As much as I despise George W. Bush, I don't lay the failure of the economy entirely at his feet. He hasn't been the leader...of anything, really. What's becoming clear is that he's been a sap. A schlub. A patsy. In both a metaphorical and often completely literal sense he's been taking his orders from the real people that let America down; those giant f-cking corporations.

Big insurance companies like AIG. Big banks like Citi and Wamu.Big military contractors like Halliburton. Big pharma - all of 'em. Big oil. Big media. We all know what they've done and why - but I'll just quote Sheriff Marge Gunderson from Fargo as she tried to make sense of pointless carnage.

And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it.

Yah. (Sarah Palin stole that accent from Marge Gunderson. So we're stealin' it back.)

9:37PM
McCain looks stunned and creepy.

9:40PM
Obama: Ayers has become a central part of McCain's campaign. Nice.

9:40PM
Obama's Ayers explanation was superb. It's just a shame that this is even a topic of debate. Thanks, McCain!

9:41PM
I'm glad that Obama didn't bring up McCain's associations (Liddy, AIP, etc). By contrast, it made McCain seem petty, desperate and crotchety.

9:43PM
McCain's Palin remarks are flatlining with women on the CNN ticker. But the men are cranking their dials. Weird.

9:54PM
Going back to the "kill me" remarks. Did McCain play a veteran card in order to defend the crazies -- who, by the way, are being investigated by the Secret Service?

9:55PM
How on Earth can Angry McCain help McCain?

9:57PM
Indidentally, it's true. 100 percent of McCain's ads have been negative.

10PM
Joe the Plumber can bite me. And Senator Obama is right -- small businesses will NOT be penalized for not providing health insurance. Sorry, Magoo. You've done it again.

10:09PM
Senator Government?

10:05PM
McCain doesn't think there's an inherent privacy right implied in the Constitution. Illegal searches and seizures, for instance. Not in the Constitution in Angry McCain's world.

10:11PM
Here we go. McCain hits the infanticide attack. Unbelievable. McCain's line on CNN is tanking. Men are spiking. I say the men in this dial group have to adopt all of the unwanted babies in America. Good luck, fellas!

10:13PM
McCain just did a simultaneous lizard lick and eye-roll.

10:14PM
McCain loves doing the quote-fingers.

10:16PM
Obama: nobody is pro-abortion. Right on!

10:17PM
Here's the expression on McCain's face all damn night:

10:27PM
This has certainly been the most chaotic debate, but that's absolutely not a good thing. There's enough mayhem in the world right now -- I seriously don't think anyone's looking for more batshit craziness in the White House. Definitely not Angry McCain. ROOOWWRR!

10:35PM
Rachel had a great point that I missed while fighting with the blog. McCain belittled the health exception on abortion? Are you kidding me?!

10:39PM
Stretch is such a hack.

10:45PM
The CNN Night of A Thousand Pundits is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've seen on that network. It's like the intro to the Muppet Show where all of the muppets appear at once.

10:50PM
The MSNBC focus group hated the McCain Ayers stuff. Even the Republicans. Whoops!

10:53PM
I always find it staggering how pundits can latch onto Gore's sighing and Bush 41's watch-looking, and yet they're completely ignoring McCain's petulant rolling-eyes and smirking -- especially with this on-going McCain Is An Angry Spaz narrative.

11:03PM
CBS Debate Poll... Who won? Obama 53, Tie 24, McCain 22.

11:23PM
CNN Snap Poll... Obama 53, McCain 31. I think we can read this several ways, but mainly it's clear that Americans are done with spazzy, smirking ideologues.

8:48PM
There are literally around a thousand pundits of all varieties on CNN right now. That includes the Quatto creature that's attached to Bill Bennett's stomach.

8:53PM
Matthews is wearing his Catholic school uniform.

8:57PM
There's a woman on the stage with the world's longest pink scarf. And this ends the fashion portion of our coverage.

9PM

LET'S DO THIS!

9:03PM
McCain once again frantically writing down notes again.

9:04PM
McCain said "angry" four or five times in his first 30 seconds. And... "Freddie Mae"? Not good, McCain.

9:05PM
Senator Obama speaking directly to the camera. Good form. McCain was looking at Bob or the audience. Not sure which.

9:07PM
When did the ceiling for Obama's tax cut drop to $200k?

9:09PM
This is going to be the Joe The Plumber debate. And McCain is being smirky and jittery again.

9:15PM
McCain has a sort of drunken grimace on his face. He looks like D'onofrio's character from Men In Black.

9:17PM
McCain dropping the "Across the board spending freeze" again. That's insane. Does that mean Social Security? Defense? Medicare? Education? Regulatory agencies like the EPA or the FAA? Scary. Oh, and McCain will go after those overhead projectors, by gum.

9:21PM
McCain angry! ROWWWWRRR! You should've run four years ago! I'm not Bush! ROWWWRAHHH!

9:24PM
This is going to swing one of two ways in the post-debate analysis. Either McCain is going to be seen as aggressive and on-offense. Or McCain will be seen as angry and crotchety.

9:26PM
McCain again with the punishment argument re: town hall debates. If Obama had agreed to the town halls, McCain wouldn't have had to punish him with smears.

New thread!

7:07PM
If Senator McCain mentions Bill Ayers in the debate tonight, his poll numbers will drop by at least three points by the end of the week.

7:09PM
$30 to go!

7:13PM
$3015 for the Obama campaign! Congratulations everyone!

7:21PM
The debate tonight is a sit-down thing. Pulse pounding!

7:35PM
The White Hand is back. This time in the form of the latest RNC mailer. Suitable for framing.

7:42PM
Senator Obama comments on a phenomenon we've been discussing here.

“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls,” Obama told me. “If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?"

8:02PM
Is there really an episode of the 1960s Batman TV series in which there's a debate between Batman and the Penguin -- and the Penguin accuses Batman of being a criminal in disguise? That's insane.

8:07PM
This is remarkable. Via Ambinder and Olbermann.

8:14PM
Hooplehead Alert:

"It seems like, and in our last rally too, and in other parts around this great Northwest, here in New Hampshire, ya just get it." --Sarah Palin

8:41PM
I mean, seriously? Is Bob Schieffer really going to bring up Bill Ayers tonight? On a -733 day? Goddamn. I want to know if I'm still going to own a home and a small business in a few months.

New thread! Run away!

10:05PM
At the end of the Bartlet/Richey debate on The West Wing, Richey admitted to Bartlet that he lost the election at the end of the debate, to which Bartlet replied, "You'll be back." Senator Obama has all but locked up this thing tonight.

10:09PM
Did McCain say, "Obama's got a secret you don't know"? I totally missed that. Weird and paranoid.

10:11PM
McCain's hero is Reagan. McCain's hero is Roosevelt.

10:15PM
Obama nails McCain on the Afghanistan follow-up. Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. Annihilate North Korea. Next stop, Baghdad. Speak softly? he said.

10:19PM
This is McCain's strong suit? The town hall? He's become more scattered and doddering as this has gone on. I can't imagine anyone beyond hard-right partisans declaring this a win for him.

10:27PM
There's only one president on that stage and it's not McCain and his reptilian tongue.

10:31PM
Obama has connected almost all of his answers to you and me. That's one of many reasons why he won this thing in a landslide. He won it on optics and debate points. Also, Huffington Post has "that one" on the front page in the big above-the-fold section. I think that's going to be a big story coming out of this debate.

10:44PM
Obama is still hanging out and talking with the audience. McCain is long gone. Buchanan: Obama looked "presidential."

9:32PM
It's even more striking how presidential Senator Obama looks next to McCain in this debate format.

9:33PM
Obama has been going after McCain far more than the first debate. Not harshly -- but just in terms of contrast.

9:35PM
I think Obama should say "laser" instead of "scalpel" from now on. Scalpel is scary.

9:36PM
"Nailing Jell-o to a wall! HEH?!" falls flat.

9:42PM
McCain is literally hissing now. A whispery hiss.

9:42PM
McCain turned his back on the African American questioner (re: green jobs) while she was still talking. Cranky old bastard.

9:48PM
McCain just called Obama "that one". That one????

9:51PM
McCain lurking around during Obama's healthcare response. Lurching and smirking around the stage area makes McCain look really creepy. And wow -- Obama is NAILING the healthcare response.

9:52PM
Seriously -- if the pundits don't rip McCain to shreds over "that one" there is no justice left in this world.

9:54PM
McCain's reptilian tongue is back. I read somewhere that he only does that when he knows he's full of shit.

9:55PM
Obama is easily winning this debate. Easily.

9:58PM
Right about now, I think McCain is rethinking his obsession about doing a series of town halls with Obama who was just off the charts with women on healthcare.

NEW THREAD! Heh?!

9PM
Here comes the second debate. I'm hoping for Brokaw to pronounce "Waziristan."

9:01PM
Who is going to suck spit through his bottom teeth more often? McCain or Brokaw? I say Brokaw.

9:03PM
Eye contact! HEH?!

9:08PM
Bunch of Palin-like platitudes from McCain.

9:09PM
Can someone tell McCain that no-one who uses eBay actually likes Meg Whitman? Especially sellers.

9:10PM
I'm watching the CNN line thing. Hypnotic.

9:11PM
McCain corrects the black audience member. "It's not a bailout - it's a rescue." HEH?!

9:14PM
Obama is correcting "McCain's history, which isn't surprising." Go! Hitting McCain on deregulation.

9:15PM
Does McCain sound shakey and jittery tonight? His voice sounds wobbly.

9:18PM
Obama's line went off the charts with women on his housing answer.

9:18PM
Old woman: "Global economic CRISIS!" ROWWWR!

9:20PM
Obama off the charts again with both men and women on spending and borrowing money from China.

9:23PM
McCain blowing the lid off Planetarium Gate! HEH?!

9:25PM
McCain asked about entitlement programs. Bungles the answer for 10 seconds, then changes the subject to energy. He's awful tonight. Really sleepy and scattered. Obama meanwhile is sharp and sympathetic.

NEW THREAD. Run away!

7:15PM
I wish I could've seen the far-right "nutjobs" Matthews was just talking about. I can only imagine what racial epithets they were blurting out.

7:26PM
I've got a fever, and the only cure is more "Heh?!"

They took down the video, but we noticed McCain's creepy Penguinish 'heh?!' thing back in August.

7:31PM
Senator Obama only needs to be himself tonight -- maybe show some sympathy for one or two of the questioners. It'd be a mistake to get aggressive or "go on the attack" without provocation. And Senator McCain needs a victory, so expect a wild and erratic night full of 'Heh?!' and creepy grinning/cackling.

7:39PM
Watching CNN. I don't know what's more hypocritically elitist... Lou Dobbs' giant caps, or Mitt Romney's tanning bed glow.

7:58PM
Norah is in King of Prussia, PA with a focus group thing. I should drive down and crash the party.

8:02PM
Keith going after the violent outbursts at the McCain-Palin rallies. Why wasn't the "Kill him!" guy arrested? Oh! Strike that. Keith says the Secret Service is investigating. Goddamn Palin. She is a disgusting, airheaded freak who, if she looked like Madeleine Albright, would be taunted out of politics forever. But I've heard from more than a few guys who think she's "hot." Hot?! I find her repulsive in every way. She's an ugly, decrepit human being with a dark, twisted, frightening soul.

8:19PM
And she's a coward, too.

8:28PM
A random wingnut forwarded this whisper campaign e-mail to me today with the message:

Just thought I'd send this your way. This is the man you are voting in as our next United States President?? NICE.....Maybe, all of you liberals ought to 'rethink' this. Do you REALLY want a muslim terrorist with radical views as our next president????????

The whisper campaign goes on and on about how Senator Obama attained cash for college and an overseas trip. So I replied with the following...

And yet you voted twice for a president who is best friends with 'Bandar Bush' and the Saudi royal family. 15 of the 17 September 11 terrorists were Saudis, by the way. George W. Bush has also done business with the Bin Laden family (Salem bin Laden was an investor in Bush's Arbusto company). Prescott Bush did business with the Nazi Party and Hilter before WWII.

Meanwhile, John McCain is friends with a convicted Watergate burglar who advocated shooting federal agents and who fired handguns at cardboard cutouts of Senator Hillary Clinton. McCain is a member of an organization called the US Council for World Freedom whose membership includes antisemites and Nazi sympathizers. Sarah Palin's husband was a member of a treasonous secessionist political party with ties to Iran, and Sarah Palin herself delivered an address to their convention.

And all you've got is an e-mail asking where Obama got his college and travel money without ANY evidence whatsoever?

You're hilarious.

Feel free to use that.

8:47PM
13 minutes to go. HEH?!

8:49PM
The corporate media has proved that no matter what the Republicans do -- no matter how racist and ridiculous they become, they'll always be regarded as a serious party.

NEW THREAD! HEH?!

Tonight! Sarah Palin didn't choke on her own vomit last night! Whoopie!

10:12PM
Jesus. She's just absolutely George W. Bush by way of Edie McClurg. No substance. Just a rambling personality who doesn't belong anywhere near anything serious.

10:15PM
Her answer on the vice presidency was the Couric Palin. That was her Miss South Carolina moment.

10:23PM
Biden is welling up talking about his kids and the middle class. Then we cut to Palin-bot and she goes off like an animatronic character from It's A Small World.

10:24PM
Wow. She doesn't compromise. Never has. Does that sound familiar?

10:26PM
You know who lost? Gwen Ifill. She was a terrible moderator.

10:30PM
With the economy crumbling around us, I can't imagine that anyone is buying this perky nonsensical babbling. Totally unserious.

10:33PM
And now the cable news people tell us about a debate we didn't see.

10:36PMWill anyone rip apart the fact that she was totally nonspecific on the questions? I mean, sure, politicians tend to dodge, but this was a crutch. Pakistan = foreign = nuclear = talk about foreign nuclear.10:38PMAnd before I finish asking... Andrea Mitchell: "She didn't answer questions." And, "She would raise her own questions and then answer it." Matthews, "Reciting to the point. It was like I was watching a spelling bee."10:40PMRachel Maddow: "Frenetic. Cartoonish."10:41PMBuchanan: "She was sensational."10:43PMFrank Luntz's focus group on FOX News says Palin won the debate. Whatever.10:47PMSoledad has a room of gomers on CNN. "People dialed down" during the folksy moments. Then again, an older undecided voter said she's decided to vote for Obama because she didn't like Biden's answers on the economy. And there you go.10:50PMMike Murphy: the debate was "a bit of a Nothing Burger." Cool. Huh?10:58PMI'm thinking that the McCain campaign will become overconfident and thrust her into more ridiculous interviews -- or maybe even a press conference. Either of these things will delete any uptick in her awful reputation.10:59PMHere comes Keith.11:02PMI missed this the first time. Palin: "Your ticket's energy ticket."11:06PMTonight went a long way towards further connecting the McCain-Palin ticket to George W. Bush. You could almost exactly hear President Bush reciting those same answers verbatim.11:10PMEd Rollins on CNN... She'll have crowds of 15,000 tomorrow.11:11PMCNN instant poll... Who did better in the debate? Biden 51, Palin 38. Palin qualified to be president? Up four points from 42 to 46. That might as well be nothing.11:17PMYou know what George W. Bush has always been really, really good at? Talking for a long time about basically nothing. It's his press conference tactic. The more he talks, the fewer questions he has to take. And he doesn't always choke on his own tongue while he's doing it. Then again, he doesn't really have a direction or a point -- nor does he make any sense. Just like Sarah Palin.11:20PMCBS poll... Who won? Biden 46, Palin 21, Tie 33.11:21PMHer ridiculous vice presidency answer:

Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president's agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we'll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation. And it is my executive experience that is partly to be attributed to my pick as V.P. with McCain, not only as a governor, but earlier on as a mayor, as an oil and gas regulator, as a business owner. It is those years of experience on an executive level that will be put to good use in the White House also.

And such as and. Maps!11:22PMCNN poll... More in touch with people like you? Biden 50, Palin 44.11:25PMOh, and Biden's response to Palin's ridiculous Ms. North Carolina answer:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

11:26PMThat's all for me. I'm going to post some additional observations as their own thing. Cheers!