Live Blogging the Second Obama-McCain Debate (Tape Delay)

Since Ahsan decided to sit this one out, and 7 am is way too early for me, I'll be live blogging the debate as I watch it on Tivo. I expect a comprehensive Obama victory that should just about wrap up the election.


1413: And it took McCain about a minute to make his first factual error. He stated that the US gets most of its oil from countries that don't exactly like it. I'll give him a pass on this one since most people don't realize that the single largest supplier of oil to the US is Canada. But then again, right-wingers probably consider Canada, what with its socialised medicide and all, to be an unfriendly state.


1417: Both McCain and Obama suggest that Warren Buffet would make a great treasury secretary. This is a complete non-starter. Apart from being the single largest shareholder in Goldman Sachs, Buffets owns billions of dollars worth of stock, all of which he would have to sell, at a significant loss, to become treasury secretary. Get real guys.

1442: And this half-hour break is brought to you courtesy of KESC and my broke ass being unable to afford a generator. McCain just thanked a questioner for asking him a very good question: How will the bailout help the common man. Expect more such condescension since 'real' Americans are asking the questions.

1445; Right after blasting McCain for helping create the financial mess, Obama said he will not point fingers at anyone.

1447: Both candidates call for a middle-class tax decrease. How exactly do they plan on paying for the $850 billion bailout. Shouldn't this be the time for calling for tax increases. I swear the Americans are so spoiled. They want more from the government but they don't want to pay for it.

1452: The best quote so far comes from McCain: "Nailing down Senator Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jello to a wall"

1454: Nice riposte from Obama: "The straight talk express lost a wheel on that one"

1457: Tom Brokaw is mightily pissed about the structure of the debate. Every time one of the candidates goes above their allotted time, he chides them, reminding them that these are the rules they agreed to, and they damn well better follow them.

1500: McCain proposes the use of nuclear energy as a solution to global warming. Criticising Obama on nuclear power, he says, "Senator Obama says it has to be safe or disposable or something like that." Yeah, cuz Obama's worried about like Chernobyl and shit like that.

1502: Obama makes a very strong case for government intervention to solve the global warming crisis, reminding people that it was government scientists who invented the computer.

1505: Answering a question about health insurance, McCain mentions that he may need a hair transplant. This was obviously meant as a joke but I don't get it. Quite bizzare.

1508: Finally the juicy foreign policy stuff. McCain says Obama doesn't understand foreign policy. Obama's reply: "I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that didn't attack us on 9/11" Zing.

1513: Here's a problem I have with Obama. He criticized Musharraf for making peace deals with the Taliban and suggested doing more to strengthen democracy. Doesn't he realize that a democratically elected government is far more likely to negotiate with terrorists.

1518: Dubya looked into Putin's soul and saw a pretty cool guy. McCain looked into Putin's eyes and saw KGB.

1520: Neither candidate was willing to commit to sending US troops to help Israel if it is attacked by Iran. Both dodged the question very unartfully. I wonder if this is a good or bad thing.

I sort of rushed through the debate with lots of fast forwarding because I have to be at work. But man did Obama school McCain. It'll be good to finally have a liberal president in the US.