# September 26 - The First Obama-McCain Debate **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 26, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357 "2008-09-26T16:49:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/301 "2008-09-27T02:36:55Z")
P.O.Fucking.W. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/302 "2008-09-27T02:36:59Z")
Here come the POW story. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/303 "2008-09-27T02:37:12Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I’d call this a draw, with maybe a slight edge to McCain. Neither candidate stumbled badly but neither scored what I would call a knock-out punch. That said, I feel McCain came across just a bit more in control of the facts; not so much because he had a masterful command, but rather because Obama just appeared to be on defense too much of the time. No, I’m not interested in this case in how he came across in comparison to McCain (I’m sure we’ll discuss that to death), just how he came across as himself to people who are not very familiar with him. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/304 "2008-09-27T02:37:22Z")
Pow pow pow! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/305 "2008-09-27T02:37:28Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Yeah, McCain is coming off reasonably well. I have no dog in this fight (registered Independent voter here), and I agree that McCain’s knowledge of issues is coming through very well. For me, tho, his smirk and his inability to look at Obama are incredibly annoying. Obama is also coming across as very knowledgeable, but his calm demeanor and unwillingness to just slam McCain when appropriate are similarly annoying. ---
**Author:** ![fiztig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@fiztig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiztig)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/306 "2008-09-27T02:37:28Z")
Obama is being very polite with McCain. Too polite. Those “he doesn’t understand” condescending comments need a serious slapdown. I’m not sure that his polite and steady approach is coming across very well. Also - McCain really got the last word on just about every subject. ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/307 "2008-09-27T02:37:56Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Meh, both of them missed the big one in “defending the US.” > > Alleviate suffering in problem areas and you won’t have terrorists. That’s the only fail-proof method. > > And Obama is coming off rather poor in essentially saying that we “need to spend more money on X” for every single item. When the economy is in the tank, coming on and saying we need to spend more on getting rid of nuclear waste, we need to spend more on protecting the borders, spend more on so on and so forth, that sounds like he’s holding to his preconceived plan instead of adapting it to the realities of the current situation of the US. Mohammed Atta was suffering? He was hanging out in strip clubs in Florida the week before he killed a bunch of innocent people, along with himself. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/308 "2008-09-27T02:37:46Z")
Gawd, the wrapping up is terrible all round. Obama wants to inspire the children of the world. Sad veterans make McCain sad. G’night, folks. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/309 "2008-09-27T02:37:48Z")
Obama just said that people around the world looked to the US as a place where anyone could do anything with hard work and the red line dropped. I’m not sure why, but I found that extremely depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/310 "2008-09-27T02:38:07Z")
I call it a draw. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/311 "2008-09-27T02:38:14Z")
AH! And there he goes, final two seconds, McCain brings up his POWness. What a manipulative little fucker. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/312 "2008-09-27T02:38:31Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Yeah, McCain is coming off reasonably well. > > AGAIN, don’t lynch me, I’m voting Obama :eek:. But he’s not coming off stupid on the issues, which Bush did, in every debate. He has a POV that’s against the slant of the board, but he’s not coming off obnoxiously dumb, the way Bush or Palin do. > > What scares me about the McCain-Palin is not the McCain part of the ticket, and it never has. > > _just waiting to be snapped at_ I won’t snap at you. I’d have like for Obama to have slaughtered McCain in this debate. But Obama didn’t do so well with the economy and the fact that that came out even at best was sort of shocking. This alone will probably give McCain the win. Not only didn’t he not crap his depends, he rocked Obama a little. But, even taking in my strong bias, I think Obama killed on foreign policy. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/313 "2008-09-27T02:38:49Z")
I have to say I call it a tie. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/314 "2008-09-27T02:39:50Z")
Apparently McCain knows how to deal with our enemies without talking to them, and our friends without meeting them. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/315 "2008-09-27T02:38:49Z")
Fuck McCain. “I love the troops. They love me. I will take care of them.” “I saw a tortured POW coming home. It made me sad. _TEAR_” ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/316 "2008-09-27T02:40:49Z")
it looked to me like all three lines trended positive during obama’s closing statement and then negative during McCain’s closing remark. I got a screenshot of it; will have to blow it up in the morning to see if I was seeing clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/317 "2008-09-27T02:45:00Z")
That was interesting. I didnt like how they kept talking over eachother a couple of times it was hard to follow. Mccain did well on reducing spending until he mentioned his government freeze, which would really hurt the economy. I thought that Obama came off well in the military issues. I disagree with McCain fundamentally on withdrawing so that is hard for me to say how well he did there. Obama did very well on the negotiating with world. Over all I think that there was no clear winner but I think McCain will get a bump. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/318 "2008-09-27T02:46:35Z")
Some fat guy on TV said McCain won because he acted like a prick and Obama didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/319 "2008-09-27T02:46:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Kissinger, speaking Monday at George Washington University along with four other former U.S. State Department secretaries, said the next president should initiate high-level discussions with Iran “without conditions,” ABC News reported. [Kissinger: Open direct Iran talks - UPI.com](http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/16/Kissinger_Open_direct_Iran_talks/UPI-46971221579660/) Guess John doesn’t know him that well after all. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357/320 "2008-09-27T02:47:16Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > “I don’t even have a seal yet” Ha ha ha ha. :wipes away a tear: Well, it’s a hell of a lot more interesting than a dog or cat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-26-the-first-obama-mccain-debate/465357.md?page=17)