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McCain Puts Obama On The Spot: CNN

"Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush... You wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."

McCain did more than hold his own.  There were a few moments tonight when Barack looked more like a junior Senator than a party's national candidate.

The Wall Street Journal had extensive coverage, including a transcript of the debates.

McCain sounded like a Republican.  Obama sounded like a liberal Democrat.

"Nobody likes taxes," Sen. Obama said in an exchange early in the debate. "But ultimately we've got to pay for the core investments" necessary for the economy.

"If nobody likes taxes, let's not raise anybody's, OK?" Sen. McCain retorted with a laugh.

McCain Provokes Several Sharp Exchanges:  CNN

Another CNN headline; "McCain Puts Obama On The Spot"

FOXNews made it sound like a boxing match: Candidates Hit Hard at Final Presidential Debate

Biden and Palin: It's The Syntax, Stupid

From a linguistics perspective, CNN said the debate was dumbed down.

The analysis noted that the "passive voice can be used to deflect responsibility; Biden used active voice when referring to [Vice President Dick] Cheney and [President] Bush; Palin countered with passive deflections."

CNN relied on The Global Language Monitor out of Austin, Texas.

Vice Presidential Debate
	Biden	Palin	Comment
Grade Level	7.8	9.5	Palin raises a few eyebrows here.
No. of Words	5,492	5235	This is a surprise; shows tremendous restraint on the normally loquacious Biden.  Obama used 20 more words per minute than McCain.
Sentences/Paragraph	2.7	2.6	A statistical tie.
Words/Sentence	15.8	19.9	Palin even outdistances professorial Obama on this one; Obama scored 17.4
Characters/Word	4.4	4.4	Everyone has apparently learned that shorter words are easier to understand (rather than monosylablic words facilitate comprehension).
Passive Voice	5%	8%	Passive voice can be used to deflect responsibility;  Biden used active voice when referring to Cheney and Bush;  Palin countered with passive deflections.
Ease of Reading	66.7	62.4	100 is the easiest to read (or hear).

Here's more on the reading level of past Presidential debates.