John McCain and Barack Obama Debate at Belmont University in Nashville

I promised myself that I wasn't to LiveBlog the debate tonight.
The previous two almost did me in.

That resolution lasted until Obama opened his mouth with some faux outrage about some AIG executives going on a $400,000 junket after the bailout. Obama says those executives should be fired.
Well Barack, you just gave them their share of 800 billion freakin' dollars ! What did you think they were going to do with it - put on haircloth shirts and eat McDonald's Value Meal #1's until they paid it all back? If some people run a company into the ground, and then get a gift from God, do you really think these leopards are going to change their spots? Good Lord in heaven, I wish we had a genuine competitive choice in this election.

Then McCain got up and said we have to stabilize housing prices.
No we don't. Let the market determine the price for each house.
How do we do that?
See what it sells for.

McCain just said he would consider EBay founder MEG WHITMAN for Treasury Secretary. He's been bringing her name up for the last 6 months as someone who would advise him on financial matters. He just did it again by pure reflex.

McCain is now objecting to the term "Bailout", while he prefers the term "Rescue". He's now detailing how much money Obama was given by Fannie and Freddie.

Obama is blaming the crisis on deregulation. (Whereas in reality, the crisis was caused by lenders following Fannie and Freddie and The Community Reinvestment Act's regulations to the letter.)

You know what? We started off as a great country. But once we discovered that we could vote ourselves money from the public trough, it was over.

Someone named Teresa Finch just asked why either candidate should be trusted with our money, when both parties got us into this crisis?

While Obama blathers on with cliches and boilerplate, let me take this moment to nominate Teresa Finch for President of The United States.
Obama says that we've had surpluses. Short term, yes. But you know what? We have entitlements that are about to come due that are going to plow through any potential surplus like Sherman went through Georgia.
McCain is blathering about how he's been able to reach across the aisle and achieve bipartisanship. Well, if that's the case, his Republican base shouldn't vote for him. They should vote him out immediately.
He's now talking about an earmark for a 3 million dollar overhead projector for someplace in Chicago. I can't wait to see what the fact-checkers do with that one.

Brokaw just asked McCain to prioritize several items for his administration. McCain says he'd work on all three at once.

Senator McCain, we're going to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. Which one do you think will win first? All three, Mr. Brokaw.

Obama, to his credit, says we'll have to prioritize. He's mentioned Energy first. Then Healthcare. Then Education.

Thank you for answering the question, Senator. It was very refreshing. It would also be refreshing if you'd advocate turning the oil companies loose on offshore drilling, encourage the medical schools to produce more graduates, and shut down the Department Of Education.

Brokaw asks what sacrifices we'll have to make.

McCain says we'll have to examine every agency and bureaucracy in government. He mentions defense spending. Earmarks.

I know what we can do, kids ! Let's have a spending freeze ! ! !

Obama is criticizing Bush for saying "Go out and shop" after 9-11.

I bet there are people in NYC who are grateful for that, Barack.

Brokaw: Who got drunk? The Government? The American People? Wall Street? The guy who is typing this drivel? (Beer is the only thing making this bearable....I really didn't want to do this tonight. If Obama hadn't opened up with that stupidity I might be in the recliner throwing popcorn at the TV screen.)

Obama: He disagrees with McCain about an Across-The-Board Budget Freeze. McCain wants to use a hatchet, while he wants to use a scalpel.

WE HAVE A TEN TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT, AND YOU WANT TO USE A SCALPEL???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

WE NEED A CHAINSAW. A LUMBERJACK SAW. SLEDGEHAMMERS. WITH A "HOGGER" BRAND CHIP GRINDER. Why isn't McCain bringing up the debt? Is he asleep?

Brokaw: Huge unfunded obligations for Medicare, Social Security? How are we going to pay for this?

McCain, he's giving you an open door here....

Obama: The straight talk express lost a wheel here. I want to provide a tax cut for 95% of Americans. The money for the 10 trillion dollar debt will be provided by fairies and Oompa Loompas who will leave the money under my pillow when I go Night Night when I get shweepy.

McCain: Reach across the table. Reach across the aisle. Give in. Compromise. After all, Republicans and Democrats are really the same political party.

Wouldn't it be fun to have Bob Barr's mad howling outrage dumped into the middle of this festival of ineffective half-measures?

A questioner named Ingrid Jackson has asked why Congress could move so fast in the economic crisis. Will they move that fast on the environment, and for "Green" Jobs?

McCain: I reached across the aisle to Joe Lieberman. I want some nukes. Nuclear power creates hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Ok, John. Your wrinkled butt needs to go back to school. Prosperity occurs when jobs are eliminated due to something like nuclear power. Efficiency is good, inefficiency is bad. You don't become more efficient to create more jobs. It gets ugly. Be honest about it.

Obama: I favor nuclear as one component of an energy "mix". McCain voted AGAINST alternative fuels 23 times.

Well, if one of those alternatives was subsidizing the ethanol industry, more power to him. Some sort of fracas just broke out over Obama going past his warning light. This is almost like NASCAR, where the warning flag gets thrown out onto the track, and everybody is supposed to stop and wait in line.

Bad analogy.

Too much beer is now required to listen to this. They're not making sense, and I'm not either.

McCain is talking about fundamental economics and drilling offshore.

Did I just hear him accuse Obama of voting with Bush when he voted against some Bush proposal?

Questioner: Healthcare as a marketable commodity? (As opposed to a form of life on the planet Nektor???? In places where it works, it's a marketable commodity.)

Obama: I'm going to change lots of stuff without eliminating government, lawyers, and insurance companies from the process, which would lower healthcare costs by 50%. After all, that would be a positive change, and I'm against that.

At least I think that's what he just said.....

McCain: Let's do lots of stuff. There's a fundamental difference between me and Obama. Government Government Government. Obama will fine you. I want to give everybody a refundable tax credit.

I'm going to Georgia and South Carolina tomorrow. It's a work-related road trip. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

This has nothing at all to do with the debate, but it has more to do with the question than the answers these two guys are giving.

Brokaw: Is healthcare a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?

McCain: We should have available and affordable healthcare for every citizen. I'm nervous about mandates.

My home church, Broadway Baptist in Fort Worth, used to have a dentist's chair in the basement. Homeless/Low income people could get dental care there. You know why we can't have the dentist's chair there any more? Guess.

Obama: You are going to have to make sure that your child has healthcare. Children are cheap to insure. I think it's important for govt to crack down on insurance companies that rip off their customers. Big companies shouldn't be able to shop around for the least regulated state to base their operations in.

Phil Elliot: Let me provide a paraphrase of Phil's question....How will the economic crisis affect our ability to provide a free military for South Korea, Japan, Germany, the rest of eastern Europe, Antarctica, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Greenland, NATO, and everyone else who gets a free ride at the expense of the American taxpayer? I mean, this has to cost a lot, right? Does it make sense to you? How much longer do we have to do this?

McCain: Lots of Bullshit.

Obama: Lots of Bullshit. More eloquently presented.

Brokaw: What about humanitarian interventions for Humanitarian purposes?

Ok, McCain, here's your chance to jump Obama on voting against intervening when Saddam was gassing 90,000 Kurds.

Obama: Nothing about Saddam.

McCain: Obama would bring our troops home in defeat. I will bring them home with honor. Are you going to bring up Saddam Freakin' Hussein gassing the Kurds in his own nation? It's sitting there, waiting...O God, he's just blathering more about opposing his own party. I bet he's going to talk about reaching across the aisle. 90,000 Kurds died in vain.

Brokaw: Katie Hamm....

Katie Hamm: Should the U.S. respect Pakistan's sovereignty in the pursuit of terrorists?

Obama: I'm going to ignore your question, and slam Bush for not staying in Afghanistan. The situation in Pakistan is such a freakin' nightmare that I don't want to go there.

If Bob Barr was in this debate (as he would be in any truly just society), he would slam dunk all these questions. He'd say that we shouldn't be in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, of Afghanistan.

McCain: Teddy Roosevelt is my hero. Walk Softly, and Carry A Big Stick. Almost totally irrelevant to the question under debate. Now I want to link myself to Petraeus. I LOOOVE me some Petraeus.

Big confusion about follow up questions. Brokaw says he's just the hired help. Giggles from the audience.

Obama: I want to hunt down Bin Ladin. I have hair on my ass too. But John, you sang "Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran". So there, you old fart.

McCain: Not true. Not true. I have supported the U.S. when we HAD to go in, and have opposed it when we didn't. I was joking when I put on a Tutu and said "Bomb Iran". But I'm not going to telegraph my punches.

Brokaw: Developments in Afghanistan. The place is screwed beyond recognition. We need an acceptable dictator.

Obama: I'll be very brief. Because this question is hell. I want to pull more troops out of Iraq and put them in Afghanistan.

McCain: Petraeus. Petraeus. Petraeus. That's one of the names he knows that he chants like a freakin' mantra. That, and Meg What's her name, the founder of EBay. More about Petraeus. Petraeus. Petraeus.

Brokaw: How can we apply pressure to Russia on humanitarian issues without starting another Cold War?

McCain: There won't be another Cold War. I looked into Putin's eyes and saw KGB. The Ukraine is in the sights of Putin (I agree. But the Ukraine has been ruled by Russia for a Looong time. How many of your sons and daughters do you want to sacrifice for their Independence? That's the question.)

Obama: We can't just provide moral support. We have to provide support for everybody. Poland, Estonia, etc. Yeah, we're nowhere near totally broke. 21st century challenges. See them before they happen.

Brokaw: Reagan called the Soviet Union an Evil Empire. Do you think it is an Evil Empire under Putin?

Obama: They might have Evil Impulses.

McCain: Maybe. It's a Catch-22 question.

Brokaw: Terry Shrey:

Terry: What if Iran attacks Israel? Would you intervene, or wait on the U.N.

McCain: All I Know, I Learned In Kindergarten And From Chief Petty Officers. There are all sorts of people in the middle east who are a threat to Israel. Ok, just like Palin did, and just like he did in the previous debate, McCain is trying to make a HUGE deal over Obama's willingness to meet with the bad guys "without preconditions". Nobody cares about that outside of the State Department, and you need to drop it.

Obama: We can't allow Iran to get nukes. It would be a game-changer. Nukes would be in the hands of terrorists, and not just in the hands of government contractors. That would be totally unacceptable. Let's interrupt their supply chain.

Brokaw: Peggy in Amherst has a question...."What don't you know, and how will you learn it?"

Obama: Ask Michelle. It's not the challenges you expect. This country gave me an opportunity. I got scholarships. Grandmaw scrimped on things. Food Stamps. I went to the best schools on earth. Are we going to pass on the American Dream to the next generation? We need change. That's why I decided to run for President.

McCain: What I don't know? That's what's going to happen at home and abroad. Campaign speech boilerplate. Cliches. I've spent my whole life. Ok, here's McCain trying to hop on the victim bandwagon. Mama kept the family going while daddy was gone. What is it with the victim motif in this election? Give me another opportunity to contribute. We need a steady hand at the tiller.

Brokaw: That's it.

The winner of this debate? The entrenched Republicans and Democrats. The loser?

You.