I still believe Obama got his butt kicked earlier.

[Drunken Irishman]

Obama was getting his ass kicked in the first half of the debate, but he wiped the floor with McCain in the 2nd half.

[tekisui]

1. Interestingly, Obama did very well with repukes the last half.

They gave him good marks, mcPOW did poorly everytime he had the floor.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Obama wasn't there to argue about the bullshit.

He was there to talk to the American people.

That's the part you miss.

Folks are tired of attacks. We are just fucking sick and tired of them. They do not solve any problems. That's what You, McCain, Mark Halperin and Pat Buchanan miss.

[Sparkly]

3. You're kidding?!?

I didn't see that at ALL, in the slightest. McCain was pathetic.

[samplegirl]

4. I felt Obama was not aggressive enough....

and could of answered better.

[yellowcanine]

20. Not Obama's style and that is one thing voters like. How in the heck can you second guess Obama's

strategy at this late date. He continues to win all of the scientific polls, his likeabilty ratings keep going up. Bush is aggressive, McGrumpy is agressive, Palin is aggressive. Agressive is not what we want right now.

[CPschem]

5. We all get frustrated

when Obama doesn't act as assertive as McCain, but Obama's winning and acting like a winner. He's above the fray. He doesn't need to stoop to gutter politics. We've seen McCain's gamble and we know it hasn't paid off. Obama's exercised incredible dicipline. It's working.

[elkston]

6. Everytime Obama attacked even slightly, the MEN went down.

White men do NOT like seeing an angry Obama.

I swear if he could just let loose, he would give it to McCain. But he has to keep his cool.

[Left Is Write]

10. I agree.

[Avalux]

7. Sucked him in; very effective.

Obama's resistance to engage angered McCain tremendously and we saw about 7 minutes of his horrible temper just barely under containment.

Obama didn't get his ass kicked; he was playing with the little shit.

[occe]

8. McCain started out strong, but Obama returned the favor.

[AzNick]

9. I thought so too

Obama, in my opinion, showed he is still a bit green.

But McCain showed he is an old freak.

[graywarrior]

11. You wanted to kick McCain's ass,

We all did. But Obama is smarter than we are. He handled it the way he was supposed to. He won the debate and the confidence.

[AlCzervik]

12. well it lookslike the other people that watched it disagree with you, the polls are coming

in already and obama is winning.

[Zuiderelle]

13. Only the second half matters. Before that they were even. Then Obama killed.

That was enjoyable to watch.

[lady raven]

14. How do you kick someone's ass in a debate without even answering the first question?

GMAB

[baldguy]

15. When Obama answered a question HE ANSWERED THE QUESTION!

All McCain could due is recycle some old unconvincing slogans.

[BlooInBloo]

16. (shrug) It's like saying one team "lost the first half"...

There IS no "first half" that counts for winning and losing. There's only THE GAME.

[razors edge]

17. Didn't see that from here.

If he had answered the bullshit accusations with speed and perfection it would have appeared canned and well practiced. People respond better to a person who looks as though they are grappling with a difficult situation and coming to a reasonable response on the spot.

That doesn't mean he didn't practice this approach.

[iceman66]

18. Only for maybe 15-20 minutes

Obama started out a little weak, but McCain fizzled out very quickly. In the end, Obama looked a LOT more presidential!

[yellowcanine]

19. Obama was steady and likeable the whole time, calm and rational, McGrumpy lived up to his reviews -

grumpy, mocking, kept waiting to jump in with his rehearsed "zingers" instead of listening to Obama's answer - he also tried to interrupt Obama on a couple of occasions when Obama had barely begun to talk. McCain lost the whole debate bigtime. I call bullshit on your analysis.