First Presidential Debate Down, Two More To Go

I surprised myself last night. Even though I found it pretty much a boring snorefest I made it through last night's debate. The debate had none of those memorable type moments that so many previous Presidential debates have had.

Like Gerald Ford saying Eastern Europe was not under Soviet control. For those of you born post the 1970s, up til the collapse of the communism, Eastern Europe was behind what was called the Iron Curtain. Basically the countries that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II the Soviets turned into communist states. If one of the Soviet's communist "allies" got frisky, like Czechoslavakia did in 1968, the Soviets would invade and squash the rebellion.

This type thing was why it was a laugh producing gaffe when Gerald Ford made his unfortunate assertion. He really never recovered from that one incident.

The first President Bush had a memorable debate moment that hurt him when he looked at his watch, as if he was bored and anxious for the torture to end. But he was on a stage that included Clinton and Ross Perot. I really didn't think it all that odd that he'd check the time. But it bothered others.

Michael Dukakis had a bad debate moment when he coldly and robotically responded to a question regarding the death penalty and what his position on that issue would be if his wife, Kitty, were raped and murdered. That was one odd debate moment.

Al Gore had some bad debate moments when he'd do a heavy sigh in response to something coming out of George W.'s mouth. Now that almost the entire country has done similar sighing it now just seems like Al Gore was ahead of his time.

The first debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan gave most of the country their first good look at Reagan. And he surprised a lot of people. He didn't come across as some sort of hardline right winger. Instead he came across as really likable, funny, and, well, presidential. While Jimmy Carter looked and sounded really weak, at one point Reagan zinging some Carter nonsense with his famous line, "There you go again." At the time it was a great debate moment.

So, last night, to my eyes and ears there were no memorable moments. John McCain seemed toned down. No flashes of crankiness. Barack Obama seemed less long-winded than usual, with fewer moments of speaking haltingly, like he has in previous debates. Obama seemed more forceful than he has before. Very measured.

McCain rarely looked at Obama, instead directing his attention to the moderator, Jim Lehrer. It made it look like McCain was ignoring Obama.

McCain repeated himself a few times. Whether this was due to him thinking he had to hammer in a point, or he forgot he'd already said it, who knows. I'm guessing an early sign of senility. Like twice he said he has not been awarded the Miss Congeniality title while in Washington.

All in all, I guess I'd call the debate a tie.