Debate Deblogging Round 2: Morning After

I thought McSame and Obama were close last night. I judged them on what was said...but when it came to how it was said, Obama destroyed McSame. Obama won the second debate by a clearer margin than he did the first because McSame's delivery was horrendous.

CNN had a clear Obama win among undecideds.

A national poll of debate watchers suggests that Barack Obama won the second presidential debate.
Fifty-four percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey conducted after the debate ended said that Obama did the best job in the debate, with 30 percent saying John McCain performed better.

A majority, 54 percent, said Obama seemed to be the stronger leader during the debate, to 43 percent for McCain. By a greater than two to one margin — 65 percent to 28 percent — viewers thought Obama was more likeable during the debate.

"Obama had made some gains on the leadership issue even before the debate," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "McCain's advantage on leadership shrunk from 19 points in September to just five points this weekend. If Obama can use this debate to convince Americans that he is a stronger leader than McCain, he may be difficult to defeat."

CBS also had Barry winning clearly.

Immediately after the debate, CBS News interviewed a nationally representative sample of 516 debate watchers assembled by Knowledge Networks who were "uncommitted voters" - voters who are either undecided about who to vote for or who say they could still change their minds. Forty percent of these uncommitted debate watchers said Obama won the debate, 26 percent said John McCain won, and another 34 percent thought it was a tie.

McSame came across as a bitter old cranky man again, and he lost. Obama's moment? "Health care is a right." McSame's moment? Calling Obama "that one", like Obama wasn't worthy of being in the same room as him. You don't get much more dehumanizing than that.

And while I give McSame credit...big time...for saying that bad mortgages need to be bought up by the Fed, any Republican in charge of a plan like that will find a way to help house flippers in Beverly Hills, not factory workers Cleveland Heights.

Nope. It wasn't the KO either side needed, but that just means it's more of the slow bleed of John McSame's honor all over the floor...along with the slow death of his campaign.