Live blogging the debate, sort of

In the opening, Jim Lehrer appeared to have a bearded man's severed head at his right elbow.

"...because if they don't keep quiet, they know that I'll be adding
their heads to the collection on my desk."

McCain is wearing a hypno-tie...

(Thanks to Bill for reminding me that I meant to post this clip - this is the best quality actual Futurama clip I could find.)

Lehrer has gone off the script entirely. Interesting.

McCain hates science. That's obvious now. The "bear DNA" crack probably scored points with true-believers and some of the soft-headed. Now he wants a spending freeze on everything except a narrow range of programs - none of them science, basic or applied, as far as I could tell.

$5000 for health insurance? First, find insurance that only costs $5000 a year.

McCain isn't Miss Congeniality. He's mentioned that twice.

He just mentioned Palin. Oh, Blizzard of Words Babe. If you can get pantsed by Katie Couric, you really need to rethink your debating approach. Too bad she wasn't on the Speech Team instead of the Basketball Team.

Uh-oh, "strategy" vs. "tactic." Even I know that there's a difference there. Though I don't remember what it is.

Achmed....Achmedna...Achmeddinna...naaa...not gonna be workin' here anymore!



Didn't everybody learn how to pronounce "perestroika" 25 years ago? (Or was that "glasnost" he was having touble with?)

Jim Lehrer: "SHUT UP! The both of you! Just...SHUT...UP!!!...Next question:..."

Hey, it's over. I survived.

CNN Transcript of the debate

Complete video of the debate, courtesy of C-SPAN: