When Obama says that "taxpayers will get their money back", will we get back in proportion to what we put in?

Friend, you won't make sure anything is structured right. The President proposes; Congress disposes.

The "paygo" concept doesn't mean much unless Obama is also planning to offset automatic entitlement increases.

No history! Tell us what you are going to cut to fund the bailout.

(Thanks for asking the question yet again, Bob Shieffer.)

[McCain] "Why do we always have to spend more?"

Good question.

Schieffer's formulation of the healthcare question is awful.

The most important quality of a Supreme Court justice is that they apply fairness and justice? In fact, isn't their Constitutionally defined role to simply determine the constitutionality of laws and rulings by lower courts?

Sorry to have missed most of this; I was otherwise engaged, but I was listening on WPRO on the way home. It may have been the different medium, but I think this debate is definitely a step up from the last.

I also liked when McCain slipped and called his opponent "Senator Government."

For as long as I remember watching these things, the candidates-at-the-table has always more informative than the candidates-separated-by-podiums format.

It was certainly a lot more informative debate (on a very relative scale) compared to the previous two. No knock out by McCain, but I think he won on points. He certainly had the more memorable lines of the night.

"Senator Government," although it might have been a Freudian slip, is something that McCain can probably capitalize on in the next three weeks.

I'm pretty sure "Joe the Plumber" will be an ongoing campaign theme, as well. Obama never really answered those questions with any specificity.

PS I'm thinking to myself ... how will the Democrat nominee manage to snatch defeat from the hands of victory? I just know he can do it. :)

I thought that McCain brought up some valid points. Some hit, some didn't:

McCain mentioned Bill Ayers, but failed to tell viewers about Ayers' background.

I think that Obama is consistently moving to the right by talking about tax cuts. Obama is positioning himself as a moderate and McCain should have called him on it. Obama's words don't match his voting record.

McCain's statement that he was not Bush is effective.

In the end, I don't think this debate changes anything. The vast majority of Republicans are voting for McCain. The vast majority of Democrats are voting for Obama.

It's a 5 point race that will come down to the wire.

The question is who will win the independents in the handful of swing states.

If a so-called "Bradley Effect" exists in the swing states, McCain is in very good shape.

However, if the current poll numbers are accurate, McCain will need to need win virtually every swing state where he is within 5 points of Obama.

Of course you realize that you are talking to a closed circle, and a small one at that.

There's an answer that's blowin' in the wind and it's blowing towards the Left. The world will little note, nor long remember what you are saying here, nor should it.

OldTimeLefty

Of course you realize that you are talking to a closed circle, and a small one at that.

There's an answer that's blowin' in the wind and it's blowing towards the Left. The world will little note, nor long remember what you are saying here, nor should it.

OldTimeLefty