respond the he did, in fact, understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy, in reference to the so-called surge.

Even as I type this Senator McCain said it again.

And will he please stop say "Senator McCain is absolutely right ..."

the surge is working only if the goal is permanent occupation, we were in and out of WWI in less time than the surge is taking

economic meltdown because of bush/mccain/gramm/abramhof

obama still gets his clock cleaned by someone with brain cancer.

i owe joan walsh an apology

Why didn't Obama call McCain out for granting immunity to CIA torturers?

OK, McCain just mentioned a "lost" Iraq resulting in a base for Al Qaeda. But the only likely worst-case scenario is a right now is a Shiite theocracy. How likely is it that a Shiite theocracy would tolerate a Sunni Al Qaeda?

It wouldn't.

Yep. Agreed. He needs to address this attitude of Obama's experience head on.

Also, I wish Obama would stop saying "that's not true", and instead would say, "that's a lie".

Barack just said he gives McCain "great credit" on opposing torture. BUT! McCain, who himself was tortured, winked, and allowed torture to become legal in the USA, less than a year ago. The law that legalizes torture is named after John McCain!

Right here, Barack could have looked "John" right in the eye, and he could have said, "Liar!" He would have been right. I will vote for Barack, but I am afraid he does not know the details.

For these idiots, delivery is more important than substance.

That maniacal grin and glassy eyed gaze probably is a turnoff. Even tone of Obama is better.

But, as a thinking human being, I hate that Obama keeps complimenting McCain only to have that piece of human garbage come back at him with insults a second later.

And Ike would never have had an F-grade pilot like McCain flying a plane on D-Day. For what that's worth.

Did you guys know McCain was a POW????

Who knew.

The whole debate about Iran was pulled directly from AIPAC talking points. How depressing. Why exactly is a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to Israel which, by the way, is also nuclear-armed? Contrary to U.S. propaganda, the Iranians aren't insane. Why would they attack a country that could retaliate in kind? Why can't this plain fact be mentioned in American discourse? For once, I'd like for politicians to debate facts instead of right-wing bullshit.

The debate about Russia was even more depressing. You'd never know that it was Georgia that attacked the Russian minority within its borders by listening to these two. Oh, and apparently it's unconscionable that Russia controls natural gas lines that originate and run through its own territory. What a revelation!

Obviously, we expect pap like this from McCain, but it just goes to show how much the Democratic Party establishment is owned - lock, stock, and barrel - by the military-industrial complex.

Obama's doing great. He has the presidential tone. He can afford to be gracious to McCain. McCain is coming across as combative, irascible, tired, and his inability to be gracious in return looks awful. His inability to look at Obama -- while Obama looks attentively at McCain throughout the latter's statements -- also looks terrible, like he's afraid of the format.

"I was a POW!"

Obama should've attacked, definitely. He's pointed out a number of distortions (or lies), but he did it far too politely.

Boy McCain was just suckin' wind there.

Sounded like he was basically running McCain of 2000. His most common "point" was that he's been around and been involved for a long time. Maybe he can't recall specifically what he did, but he knows he was there, dammit.

McCain sure got in a LOT of hokey stories.

A technical to Obama. No knockout--one guy made it through ten rounds while relying on a single punch, and the other guy demonstrated that he actually knows something.

Yep. But it could work. I'm sure his advisors gave that word-"naivete"--a lot of thought.

Obama 'won'. But, yes I was hoping for more blood!

McCain was mopping the stage way too long with Obama's ass.

He's got to get better at slamming McCain.

I wonder, too, how much Cindy's outfit cost. $100,000? $50,000? She doesn't look well either... She looks like my mom who died of breast and bone cancer... Thin, bony, gaunt.

McCain was too busy writing lots of notes when Senator Obama was talking. Maybe someone was feeding him answers (and correcting his pronounciation) like when Bush and Kerry debated.

Does Obama not realize what the polls on Iraq are? It's impossible for him to respond too aggressively so why is he so docile.

"Contrary to U.S. propaganda, the Iranians aren't insane. Why would they attack a country that could retaliate in kind?"

Are you perhaps forgetting the comments from the Iranian leadership about how Iran can survive a nuclear exchange with Israel relatively intact, while Israel would be exterminated?

I watched it on C-SPAN2 to avoid any talking heads, and from my perspective McCain one.

Early on, neither of them were able to land any good hits in the economic questions, and when it got to Foreign Policy McCain hit his stride. Ironically, I think this may hurt his overall campaign once we see Palin face off against Biden. Her inexperience and unreadiness are even more stark when compared to McCain.

I also couldn't help but think how both of these guys make Bush look like an idiot.

With any undecided voters that are tuning in to this debate, Obama would have perhaps helped himself more had he been able to keep his answers as simple and clear as he possible could. Whether he needs a zinger of a soundbite to close the deal with any voters that somehow haven't figured out this past month that McCain's judgement is seriously lacking, I don't know for sure. But I loved Obama giving it back to McCain, reminding the voting public that McCain even had "sung a song" about bombing Iraq. That made a rather boring 90 minutes at least worth sitting through.