THE DEBATE THAT DIDN’T MATTER
By Timothy V. Gatto

If what happened last night is any indication of what is in the future for America, we may as well brace for it. There was no mention of civil liberties being returned to Americans, no lessoning of the military budget that brought us into this debt, along with the declining housing market.

NEILSON: THE RATINGS

Nielsen just released the ratings for the second McCain/Obama debate. The key highlights:

* 63.2 million people watched the debate, up almost 11 million viewers from the first Presidential debate last Friday (which was seen by 52.4 million people.)

* This is almost 17 million more viewers than the second presidential debate in 2004 (which was seen by 46.7 million).

* This ranks as the 10th most-viewed Presidential debate and is the highest since 1992.

* Unlike the first McCain/Obama debate, white viewers watched at a higher rating (23.5) than African Americans (21.3).

JOHN MCCAIN: THE RAGE FACTOR
Video by Robert Greenwald:

PALIN: WARRIOR FOR JESUS

MCM: So Sarah Palin, who’s been rousing her admirers–and the media–with her
groundless and inflammatory claims about Obama’s “friendship” with the “terrorist”
Bill Ayers, actually has very close relations with a whole network of apocalyptic
theocrats who pose a vastly greater danger to our nation’s welfare than Ayers did on
his wildest day those many years ago.

First we learned of Thomas Muthee, the “witch-killer” from Kenya; and now (below)
we learn of Mary Glazier, who also perceives politics as spiritual warfare by other means
(most of them no doubt illegal).

So far only Keith Olbermann has paid attention to this aspect of Palin’s history and
appeal–even though the implications of her creed are catastrophic for the planet,
lethal in the realm of foreign policy, and fatal vis-a-vis the rights of women.

So where are all the other members of “the liberal media”? Where’s the front-page
treatment of this topic in the New York Times? Where’s the in-depth coverage by
the networks? (Yes, I know, so please don’t tell me.)

MCM

Palin in my Prayer Group, Says Witchcraft-Fighting “Spiritual Warfare” Leader

Bruce Wilson
Huffington Post

“I believe in warfare. We were given an assignment in Alaska… we had the very liberal candidates running for governor, and we began to pray for God to give us a Christian,” declared Mary Glazier. At a three day religious conference held in Everett, Washington last summer, on June 13, 2008, Glazier described how, nearly two decades ago, her movement helped propel Alaska Independence Party candidate Walter J. Hickel, in an upset write-in campaign, into the Alaska governor’s office: Glazier’s new prayer group member, a 24 year old woman named Sarah Palin, would later follow.

“THAT ONE”

TINA BROWN: ON THE NEW DAILY BEAST ON THE ELECTION

There were two key moments in last night’s debate. The first when Obama spoke about the chance missed by Bush to rally the nation to service after 9/11 and the second when Mc Cain in his closing words talked about his unique qualifications of toughness in tough times–but in doing so, essentially said farewell. The moments, an hour apart, were linked by the powerful emotional undertow of an election that has little to do with the war of manufactured “gaffes”, factual distortions and outright lies that both sides have been propagating in their desperate desire to win.

As always on TV, the moments were enhanced by the cruel physicality of the screen. The received wisdom so far has been that Town Halls are better for McCain because he can loosen up and relax and make direct contact with what are nowadays called “real people.” But a Town Hall also meant the public saw a tall lithe young senator primed for the terrors of the future, against a stiff, hunched old guy hobbling around the stage in a body held together by an act of will

During the campaign McCain has aged dramatically. Like Dorian Gray, the bargains he has made with his conscience are reflected in the mirror. He has developed a strange Jimmy Cagney rasp and new verbal eccentricities that seem to have fused the speaking styles of Bob Dole and Ross Perot. Critics have already pounced on the explosive contempt of his jab, “You know who voted for [the energy bill] THAT ONE.” The younger man watched him from his Frank Sinatra stool with the look of a family visitor marveling at the antics of the household’s resident crazy uncle.

This is all horrible to those of us who once fell in love with McCain’s flinty heroism and independence. It’s as if he when he made the decision that fateful day on August 10th, 2004 in Pensacola, Florida to grit his teeth and bear hug Bush, he contracted a political virus that ate away at the nobility of his soul. The most telling moment in the campaign was on Monday when in Albuquerque, New Mexico, McCain shouted at the crowd, “Who is the real Barack Obama?” and an audience member yelled back, “A terrorist!” And there was a panicked look on his face that said, “My God, what have I done?”

Whatever compromises with the truth Obama has made on his chilly rise to the top, he understands the central zeitgeist of the moment. Raising 9/11 at the debate as a psychic event rather than one of national security was a masterstroke that won the day.

“You know, a lot of you remember the tragedy of 9/11 and where you were on that day,” he told the small studio audience, “and, you know, how all of the country was ready to come together and make enormous changes to make us not only safer, but to make us a better country and a more unified country. And President Bush did some smart things at the outset, but one of the opportunities that was missed was, when he spoke to the American people, he said, “Go out and shop. That wasn’t the kind of call to service that I think the American people were looking for. And so it’s important to understand that the — I think the American people are hungry for the kind of leadership that is going to tackle these problems not just in government, but outside of government.”

CJR: Audit Roundup: Doubting the Candidates

Pearlstein says neither inspires much crisis confidence; Lightning strikes twice with S&L, subprime; etc.
By Ryan Chittum