Update: I want to include an insight from keshmeshi in comments. I think that McCain did intend to snub Obama with his refusal to speak to him or look at him. However, because Obama kept looking steadily at McCain and calling him by his name, it ended up making Obama look dominant and McCain look afraid. Snubbing is a specific maneuver, and not appropriate to this situation. In this case, it looked like a game of chicken that Obama won without blinking.
Since I missed the debate Friday night due to rocknrollerz duty, I stayed in last night and watched a downloaded version on the computer. I’m joining the chorus calling Obama the clear winner, and as far as I know, we’re going into the Sunday talk-a-thon with the mainstream media mostly on the side of reality, though there’s plenty of people acting surprised that Obama isn’t stupid. Recently, in fact, a number of Villagers have come to the realization that McCain didn’t really love them, but was just using them, so they’ve grown critical of him and his audacious lying. But I have no illusions that they won’t slide back into carrying his water. If they continue to be honest about Obama’s win, good for them, but I’m not going to let myself get crushed if they start calling it for McCain once they realize that Obama’s pulling out way ahead.
Lehrer’s opening gambit of asking the same fucking question about the bailout many times over annoyed me. I’m sure he felt like he seemed “tough” because he was “catching” them unable to speak off-the-cuff, but in reality, he was putting both candidates in an untenable situation. Because there’s no way really to know what you’re going to do over 3 months from now, when things are happening so rapidly. And pretending otherwise would be bullshitting. Given the circumstances, I can’t blame either candidate for trotting out economic boilerplate speeches, because the only choices you have are to bullshit or highlight your priorities. Unsurprisingly, McCain was the one who finally bit, and started lying his ass off to get out of the question with his talk about a “spending freeze”, which has been the source of merriment.