Live-blogging the Presidential Debate at the University of Mississippi September 26, 2008

Ok, I'm going to live-blog the debate. You have to scroll down in this post to see the chronolgy top to bottom...

9:00pm ET
Jim Lehrer moderating (yea!)... the CPD is sponsoring (boo!)

This is a debate about foreign policy.

The audience has taken an oath of silence.

they shake hands, mccain doesn't really meet obama's eye -- (i'm biased bec. i prefer obama, i think he's the more "out of the box" candidate in this election -- including third party candidates...)

Obama: talking about the bailout (or as my friend and cartoonist Alice Rydel calls it the bale-out...) is the middle class getting a fair shake?

McCain: a note about Ted Kennedy's hospitalization, bi-partisanship -- wants to keep wall street and banks stable...

Lehrer: go back to question of where do you stand on the bailout?

Obama: how did we get here? giving credentials about having addressed this before with congress people... econ. philosophy that says that (oops missed the phrase...)

McCain: also warned about corporate greed... etc... (story about military invasion....) he called for the resignation of the SEC chief...

Obama: we need leadership not only when there's a crisis... healthcare system broken...

Lehrer directs Obama to talk directly to McCain



9:14 pm ET
McCain: rhetoric about american workers, productivity.. etc

Lehrer: continue

McCain: we repubs came to DC to change politics and politics changed us.... (he's getting his talking points in very quickly...) I'll veto every spending bill that comes across my desk -- no more pork barrel

Obama: suspended earmarks process in his state of IL... $18 bil. dollars in last years budget.. mccain wants $300 bil in tax cuts to corps. in reduced taxes....


McCain thinks that earmarks has grown to the extent that it corrupts people

[this is a supposedly "fundamental difference" bet. raising taxes and giving earmarks]

Obama: talking about healthcare now.... getting middle class back on track

McCain: compares US econ to Irish econ.... he wants every family to have a $5K tax cut or rebate or something... Obama wants everybody to be rich [did he really say that???]

Obama: loopholes, businesses pay low tax rate, working people not getting a tax break.. $5K health credit: Mccain will tax health benefits, either from you or your employer.... notion is the less regulation we have the better we are....

McCain: [jumps in -- now they are getting in to the "free form" dialogue] who said the best thing is for smg... existing tax code? new tax code? Obama has shifted to taxing low income people

Obama: we would like to lower taxes, but if we lower taxes on oil companies, then ....


Lehrer: financial rescue system [BAILOUT]-- what are you going to have to give up for this?

Obama: hard to anticipate... we can't do everything we should, have to have energy independence.... invest in alternative energy.... fix healthcare system enormous burden on families.... compete in education, science, children education in math, science, AND rebuild infrastructure... to compete in global economy...

McCain: re: Obama statement -- hard to reach across the aisle from that point on the Left.... need fixed cost contracts...

Lehrer: what's the difference?

Obama: John's right we have to make some cuts.... lobyists...medicare.... "wildly liberal is just me opposing Pres. Bush"....



9:32 pm ET
Lehrer: what's the difference?

McCain: spending freeze

Obama: don't use a hatchet when you need a scalple.... $10 bil spent on Iraq... ??? bring that war to a close...

McCain: need wind, off-shore drilling. you can't get there from here.... nuclear power plants.... important for climate change- he 's proud of his participation.

Lehrer:

Obama: we have to know what our values are to guide our econ priorities

McCain: important to not hand over our policy decisions from the families to the congress? (sorry missed the direct dialogue)

Obama: addresses McCain directly -- you haven't addressed this issue in your term

McCain: long record of contesting the record of the president...


9:39pm NYT
Lehrer: lessons of Vietnam, what are the lessons of Iraq?

McCain: supported the surge..... this strategy has succeeded/will succeed with victory and honor.. thanks to Gen. Petraus... we willcome home in victory

Obama: fundamental difference -- I opposed this war, not only because this was not good going in, but also bec. we didnt' get Osama bin Laden. heavy cost in american lives, no loss to al quiada... heavy cost to our govt. ... have to use our military wisely...

McCain: the next pres has to decide when we leave and how we leave not if we leave.... Sen. obama never asked for a meeting with Patreas?

Lehrman inter: to the point...

Obama: senate inside -- but -- surge is successful -- but that was a tactic to manage the mismanagement of the war...


McC is now getting emotional about the war.

Obama: troop funding.... we have seen the effort in Afganistan worsen... has a plan to support a comprehensive plan

McC: Gen Petraeus -- O original plan didn't succeed beyond ..

Lehrer: troups? how many when?

Obama: it's getting worse.... we have 4 times the number of troops in Iraq -- we need to press the Afghan govt to step up and also deal with the poppy trade....

McCain: mistake to help afghan to wash our hands and that propelled supporters to al quaida... sen obama is threatening strikes into afganistan... you don't do this.... this needs to be a new strategy.... obtain the allegiance of the Iraqis.... counting on the leadership of Gen. Petraeus

Obama: If these countries are unwilling to cooperate, we should take them out. And this is difficult.... The problem John is that we had a 20th century dictator...

McCain: failed state in Iran at the time..... i was afraid that [all these international interventions] wouldn't succeed.... and i have participated in sending our young men into war with war...

[emotional gauntlet has been thrown -- let's see what obama has to say....... bathroom break...}


10:02 pm ET (New York time)

Lehrer: we are now even in time...

Threat of IRAN

McC "we cannot allow a 2nd holocaust".... russians are obstructionists.... we could impose significant painful sanctions on iran, with the french, the italians, we can affect iranian behavior.... the iranians are harboring terrorists....

Obama: the repub guard of iran is a terrorist org.... the war in Iraq has strengthened the terrorist... build a coalition of democracies including Russia.... do not punish people by not talking to them....

McCain: Akmajbajinajbd is threatening to destroy Israel...

Obama: is talking about the difference bet. working with "enemies" and caving in to "enemies".... he certainly has practiced this response... mention of McC wouldn't meet with Spain....

McCain: doesn't allow... pres US/pres Pakistan... not pro forma... a country calling a country a "stinking corpse" of ..... north koreans have broken every ...

Obama: suddenly a pres would meet without prep... we

McCain: so Akmaj says we're going to .... calls in Dr. Kissinger..

Lehrer: Russia... relationship -- ???

Obama: Russia is a threat to the region in Georgia -- 6 point agreement ( huh?) and the other nations in the area... something about the loose nuclear weapons in the area...

ooops space out...

McC: both parties need to understand that there is a threat from Putin... this is about energy...

[personally I don't think either one of them has much to say about the Eastern European agreements...]


10:21 pm ET
Obama: defensive on intervention on Georgian sit -- [did we intervene???] we have to have foresite and anticipate these situation... not done.... could avoid this situation... we consumers of the world's oil... need to approach this on alternative production possibilities...

McC: off-shore drilling is a bridge, and will help at least temporarily... supported [Obama trying to interrupt]

Obama: have never objected to

Lehrer: 2 min.: another 9/11 attack:

McC: a long way, we are more safe.... Sen. Leiberman and I were stimied.. don't torture prisoners... America is safer now than in 2001.... we still have a long way to go including our borders...

Obama: yes safer, need more work. biggest threat is terrorism.... hmmm.. all chips in

McCain: something about

Obama: My father came from Kenya... invest in how ordinary people can succed..

McCain: something or other....

I'm quite sure that my consentration fell off at the end... and now the COMMENTARY!!

CNN is now fact-checking... http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/24/debate.styles/?iref=hpmostpop

That's great. And I hope independent voters have enjoyed this first serious presidential debate.

To Debate or Not to Debate: That isn't the question!

The question is, how can regular voters get in there???

Here's a fun post on techPresident yesterday offering some "debate interventions" including a MySpace/CPD collaboration (hmmm.....); Rate the Debates put up by Free Press, a media democracy group; Change the Debate, a site that allows video commentary; an invitation to an "old-fashioned IRC chat...."; and Hack the Debates, a twitter-powered #current something or other..... We should add RockTheDebate.org, which Jesse Ventura talked about recently at the Rally for the Republic event. Rock The Debate is a grassroots independent organization working for inclusion of independent candidates in the debates. RockTheDebate's co-founder Bob Sullentrup recently delivered a letter to the Committee on Presidential Debates (a company owned jointly by the Democratic and Republican parties to control the presidential debates) detailing demands to change the criteria by which candidates are authorized to be included in a national debate.

Debate Prep: How to Join In the Fun By Micah L. Sifry, 09/25/2008: We're not sure if there's going to be a presidential debate tomorrow night or not, but either way it can't hurt to highlight some of the ways viewers can participate in advance or during the actual event...

Jesse Ventura Speech Rally for the Republic: Rock the Debates!!

Be sure to click on the video at the top of The Hankster and listen to former Minnesota Gov Jesse Ventura speaking on September 2, 2008 about the need for independent voices in the presidential campaign. The two parties are destroying our country, says Jesse. He talks about RockTheDebate.org, a grassroots independent organization working for inclusion of independent candidates in the debates. RockTheDebate's co-founder Bob Sullentrup recently delivered a letter to the Committee on Presidential Debates (a company owned jointly by the Democratic and Republican parties to control the presidential debates) detailing demands to change the criteria by which candidates are authorized to be included in a national debate (I'll try to get a copy of this for you).

Read more here on Sound Politics, and here in the Hawaii Reporter from August 25, which says: The poll released by Zogby showed that 55 percent of likely voters want Bob Barr included in the debates. Of the respondents, 69 percent of independents felt that Bob Barr deserves a place in the debate, while 52 percent of Democrats and even 50 percent of Republicans agreed.