15 (Worthless) Things We Learned from the Town Hall Debate
After almost two weeks of tense anticipation, we sat down last night to watch history. And by history we mean the second presidential debate, and by tense anticipation we mean we were hoping one candidate would accidentally quote Hitler, or perhaps take the stage sporting a visible erection.
Neither of those things happened (though our staff is still analyzing the video) because, as it turns out, the event was carefully planned to the letter by operatives on both sides to make sure that, above all, nothing embarrassing would occur. They figured the best way was to just make sure that virtually no debating occurred, either.
We liveblogged the debate and, while no new information was conveyed, we did learn some important things about this election:
McCain Has a Nuanced Understanding of Obama's Plans for TechnologyMCCAIN: Now, how -- what's -- what's the best way of fixing it? Nuclear power. Senator Obama says that it has to be safe or disposable or something like that.
- 8:44 PM Hbn Gladstone - "Senator Obama says it has to be safe or something like that"
- 8:44 PM Dan O'Brien - Gladstone's not lying, that's an EXACT QUOTE.
- 8:46 PM Michael Swaim - "What Senator Obama doesn't understand is, computers are boxes filled with ghosts."
- 8:15 PM Ross Wolinsky - "Once upon a time there was a pony who believed that the free markets could correct themselves."
- 8:15 PM Dan O'Brien - "Let's say Bush is Voldemort. And let's say Voldemort put his dick in the economy."
- 8:17 PM Dan O'Brien - Obama says he believes in the American Economy. What is that based on?
- 8:17 PM Michael Swaim - Hope.
- 8:18 PM Dan O'Brien - Even if the American worker DID have money, he still wouldn't be buying that bullshit.
OBAMA: No, I am confident about the American economy … We're going to have to coordinate with other countries to make sure that whatever actions we take work.
BROKAW: Senator McCain, for you, we have our first question from the Internet tonight.
THERESA: How can we trust either of you with our money when both parties got -- got us into this global economic crisis?
BROKAW: The three -- health care, energy, and entitlement reform: Social Security and Medicare. In what order would you put them in terms of priorities?
MCCAIN: I think you can work on all three at once, Tom.
BROKAW: Senator Obama, if you would give us your list of priorities.
OBAMA: We're going to have to prioritize, just like a family has to prioritize. Now, I've listed the things that I think have to be at the top of the list.
OBAMA: You know, a lot of you remember the tragedy of 9/11.
MCCAIN: Look -- look, it's not that hard to fix Social Security, Tom. It's just...
MCCAIN: … we can never allow a second Holocaust to take place.
BROKAW: All right, gentlemen, we've come to the last question …. Peggy (ph) in Amherst, New Hampshire. And it has a certain Zen-like quality, I'll give you a fair warning. She says, "What don't you know and how will you learn it?"