Pre Debate Obama Launches The Record

To win tonight, Obama just needs to remember the seriousness of our plight, our dire economic circumstances.

McCain will likely make attempts to drag Obama into the mud and Obama will probably have to go there.

I'd like to see Obama simply dismiss McCain for the gnat that he is and then pivot to the issue at hand. Sad to say, I've lost all respect for McCain. 
This from the Obama camp on The Record:

In advance of tonight's presidential debate, the Obama-Biden Campaign officially launched “The Record” at therecord.barackobama.com. “The Record” will be an official media source for news, facts and content. Tonight, during the debate, check our new Debate Center on “The Record” for real-time fact-checks as well as print and TV reviews.

With an endless amount of information out there, “The Record” will facilitate and educate readers with information straight from the source during the last few weeks of this historic election. The site includes the following features:

LATEST NEWS: The latest breaking news on the campaign updated in real-time.

FACTCHECK: Barack Obama has always been committed to the truth. We expect the same from our opponent and this section of the site will set the record straight.

RSS FEED: Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay up to date.

Tonight's debate between Senator Obama and Senator McCain will begin at 9:00 PM EDT, and will be broadcast live on all of the major network news and cable stations.

The Record has debunked claims that McCain might try to make during the debate:

DEBUNKED CLAIMS YOU MIGHT HEAR
FROM JOHN MCCAIN TONIGHT

On a day when the markets again plunged and we learned that Americans’ retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months, the McCain strategy of ‘turning the page’ on the economy by launching false attacks against Barack Obama will likely be on display during the presidential town hall debate tonight. While Barack Obama continues to talk about his plan to provide real relief to the middle class and grow the economy, McCain’s campaign has already admitted that, “if we keep talking about the economic crisis, we’re going to lose.”

Below are some of John McCain’s most recently debunked claims – about his own record and proposals, and Barack Obama’s – that he may use to night to distract from the issues of importance to the American people.

Most Recently Debunked

DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA VOTED TO RAISE TAXES 94 TIMES

Ø REALITY: The McCain-Palin Claim That Obama Voted 94 Times To Increase Taxes Is A “Dubious Count.” “PALIN: Said of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: ‘94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction.’ THE FACTS: The dubious count includes repetitive votes as well as votes to cut taxes for the middle class while raising them on the rich. An analysis by FactCheck.org found that 23 of the votes were for measures that would have produced no tax increase at all, seven were in favor of measures that would have lowered taxes for many, 11 would have increased taxes on only those making more than $1 million a year.” [AP FactCheck, 10/3/08]

Ø REALITY: Five Ohio Newspapers Said That The Claim That Obama Voted To Raise Taxes 94 Times Is An “Exaggeration” And Rated A McCain Ad On The Subject A “0” Out Of 10 On The Truthfulness Scale. The Plain Dealer, in cooperation with the Canton Repository, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Columbus Dispatch and Dayton Daily News rated a McCain ad on taxes a 0 out of 10 on the truthfulness scale. They wrote, “During Thursday’s vice presidential debate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin repeated the exaggeration that Sen. Obama voted 94 times to increase taxes. According to Factcheck.org, the total includes seven votes that would have lowered taxes for many, while raising them on corporations or affluent individuals; 23 votes were against tax cuts; and 17 came on seven different bills. A closer look reveals Obama has consistently voted to restore higher tax rates on upper-income taxpayers, but not on low- or middle-income workers.” [Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/3/08]

DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA WILL RAISE TAXES ON SMALL BUSINESSES

Ø REALITY: Claim That Obama Would Increase Taxes On Millions Of Small Businesses Is “Untrue”; The Vast Majority Of Small Businesses Would Not Have Increased Taxes. “On another point, Palin said a tax hike that hits earners over $250,000 would hit ‘millions of small businesses.’ That is untrue. The vast majority of small businesses barely break even and do not pay the top tax brackets. To get that figure, Republicans count affluent taxpayers who claim some income from some small business income as ‘small businessmen.’” [Washington Post, 10/3/08]

Palin Makes a Great Public Affairs Rep

Palin was well rehearsed. She proved she can stuff a lot of facts in her head. She stayed on message (McCain's the great maverick) and is a terrific spinner, making her a perfect public affairs representative. Vice president? eh.

CNN: Only 26 percent of those surveyed said that Palin was more intelligent in the debate compared to the 57 percent who chose Biden, according to the poll of 611 adult Americans, who tuned in to watch it. The poll had a sampling error of 4 points.

Overall, 51 percent of the debate watchers said that Biden did the best job in the debate, while 36 percent gave the nod to Palin.

More fact checking. More lyin' from Palin and some things just wrong. McKiernan McClellan, whatever.

Palin Holds Her Own

Palin did well. Biden did well.
It was civil and Gwen Ifill was totally fair, even softball. There were no questions about dinosaurs and humans walking the Earth together, religion and government or seeing Russia.
I was hoping for some drama on Palin's end, but it didn't happen. She is a smart debater, but lacks substance. She successfully avoided questions she didn't want to answer. As a watcher, it was easy to lose track of the question. I'm sure she connected with people who enjoy that cutesy talk. I don't know why. That talk does nothing for me. It's all performance.
Her pat answers to everything: lower taxes and drill, drill, drill, or rather "drill baby drill" and the surge worked.
She was wrong on Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai has criticized the U.S. for killing too many civilians and has made a special request to be more targeted and thoughtful. 
Biden held back big time. Good move, no harm. He also was to the point. Thanks Joe. But truthfully, I didn't pay as much attention to Joe. He didn't need to sell me. I think Joe's great.
Palin came out looking better because we thought she'd fall flat. Guess Obama's advisers were right.
I doubt Palin moved any independents, only rallied her base. Republicans have died and gone to heaven. 

I'd say she lost any undecided voters on the Mavericky One's position on the Iraq war. I think most of us, except for diehard war fans, want to move past the war in Iraq. She made it clear that McCain wasn't done -- he wasn't going to wave the white flag of surrender. 

I also think undecided voters will be able to see through the maverick charade. It's stale.
It will be interesting to see the polls tomorrow. I'm betting no change or an uptick for Obama.

Transcript
Link to debate polls. Cast your vote.
Fact check on Palin's claim that Obama voted to raise taxes 94 times.
More fact checking
Some analysis:
CNN
NYT
WaPo

Fact Check on the Debate

More debate pics.
Very interesting:

Obama claimed Iraq “has” a $79 billion surplus. It once was projected to be as high as that. It’s now down to less than $60 billion.
McCain repeated his overstated claim that the U.S. pays $700 billion a year for oil to hostile nations. Imports are running at about $536 billion this year, and a third of it comes from Canada, Mexico and the U.K.
Obama said 95 percent of “the American people” would see a tax cut under his proposal. The actual figure is 81 percent of households.
Obama mischaracterized an aspect of McCain’s health care plan, saying “employers” would be taxed on the value of health benefits provided to workers. Employers wouldn’t, but the workers would. McCain also would grant workers up to a $5,000 tax credit per family to cover health insurance.

McCain misrepresented Obama's plan by claiming he'd be "handing the health care system over to the federal government." Obama would expand some government programs but would allow people to keep their current plans or chose from private ones, as well.

On McCain's healthcare:

Health Care Hyperbole

Obama and McCain traded incorrect statements on each other's health care plan.
Obama: So you may end up getting a $5,000 tax credit. Here's the only problem: Your employer now has to pay taxes on the health care that you're getting from your employer.
As we said before, McCain’s plan doesn’t call for taxing employers on health care benefits; it would instead tax employees. As the law stands now, employees don’t pay taxes on the dollar value of their health insurance benefits. Under McCain’s plan, they would.

McCain also misrepresented Obama's plan when he said that his opponent favored "handing the health care system over to the federal government."
McCain: Well, I want to make sure we're not handing the health care system over to the federal government which is basically what would ultimately happen with Senator Obama's health care plan. I want the families to make decisions between themselves and their doctors. Not the federal government.
McCain made a similar claim in his acceptance speech, when he said that
Obama's plans would "force families into a government run health care
system." We called it false then and we stand by that. Obama's plan mandates coverage for children, but not for adults, and it does not require anyone to be covered by a nationalized system. Obama's plan expands the insurance coverage offered by the government, but allows people to keep their own plans or choose from private plans as well.

McCain also screwed up in history:

McCain mangled his military history:
McCain: President Eisenhower, on the night before the Normandy invasion, went into his room, and he wrote out two letters.
One of them was a letter congratulating the great members of the military and allies that had conducted and succeeded in the greatest invasion in history, still to this day, and forever.

And he wrote out another letter, and that was a letter of resignation from the United States Army for the failure of the landings at Normandy.
The story is widely circulated in military circles but not entirely true. Eisenhower (then a general, not yet a president) did in fact write a letter taking responsibility should the D-Day invasion fail. But Eisenhower's letter does not mention resigning. Here's the full text:
Eisenhower (June 5, 1944): Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.
No mention of quitting the Army, or his command.

Read it all