While I would agree that the debate was an almost factual draw, I would suggest that McCain achieved his primary psy-ops objective, to Obama's detriment.

The Rovians have always been less interested in facts than in *perceptions* - controling the **framing of an issue**, so that their "talking points" are what prevail - *emotionally* - in an undecided voter's psychic takeaway.

On this score, McCain did very well in keeping Obama on the defensive, not permitting him to effectively tie McCain to the errors of the Bush era, and with Obama far too often starting a response with "I agree with John, but . . ."

Watch for the GOP to come out with a slyly edited spot that makes it look as if Obama's a McCain fan.

Again - on a factual basis, and on stautre, both men did very well, and fought to a virtual draw.

But I would suggest McCain achieved his greater, underlying psychological objective of controlling the discourse, and getting across his underlying message - "I'm experienced, he's wet behind the ears." 

Pardon me for saying so, but John McCain's actions of the past month have forced me to sadly conclude that he's finally thrown the "Straight Talk Express" under the bus . . .

In times of crisis, it's always good to take a deep breath, step back, and try to view the situation in the larger context of history.

On that score, I would strongly suggest that the Wall Street fiasco is just one more in a long chain of cataclysmic "disaster capitalism" events. The bubble-bound Bush team may well not have seen them coming ("no one could possibly have predicted . . . "), but Iraq, Katrina, and the oil crisis are all glaring examples of government inaction aiding and abetting shortsighted and greedy "money boys", who take shameless advantage of fear and suffering to make a quick buck - or, to be accurate, billions thereof.

We must NOT let Congress be stampeded into writing these folks a trillion dollar blank check, as Bush heads out the door to begin burnishing his "legacy." There *must* be meaningful checks and balances, to ensure this is an investment in our nation's future, not merely one more chance for the Haliburtons and Katrina contractors to line their pockets, while utterly failing to accomplish the tasks they agreed to do.

Another week or two to get this right - as opposed to once more trusting the very same folks  *who got us into this mess* isn't just prudent - it's necessary to avoid our continuing national suicide.