I fear that, on Afghanistan, both Obama and McCain are wrong. Obama wants more troops, but doesn't seem to grasp that they need to be more locally-focused; McCain argues that a Iraq surge-like strategy fixes everything in Afghanistan. Neither seems applicable; I'd argue for something more like what the U.S. did in Greece post-WWII.

This was so, so obvious. I'm hoping that this is a first step.

"No, Boehner replied, he just wanted his members to have a voice. Obama then jumped in to turn the question on his rival: 'What do you think of the [insurance] plan, John?' he asked repeatedly. McCain did not answer." I'm not sure that McCain hears a word that Obama says to him.

"My point is that, Sarah Palin never struck me as stupid. When she talked about not backpacking across Europe and working her whole life, beneath the dumb anti-intellectual dig, I saw a gem of truth. I wish she had have mined it, instead of trying to score a cheap point. Rambling aside, she simply isn't ready. Maybe she would be eight years from now, but she isn't ready now, any campaign worth its salt would have known this."

"The audience that matters is people who start out undecided or uncertain — and finally are looking for emotional reassurance about who they can imagine as president for the next four years. In general, such viewers are only now starting to pay serious attention to the campaign — in contrast to people already committed to helping (or stopping) one of the candidates. That is why the first debate is a unique 're-launch' opportunity for the candidates to present themselves to people who realize it's time to make up their minds."

"[Obama] was respectful to McCain but also more confident looking him in the eye. He was forceful without appearing angry. He was calm without seeming professorial. Because he makes it look relatively easy doesn't mean it isn't actually extremely hard."

BRILLIANT!

Well, when it comes to contempt … I think Joe might have John beat.

My contempt for McCain *during* the debate outstripped McCain's for Obama, but only slightly.

I love stuff like FactCheck.

"But something similar could be said of the three previous encounters I mentioned. The challengers didn't necessarily 'win,' but they achieved something significant simply by debating as equals — especially on national security issues. I think in the long run people will say that this is what happened tonight."

Yeah, I'm not surprised that Sullivan favored Obama. I do, too; I tweeted that, if scored like boxing, it's a 10-9 round for Barack.