Live-Blogging the 2nd Presidential Debate

(Watching CNN, election.twitter and current.twitter.)

9:04. Obama: Crisis is the "final verdict" on Bush. Tax cuts for the short run. Fix the system for the long run.
9:06. McCain: Fix the economy through energy independence. (How is that related to credit?) The Treasury should buy up mortgages (! new proposal! So many issues to think about later.) "It's my proposal, not Obama's or Bush's."
9:08. Brokaw asking questions directly: who would McCain pick as Treasury Secretary? McCain: someone who people can trust. Wants Meg Whitman (CEO of eBay) for the job.
9:10. Everyone loves Warren Buffett. Obama: "Prosperity's not going to just trickle down."
9:11. Question on how the bailout helps people. McCain bragging about suspending his campaign. Blames the crisis on Fannie & Freddie, "with the encouragement of Senator Obama and his friends and cronies." Charges Obama with being in their pocket. Obama smiling in the background. "Some of us" tried to stop it.
9:14. Obama explains how the bailout helps people: credit markets => loans => payroll =>jobs. "I've gotta correct a little bit of Senator McCain's history, not surprisingly." Blames the crisis on deregulation, which McCain pushed. Hits back at McCain's campaign manager for lobbying for Fannie.
9:16. Q: Will economy get much worse? Obama: No, if people are helped and markets are regulated. McCain: No, if cronyism is eliminated. "Give American workers their chance." (Was Bush not giving them that chance?)
9:19. Q: How can either party be trusted? Obama: Plenty of blame to go around. History lesson about Bush's deficits. McCain voted for most of Bush's budgets. Reform health care. Energy. College affordability. Investments and spending cuts, net cut.
9:21. McCain: Obama has never taken on party leadership. (A twitter poster writes, "that's because the Democrats are usually right.") Obama has "most liberal, big spending record in U.S. Senate." Obama would raise spending. Energy independence is key.
(T points out that the viewer dials always go down when the candidates attack each other.)
9:24. McCain: all priorities at once. Promises benefit cuts to entitlements. "Clear record" of bipartisanship. Energy: need wind, solar, tide, .... (what's tide?)
9:26. Obama: need to prioritize. 10-year goal to energy independence. Knows the local price of gas. Hits McCain on tax cuts for big corporations.
9:29. McCain: cut excessive defense spending. [I step out of the room for a minute.]
9:31. Obama brings up 9/11. (Really?) Lost opportunity to mobilize the country.
[geechee_girl tweets: "McCain says he can handle 3 things at once while president but couldn't address financial crisis & his own campaign simultaneously."]
9:34. Obama: Corporations need to "share the burden."
[brianeisley: "McCain is fidgeting. Maybe he's gotta pee."]
9:36. McCain: Obama keeps changing his tax proposals. Has "secrets you don't know." (Spoooky...) Claims he's for "leaving tax rates alone," doubling child tax credit. (Huh??? He just changed his entire tax platform.)
9:37. Obama: "The straight talk express lost a wheel on that one." Tax cut for 95% of Americans. (CNN dial shows women up, men lower.) McCain would give "the average Fortune 500 CEO a $700k tax cut."
9:41. McCain: "not tough" to fix Social Security. "I saw it done before." "I'm not too popular." (How the hell will he achieve concensus if no one likes him??) Criticizes Obama's record vs proposals.
9:43. Q: Why does Congress work so fast for financial crisis but not for environment? (Good question.) McCain: Disagreed strongly with Bush on global warming. (What about his running mate?) He loves nuclear power. "We can reprocess fuel like the French." (Put in on colonial islands?)
[Looks like Alex is drinking every time McCain calls for a commission.]
9:45. Obama: Energy "not just a challenge, but an opportunity." Could be an engine for growth like PC's. McCain voted against alternative energy. Tactic of saying McCain's ideas are "important, but..." (consensus-building tactic?)
9:47. Brokaw criticizes their time use for the 100th time. (Good for him, I guess.)
9:48. McCain calls Obama "that one." (This is my HOLY SHIT moment.)
9:49. Health care industry is very profitable - should it be a commodity? (Should answer: Yes, a regulated commodity.) Obama: people hurting from health care costs. [Women's dial drops on mention of mammograms.]
9:52. McCain: "Costs go up, skyrocketing costs." (Yes...) Mocks Obama for "government this, and government that." (What job is McCain running for again? Not the head of the U.S. government?) Portable plans across state lines. (Without consistent federal regulation, which he opposes, that means a race to the bottom.) "Obviously" small businesses want to give their employees health care. (Then what's wrong with mandating it?)
9:56. Obama: "In a country as rich as ours, health care should be a right." Mentions his mother who died young of cancer because of her insurance company. (McCain's mother is 280 years old so he can't relate.) "Crack down on insurance companies who cheat their customers." (I know about this first-hand.) Explains the race-to-the-bottom effect - "like banks in Delaware."
[FakeJohnMcCain: "This is a fundamental difference between me and Senator Obama. Notice how he talks about the government. I, on the other hand, am white."]
9:59. Q: How will economic stress affect our foreign policy? McCain: need judgment. "Nation of good." Obama wrong about Iraq and the surge.
10:01. Obama criticizes invasion of Iraq. $10 billion a month, Iraqis have a $79bn surplus. "We need that money" at home. History lesson: even greatest nations can't have superiority with economic decline.
10:04. Q: What about humanitarian crises with no national security issues at stake? Obama: "moral issues at stake." Historical counterfactuals about Holocaust, Rwanda. "If we stand idly by, that diminishes us."
10:06. McCain: if Obama's withdrawal plan had worked, troops would have come home in defeat. "I've been in those situations" [of deploying troops] "all my life" - (really?)
10:08. Q: Pakistani sovereignty vs fighting Al Qaida. Obama: goes back to mistake, "distraction" of Iraq. Need to end Iraq war to deal with Afghanistan. "Can't coddle a dictator" in Pakistan.
10:11. McCain loves the Rough Rider (TR)... "walk softly and carry a big stick." Obama threatens Pakistan needlessly: "remarkable." (Then why is he threatening Iran??)
10:13. Obama: "Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan." Mocks McCain's "somber and responsible" demeanor when he sings about bombing Iran. (Yes!)
[BeautifulCalam": McCain you look like a crazy man when you walk around while Obama's talking. Sit down & wait your turn."]
10:16. Q: Better to have benevolent dictator in Afghanistan? (Excellent question.) Obama: "Very clear" with Karzai: "needs to do better with his people." (Everyone there hates Karzai, for the record.)
10:18. McCain: Obama said Iraq "couldn't work, wouldn't work, still won't admit he was wrong."
10:19. Q: How to avoid another Cold War with Russia?
[Wow, my server just crashed from overload. Are hundreds of people trying to read my blog? Doubtful... Server back up, sorry for being distracted there.]
10:23. Q: Is Russia today an "evil empire"? (Silly question.) Nuanced answers from both. (Obviously.)
10:25. Q: U.S. troops unilaterally defending Israel? McCain: "obviously would not wait" for UNSC. "What would you do if you were the Israelis?... Obama wants to negotiate with them." (Is he running for Prime Minister of Israel or President of the United States??)
10:27. Obama: "Cannot allow Iran to gain a nuclear weapon." Never take military options off the table, don't give UN "veto power" over U.S. interests. Need to use "all tools" to prevent this. Need to change Iran's cost-benefit analysis. (Yes!) Iran "quadrupled its nuclear capability" because of Bush.
10:30. Q: "What don't you know, and how will you learn it?" Obama: ask my wife. "But here's what I do know..."
Closing statements. Applause.