He was muttering "course not, course not" -- anyone who listens closely can hear it...

Obama said, "He wouldn't even meet with the prime minister of Spain."

And McCain supposedly answered, "Course not." It doesn't follow.

"Horseshit" fits perfectly.

If this "debate debacle" didn't make us realize that we will be choosing between two rather poor options then just wait for the VP debate where we see more of Jabbering Joe and Salty Sarah. What has this country done to deserve this? Perhaps re-electing George Bush in 2004 after the 2001 mistake and then allowing our two major political parties and the media to shove these two unqualified candidates down our throats has resulted in the "payback" we asked for. Throw into the mix a financial crisis beyond imagination, a dangerously complicated international stage and the everlasting threat of Terrorism, and we may very well be staring at the beginning of the end, no matter who we elect.

Jim Lehrer made an interesting slip-of-tongue in posing one of his questions early in the debate.

I don't have playback to pinpoint the moment, but in asking a question he typified the role of the president (in our society) by saying: "As ruler of (this country)..."

I was dumbstruck. As ruler?!

The President is the executive. He isn't our ruler. Hell, he doesn't even run the country.

I like Jim Lehrer but is this slip telling of the wrongheadedness of the best of our press?

Did anyone else catch this gaffe?

And I though it was an incredibly poorly-chosen word. Talk about imperial views of the presidency.

Totally weird. Obama was terrible really. He can't speak off the cuff for toffee. He's stilted and stiff and never hammers home a point. His language is woolly and doesn't hold the attention. Every 'John's right' grated like nails on a blackboard. Meanwhile, McCain, for all his reputation for anger, seemed measured, clear and to be getting his licks in. He even came close to convincing me that the detour from Afghanistan to Iraq was ultimately the right strategy for Afghanistan. If I'd had a bottle of vodka handy I'd have used it in generous measures to dull the pain of it all.

Yet all I'm left with is this impression of Obama maintaining his dignity and McCain just sort of talking too much. So now I think Obama won, but I still can't figure out quite how.

Did you hear him call McCain 'President McCain'?

Obama never once mentioned McCain financial adviser Grahm and his role in our current financial crisis.

Obama never challenged McCain about all the lobbyist running his campaign.

Lastly he should have bought up McCains involvement in the last financial boondoogle The Keating 5. Why?

You will be fooling yourselves all the way to the day after the election.

Then what?

Especially if it isn't even close.

Barry 0 is like a bad men's cologne.

The closer you get the worse it smells.

At first he looks like a shining light.

He's tall, he's thin, he's elegant.

But as the 90 minutes wore on,

Mc Cain kept nailing him.

Each time he got nailed,

He responded with a certain kind of grin:

A shit-eating grin, we called it in the Army.

Somehow, he expects people to believe:

We can win in Afghanistan by loosing Iraq.

Now, that makes a lot of sense, don't it, Obamabots?

Oh, yes the American people are expected to believe this rubbish.

Yep, alla you pacifists and head in the sand peaceniks could win a fight

Yup, Barbara Boxer is Audie Murphy.

Nancy Pelosi is Florence Nightengale

Oprah Winfry is Dolly Madison too!

Yup, Dirty Harry Reid is Sargent York.

You'll take the fight to Al Queda

From the Streets of Berkeley to the Shores of The Upper West Side

Ben Laden should be "vewy vewy afwaid", as Bawney Fwank would say,

Yup, you really got a plan to win in Afghanistan!

Yup, you'd really make us safer!

Sure

And, oh, yes, Barry Zero kept trying to get a bone fide hero to notice him:

He kept saying, "John, John, John," like they was long lost buddies.

Mc Cain couldn't even bring himself to look at him

He couldn't give the hollow, empty suit the satisfaction of even glancing his way.

It was a matter of respect.

Same story just 48 years later...McCain, like Nixon, looked frumpy angry & uncomfortable...Obama, like Kennedy, relatively cool looking & more relaxed & personable. Nixon, like McCain, was seen as the more experienced & Kennedy, like Obama, a lightweight. Finally, McCain lost solely on his physical appearance & demeanor just like Nixon did. Many who listened to the debate on radio thought that Nixon won handedly although this TV audience which was much larger thought Nixon lost. Ah, how things don't change.

Obviously any two candidates are going to agree on many issues, and being argumentative for its own sake is foolish. Conceding points would be for Obama to say, "yes, you are right and I was wrong", or "I didn't understand that, thanks for enlightening me." Obama did neither. Just to acknowledge something that both candidates understand and don't happen to disagree on isn't conceding anything.

I too heard "ruler" and bristled up in my chair. What??!! I hoped that Obama would correct that-- a brief primer on the executive branch as it should be, or even some populist line like, no, in a democracy, it's the people who rule, or some such YouTube-able phrase-- but then he would've been accused of being "elite" and an "intellectual."

I really fear for my country.

Has it occurred to anyone that maybe what McCain was mumbling was not "horse-shit" but "whore-shit." Channeling Danny Thomas, maybe.

My daughter asked me before the debate, "Who will win?" I said, "Whover you are for." I am opposing Sen Obama with all my heart, so I was cautious to step back and see how things played and I think the old soldier acquitted himself well. Sen Obama looked smirky and kept muttering, "Not true," which to me didn't work for him. He didn't even know the name on the bracelet...another "me too" moment for him. He looks sort of like a cranky kid being dragged through a mall. But, as I said, I am voting for the other guy and it will be my first Rep vote in my 45-year political life.