The winner of last night's debate was..............?

[kentuck]

Jim Lehrer. And the loser was the American people. This is just my perspective after I watched the entire debate.

Although different people have different viewpoints about who was the "winner", mostly based on their expectations, the debate was more suited to the aggressive style of McCain than Obama.

Senator Obama is a thoughful, rational, and classy person. The "one-liner" attack is not his expertise. So why was Jim Lehrer the winner of the debate?

The format permitted two-minute responses. When John McCain was permitted to spout a half-dozen statements that could have been challenged in his allotted time, Barack Obama did not have enough time to respond to all of the distortions. Just when he was ready to respond to another of McCain's distorted comments, Jim Lehrer would stop him in his tracks and say that it was time to go to the next question. Lehrer, in his desire to get in all his planned questions, never permitted the questions to be answered or explored to the extent they should have been. In this respect, it was to McCain's advantage.

The two-minute format was a failure, in my opinion. It is possible to correct one or two points in that time-frame, but not four or five points. This was the worst moderating job that Jim Lehrer has ever done, in my humble opinion.

[madokie]

1. To me lehrer seemed to be solidly in the mcPOW camp

but thats just me

[summer borealis]

2. Polident.

No, really, I liked how Lehrer pressed them on the fiscal impact the "bailout" might have. Their answers were notably shallow, McInsane's in particular. He'd cut, cut, cut ... but CUT WHAT?????? Fossil.

[jessicafancy]

3. They both lose.

They both lost. Neither answered questions. No one had the advantage. They both failed miserably. Jim Lehrer was completely fair, he kept saying "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE QUESTION" (essentially) and... well, no one answered. It's like they were all chiefing on something before the debate.