Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

US & Int'l Papers

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Debate I

Saturday September 27, 2008

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You watched the debate, same as I did, so I'm not doing a question-by-question analysis - if only because I can't concentrate that closely.

At the beginning, it seems to me the Jim Lehrer is trying WAY too hard to generate heat, if not light. It put me in mind of the Macbeth quote: "� full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Dear Mr. Mullings:

What is the phrase just before the line you quoted?

You mean, "It is a tale told by an idiot?

Yes. That's the one.

Even though this was billed as a foreign policy debate, through the first 30 minutes of the program the candidates were still on domestic spending.

First third: I thought McCain was a little slow off the mark, but once he got into the swing of it, he used his extensive knowledge of Senate activity to his benefit. When Jim Lehrer asked Obama, because of the slowing economy and slowing tax revenues, what programs he would cut, couldn't - or wouldn't.

Second-third: The back-and-forth on Iraq was better because each has been talking about it for years and knew their stuff. That was a draw. No minds would have been changed based upon what we heard because we've heard it all before.

Third-third: This appeared to be in McCain's sweet spot. Obama knew what he knew - which is what he has learned during the campaign; but McCain seemed to understand what he knew which is a far different thing.

Most people who watched the whole 90 minutes probably have thought about this debate enough to have decided what they thought each man had to do going in.

Going back to Monday's MULLINGS, I said that McCain needed to show he had the energy to do the job. I think he did that very well. I said that Obama had to show that he had a grasp of the context of the facts he would be talking about. I think he did that.

Final thoughts: If people got bored and tuned out after the first 15 minutes, they will have Obama firmly in the win column. If they watched all the way through, then I think a fair minded person would give the debate to McCain on points.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the CNN transcript of the debate; a Mullfoto from the Green Room at CBS the other morning, and a perfectly mindless Catchy Caption of the Day.

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