I agree with this and am surprised to see so many thinking it was closer. McCain did well for a limited part of his base by being so nastily aggressive and mocking. He was definitely stronger than the last debate - which I think was his weakest - but I think a lot of his agitation will not wear well with middle voters. Obama did a great job handling the anger and attacks but none of it was really new for him so he should be good at handling them by now. One thing I have not seen anyone talk about - wasn't McCain's defense of Palin a little sexist/condescending? I have noticed it before but when he talks about her he always speaks of how he is so proud of her, she is doing a great job with what is going on, etc. as if he is a father or like some people do when speaking to/about handicapped people. He just doesn't seem to talk about her as an equal. Further, he ends his bit by bringing up how Todd is a tough guy. Really? What does that have to do with anything? If he had selected Romney or Lieberman, would he have thrown in something about how awesome his wife is? It is as if talking about her wasn't enough so - quick - mention her macho husband. With both parties this election cycle has made me sad with regards to how much farther we have to go with racism and sexism. Yeah, we have a black candidate and a woman candidate and that is great, but it also brings a lot of disturbing trends to the forefront.
I honestly read that (strange) bit as supporting her and Todd in the troopergate situation. i.e. "Todd is a great guy and why wouldn't you want him involved in day-to-day decisions of governance?" But I can see your point. The most negative part for women (from my male viewpoint at least) was still that "health of the woman" segment. However... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0N_UfQVuvXo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0N_UfQVuvXo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> ... on further view, it did not seem to affect the female "pulse poll" graph shown in this CNN version. What's really interesting is to see the very positive marks on those graphs, from men and women, when Obama was describing his stance on abortion. He seemed to peg the meters (for whatever that's worth).
Count me as a person who thinks this was easily Barack's best debate performance of the three. I also think it may have been McCain's worst. The comment about women and the "health of the woman," wiggling his fingers putting it in quotes, the snear in his voice, had my wife livid. I'm sure she wasn't alone. McCain appeared desperate, frantic, angry, and ultimately, at least to me, pathetic. A sad performance by John McCain.
via TPM -- Poll: Debates Improved Opinions Of Obama Among Independents And Conservatives By Greg Sargent - October 19, 2008, 10:20AM New polling from ABC News and The Washington Post reveals just how big Barack Obama's victory in the collective debates really was. The survey finds that more than a third of likely voters (36%) said their opinion of Obama had gotten better because of the debates, while only 12% said it had gotten worse. By contrast, only a fifth (20%) said their opinion of McCain had improved, while more than that (26%) said it had gotten worse. The numbers among independents are pretty interesting, too. A third (33%) said their opinion of Obama had improved, while only 19% said their opinion of McCain had improved -- significantly less than the 28% of indys who said their opinion of the Arizona Senator had worsened. And get this: While McCain won handily among Republicans, opinions of both candidates improved by approximately the same number among conservatives. Twenty seven percent of conservatives said their opinion of Obama had gotten better, while 28% said the same of McCain.
