  $5,000 wouldn't even cover my family for half a year.

The Obama campaign's Rapid Response department issued the following fact check on McCain's healthcare plan:

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There were no game changers in last night's Vice Presidential debate, but the American people were treated to more rambling, incoherent non-answers from Republican Sarah Palin.

Among the head scratching moments was this rant about nuclear weapons. Palin starts off on one of her "US Americans -- such as" answers about how America uses nukuler weapons safely, yadda, yadda, yadda. Here's the money line:

" Uh, nukuler weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people and too many parts of our planet so those dangerous regimes again cannot be allowed to acquire nukuler weapons, period."

Huh? Notice how once she realizes she's not making any sense and talks herself into a corner, she changes the subject. One need look no further than this clip to see that she is the most unqualified, unfit candidate to run for Vice President in modern U.S. history.  The thought of this person being anywhere near our nukes scares the living daylights out of me. How about you?

  In one of his strongest responses of the night, Joe Biden lists all the issues where McCain has proven himself to be the complete opposite of a "maverick."

Download | play   Download | play   (h/t Heather)

Transcript via CNN:

Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is.  And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.

He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.

He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.

He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.

He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.

  Daily Show Correspondent Wyatt Cenac heads down to south Florida again to conduct a robust focus group on the first presidential debate. Hilarity ensues.

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The woman who gets angry while defending FOX News is too funny.

Woman 1: I watch FOX News and I read magazines and I determine for myself what the truth is.

Woman 2: Yea, she watches FOX...

Woman 1: That's right, FOX is fair and balanced. The others are in the tank for Obama."

Check out Cenac's first focus group sketch below the fold.

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Well, she's the gift that keeps on giving.

Sarah Palin told a customer at a Philadelphia restaurant on Saturday that the United States should "absolutely" launch cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan in the event that it becomes necessary to "stop the terrorists from coming any further in," a comment similar to the one John McCain condemned Barack Obama for making during last night's presidential debate.   During Friday's debate, Obama criticized the Bush administration for sending billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan without ridding the border region of terrorists.

 McCain fired back hard, arguing that newly elected Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari has had his "hands full" and suggesting that Obama's tough talk was naïve.

"You don't say that out loud," McCain said. "If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government."

Palin's apparent disagreement with McCain's position on Pakistan came as the Alaska governor was picking up a couple of cheesesteaks at Tony Luke's in South Philadelphia. She was approached by a man wearing a Temple University t-shirt, who later identified himself as Michael Rovito...read on

Too bad she wasn't on any of the post debate network wrap up shows. She would have given the media the "sound byte" they were looking for to endlessly loop.  UPDATED:  (Nicole)

  Download | play   Download | play   (h/t Heather)

George Stephanopoulos asked John McCain about his running mate's loose lips and he reiterated his policy of not announcing attacks on a country ahead of time, to which Stephie pointed out that's exactly what Palin did.  McCain's response?

"You know this business of .... in all due respect people, going around and, with sticking a microphone while conversations are being held and all of a sudden that's ... that's a person's position ...it, it's a free country but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitive policy statement made by Governor Palin and I would hope you wouldn't either."

Translation:  How dare anyone take her at her word?  You know you shouldn't listen to her!