the citizen-viewer

Conclusions:

McCain was an aggressive, distorting warmonger, and he did it according to the script. That means a few days of positive press and possibly a closing of the polling gap.

On the other hand, McCain’s basic message was “aggression is the only foreign policy; I’m all talk, no action on economic reform.” And Obama made no mistakes. He loses this entirely on spin not on substance, but the debate worked for McCain, who also defied expectations that he might have a meltdown.