The Presidential Debate blog

The pundits on PBS are saying that both candidates did a good job, but that neither was able to score a winning blow.

Sen. McCain got the last word of the first presidential debate. Sen. Obama is overheard saying “Good job” to Sen. McCain.

The question is what are the chances of another 9/11 attacks?

McCain: I guarantee you as President of US I know how to heal the wounds of war.

Obama: I don’t think anyone can say that the country’s standing in the world is as strong as it was before the war. We have to say we are going to invest in education.

McCain: I sincerely don’t believe that Sen. Obama has the experience or the judgment to be president. I know the veterans well. They know that I will take care of them well. Also I have the ability and knowledge to make the right judgments. I don’t think I need any on the job training.

Obama: This administration has been focused on Iraq. Meanwhile, Bin Laden is still out there. Afghanistan is worse. We have weakened our capacity to present power throughout the world. We are spending money in Iraq that could be invested in science and math. We haven’t adequately funded veterans’ care. We have put all chips in and no one is talking about losing this war. The next president has to have a broader strategic vision than this administration.

McCain: Sen. Obama still doesn’t get it. If we fail in Iraq, that will embolden Al Qaida. We would lose all that we have gained if we follow Sen. Obama’s schedule for getting out of Iraq.

Obama: We are safer in some ways. We still have along way to go. The biggest threat is not a nuclear missile coming over the skies but in a suitcase. That’s why nuclear proliferation is such a big issue. We are only spending a few hundred million dollars on nuclear proliferation. That is a mistake. It is important for how we are perceived across the world will help us. When I am president, I will help restore our standing in the world.

McCain: They are much less than they were the day after the attacks. With the help of Sen. Joe Lieberman, I proposed a commission after the attacks. I have a history of reaching across the aisle. We have a long way to go on our intelligence services. We have to make sure that our technological capabilities are better.

McCain: Off shore drilling is a bridge. That will temporarily allieve the pressure on energy. I have voted for alternative energy sources.

Obama: Two points on Russia. We have to anticipate some of these problems. Back in April I warned the administration that we had Russian peacekeepers in Georgia. The second: Russian is in part is resurgent. Putin is feeling powerful. We as a biggest consumer of oil, we need to have a strategy to deal with foreign oil. We only have 3 percent of the world’s oil supplies. We can’t drill our way out of this problem. We are going to have to pursue new sources of energy, including nuclear power.

McCain: I think the Russians will have to understand that we will support the inclusion of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO. We want to work with the Russians. But we have every right to expect Russia to respect international boundaries. 

McCain: I was interested in Obama’s initial reaction to the war in Georgia. He said both sides have to show restraint. That showed his naivete. I looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and I saw three letters a K, a G, and a B.

Obama: We can’t return to a Cold War footing. We have common interests, like nuclear proliferation. You don’t deal with Russia by looking into his eyes and seeing his soul.

Obama: Their actions in Georgia were not acceptable. They have to remove themselves from South Ossentia. We have to explain to Russians that you cannot be a 21 st century superpower and act like a 20th century dictatorship.

The question is what is your reading on the threat of Iran to the security of the US?

McCain: Oh wait. Let me get this straight. We sit down with the president of Iran and he says we will bomb Israel. And we say no you won’t. Oh please.

McCain: What Sen. Obama does not understand is that you cannot sit down with someone who has called Israel a stinking corpse without preconditions because you validate those sentiments.

Obama: The Bush administration and some of Sen. McCain’s advisers think it is important to talk to  our enemies.

McCain: Sen. Obama has said twice that he would speak without preconditions to the president of Iran who is in New York espousing the destruction of Israel. I’ll sit down with anyone, but there have to be preconditions.

Obama: Sen. McCain brought up the history of direct diplomacy. There’s a difference between preconditions and preparation. We have to do our preparation. I know the difference. 

Obama: What Sen. McCain is talking about is a provision to expand the mission in Iraq. We cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran. It is a game changer. It would threaten Israel. We do need tougher sanctions. We need help from countries like Russia. We have to engage tough, direct diplomacy with Iran. This idea that by not talking to people we are punishing people.

McCain: If Iran gets nuclear weapons it is an existential threat to Israel. And it will be a threat to the U.S. I have talked about forming a league of democracies that share common values. We could impose painful sanctions on the Iranians that could have a beneficial impact. I am convinced that we, with the French, the Germans, we can affect Iranian behavior. Make no mistake, they are on the path to getting nuclear weapons.

The question is on Afghanistan.

McCain: One would think that with Sen. Obama saying he is so concerned, he would have traveled to Afghanistan.

Obama: We took our eye off Afghanistan. We took our eyes off the people who perpetrated 9/11. (To McCain) Once you said we can muddle through Afghanistan.

McCain: I have a record of being involved in these national security situations. I know what it’s like to have an army that’s defeated. We will win this one, and we will not have to go back.

Obama: No one said anything about bombing Pakistan. What I said if we have Osama bin Laden in oursights and Pakistan doesn’t want to act, we should take him out. You are right that you don’t announce things. For years, we coddled Musharraf (the former president of Pakistan).

McCain: I will not repeat the mistake I regret. And that is after we helped the freedom fighters kick the Russians out of Afghanistan we forgot the region. I will not do that. We have to win the people’s favor in Pakistan. Sen. Obama announced that he would bomb Pakistan. You don’t announce that. We have to go into these Pakistani regions and win their allegiance. It’ll be tough. We have a lot of work to do in Pakistan.

Obama: I think we need more troops in Afghanistan. We have to do it as quickly as possible. We had the highest number of fatalities among our troops in Afghanistan. We cannot separate Afghanistan from Iraq. Two to three additional brigades to Afghanistan. We have four times more troops in Iraq and that is a strategic mistake. We have to press Afghan government to make sure they are working for their people. Deal with a growing poppy trade. Deal with Pakistan and its northwest regions where militants are. Pakistan has not done what it has needed to do.

Obama: We have seen Afghanistan worsen. We need more troops. Sen. McCain, in the rush to go to Iraq, said we are successful in Iraq. We should end this war responsibly. We should do it in phases.

McCain: I spent time with troops and they said let us win. Sen. Obama refuses to admit that we are winning. 

Obama: That’s not true. That’s not true.

McCain: That same strategy will be applied in Afghanistan by this same great general (Petreaus). 

Obama: Sen. McCain is right, the violence has been reduced in Iraq due to sacrifice of our military and Gen. Petreaus. John you like to pretend that the war started in 2007. It started in 2003. You said that we would be treated like liberators. You were wrong. You said there was no history of violence between Shia and Sunni. You were wrong.

McCain: Sen. Obama said the surge would never have worked. It has worked. Incredibly Sen. Obama didn’t go to Iraq for 900 days and didn’t ask to see Gen. Petreaus.Obama: This is where we fundamentally disagree. We hadn’t finished the business in Afghanistan. Sen. McCain and the president thought otherwise. We have spent $600 billion on the Iraq war, and now Al Quaida is stronger than at any time since before 9/11. I think the lesson to be drawn we should never hesitate to use military to keep safe the American people. But we have to use the military wisely.

McCain: We are winning in Iraq. Now that we will succeed we will see a stable ally in the region. Defeat would have meant increased Iranian influence, a wider war. Thanks to Gen. Petreaus we have won the war. 

Lehrer: Ok, how will it affect the budget?

McCain: I have fought the president on torture, on climate change. I am independent. And I have a good partner who can join me as a maverick.

McCain: A healthy economy with low taxes is the best recipe for helping our economy recover. And fiscal restraint has to be part of the mix. Spending I know can be brought under control. I’ve got plans to reduce wasteful spending.

Obama: John it’s been your president, who you said you agree with 90 percent of the time, who has presided over this spending. So to say you are going to lead in reducing spending … I think it’s hard to swallow.

Obama: If we are lucky, we earn all that money back on the bailout. So there’s no doubt when I’m president I will have to make some tough decisions. But we need to know what our values are. If we have $300 billion in tax cuts for people who didn’t ask for them and not fixing the health care system, that’s a bad decision.

Lehrer: How will the bailout affect you as president?

Obama: We’re spending $10 billion a month in Iraq. We can cut that by winding down the war.

McCain: We should have a spending freeze on everything but the defense and veteran services.

Lehrer:so neither of you would cut anything because of the bailout?

Obama: We need to make some cuts. We need to cut $15 billion in subsidies to private insurers in the Medicare system. We are going to list every dollar of federal spending so the taxpayer can see where the money is going.

As president, what are you going to have to give up as a result of the financial rescue plan?

McCain: We have to cut spending. Sen. Obama has the most liberal spending record. We need to examine every agency of the government. I’d eliminate ethanol subsidies. We have to do away with cost plus contracts in the defense department. We need to have fixed cost contracts. I know how to do that. I saved the taxpayers $6.8 billion by fighting a contract between Boeing and the Defense Department.

Obama: We’re not going to be able to do everything we want. We have to have energy independence (developing renewables). We have to fix our health care system. We got to invest in science and math to compete. We have to make college affordable. We have to fix our infrastructure, broadband lines.

McCain: Sen. Obama has voted to increase taxes on people who earn as little as $42,000.

Obama: That’s not true. Under your plan, oil companies would get $4 billion in breaks.

Obama: Under my plan, 95 percent of you will get tax breaks under my plan. Sen. McCain mentioned that on paper we have high taxes. The problem is that we have so many loopholes that businesses pay very little in taxes. Sen. McCain says he wants $5,000 tax credit for health care. But Sen. McCain wants to tax health benefits for the first time in history.

McCain: Sen. Obama is worried about the business tax. It is one of the highest in the world. I want a refundable tax credit for families to purchase health care. The worst thing we can do is to raise taxes on anyone.

Obama: I don’t know where John is getting his figures. Will close business tax loopholes. He says McCain is helping those who are wealthy and not worrying about the rest of Americans.

McCain: Sen. Obama suspended those requests after he began running for president. He didn’t see fit to do that in the beginning of his tenure. I have fought this for years. Sen. Obama said with his $300 billion in tax cuts is that he is proposing $800 billion in new spending.

Obama: I suspended any requests for spending for my state. Sen. McCain is proposing $300 billion in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations. My attitude is that we have to grow the economy from the bottom up. I want tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans.

McCain: We have to get spending under control in US. We have presided over the greatest spending since the Great Society program, we the Republicans. Earmarking is a gateway drug to corruption. As president of the US, I’ve got a pen and I’m going to veto every spending bill.

One way I am different is that Sen. Obama has asked for $932 million in pork barrel spending.

McCain: He mentioned the consolidation of regulatory agencies that were supposed to be watching over Wall Street.

Obama: We have to look at the reigning philosophy that allowed this to happen. Unless we are holding ourselves accountable day in and day out … .  We haven’t been paying attention to that.

McCain: Greed is rewarded. Excess is rewarded. Corruption is rewarded. As President of US, people will be held accountable.

Obama: How is it that we shredded so many regulations, Obama asked. That has to do with economic philosophy that says all regulations are bad.

McCain: We are seeing Republicans and Democrats trying to work out a solution. We are talking about failures on Main Street if we don’t fix the greatest financial crisis. The package has to have oversight. Yes I went back to Washington and met with my colleagues.

To all Americans, this isn’t the end of the beginning. This is the beginning of the end of the crisis if we pass a good plan. We have to eliminate dependence on foreign oil.

Obama: We have to make sure we have oversight. We have to make sure taxpayers have the possibility of getting money back. We have to make sure that none of the money goes to pad CEO’s salaries.

This is the legacy of eight years of a failed policy supported by Sen. McCain.

The first presidential debate question: Where do you stand on the financial recovery plan.

The moderator of tonight’s 90-minute debate, Jim Lehrer of PBS’ News Hour, just said the debate will still be mainly about foreign policy, but Lehrer has said in the last day or so that he felt free to ask other questions on other topics.

McCain and Obama are meeting at the Performing Arts Theater on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford.