So, McCain was an asshole, eh?

I didn't watch the debate last night (pressing business at the pub and they were showing the Mets continuing to suck), so when i got home last night i read some of the early reports. While no one gave either candidate a knockout, the consensus seemed to be that Obama won becuase McCain was an asshole.

Of course, we knew that already. But I've been reading up for the last hour or so, and here's what I'm finding:

Josh Marshall's verdict - Asshole: Second was McCain's attitude. Whether it was contempt or condescension or some sort of fear or inability to -- in the most literal sense -- face Obama, it made McCain look small and angry. I apologize that I can't link to them because I don't remember who wrote it. But as someone wrote after the debate, for that kind of attitude to have 'worked' for McCain, Obama needed to come off as completely ignorant and unprepared. And I don't think even his harshest critics believe that is what happened. Roll it all together and Obama just seemed like a bigger person than McCain. And in a race in which the issue agenda and party identification already work strongly in Obama's favor, that's an advantage that is very hard for McCain to give up.

John Cole's verdict - Asshole: That is just a sample of what is going to come. Look for the appearance of the following words in days to come: cranky, grumpy, crotchety, angry, mean, rude, sneering, snarling, contemptuous, off-putting, snide, boorish, and worst of all, not Presidential. SNL will probably drive the point home in a skit that will become the dominant narrative tonight, and McCain will become boxed in regarding his behavior in the second debate, much as Gore was unable to be as aggressive as he wanted in the second debate (I remember the running joke was that Gore had been medicated for the second debate). And if McCain does not tone down the contempt, it will simply feed the narrative. Or, if we are really lucky, as someone suggested in another thread, McCain will overcompensate and spend the entire time comically and creepily attempting to make eye contact with Obama (think Al Gore walking across the stage to stand next to Bush, and Bush looking at him as if to think “WTF are you doing?”).

Halperin's verdict - Asshole: Was visibly riled when clashing with Obama over a variety of issues, including Iraq, sanctions, and spending. He also chose to boast about Sarah Palin (although not by name) as his maverick partner, who, after her shaky week, may no longer be his ace in the hole.

Time's verdict - Asshole: McCain was seen as the more negative of the two—by 7 points before the debate and by 26 points after. The audience did not like it when he went after Obama for being "naïve" or used his oft-repeated "what Senator Obama doesn't understand" line. When the two clashed directly in the second half of the debate, with Obama repeatedly protesting McCain's characterization of his statements or positions, the voter dials went down. Voters appear to have judged McCain too negative in those encounters and Obama more favorably.

This is very, very, very bad news for the McCain campaign.

They were clearly hoping that McCain's repeating that 'Obama doesn't understand' would change the narrative - but Obama did understand and McCain ended up looking like he didn't understand very much.

Team Cranky is now down to very few options. I shudder to think about the sheer amount of desperate shit they're going to fling this week, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised that if they had anything big to spring on Obama, they'll do it on Monday. Maybe a Big Push to try and resurrect the Wright/Ayers non-troversies, maybe another few handfuls of bald-faced lies, they may even venture into more obvious racism. Nothing will surprise me, because if McCain can't stop the bleeding and Obama maintains a 5 point lead or better by the end of next week, McCain's campaign is finished.

Hold on. the party's about to get pretty rough. McCain has no other choice.