My favorite bits from the debate watch-n-post at Clusterstock:

anamariecox: i love it when politicians compare the gov't budget to family budgets. Because, you know, recently my husband started a war that only the dogs voted for. But I gave a speech!

FishbowlNY: McCain suddenly is able to multi-task! Health care, entitlements, employment. Obama should ask if McCain will suspend any of these.

RachelSklar: "You know, a lot of you remember the tragedy of 9/11." Um, yeah, thanks for that reminder.

Comment From Camel54]: If [McCain] knows how to get Bin Laden, why hasn't he shared that info with the current administration?

PeterFeld: Camel54 - because he's a maverick

RachelSklar: I love that naked aggression, nailing jello, and carrying a big stick are all integral parts of this debate.

RachelSklar: McCain: "I think what I don't know is what all of us don't know."

Rex Sorgatz: McCain: "How many houses I have."

[Comment From J.W.]: They should treat this format like the Holocaust....Never again

Hee. I know RachelSklar. We worked together on a political musical sketch comedy show three years ago.

I am not sure I can like that character, so I'll take it on as a challenge.

However it turns out I know you're up to the challenge of giving it a shot.

90210 is making me regret I haven't been to Hollywood Forever in a few years. Next summer, for sure.

Town halls blow. No wonder McCain likes them.

I drank a WHOLE BOTTLE of wine. And then I said terrible things. And if I have a job on Monday, it will be a freaking MIRACLE.

My tongue is numb.

I had a rehearsal so grumpy-inducing that I actually wish I'd stayed home to watch the rest of the debate.

Holy ass. I think my physicists have had a bit too much as well. Way too jolly.

I read an interview a few years ago with the guy who trains most of the animals that are in Broadway shows. (I think the article was when Legally Blonde was opening.) He said that, when he's getting new animals, he goes to a shelter and tries to find the one dog that's just coolly hanging out in the middle of all the other dogs barking and running and being crazy. He said that pretty much any dog can be trained to follow commands, but not any dog can do it in the middle of all the lights and music and everything.

I stage managed a student theatre production of Brighton Beach Memoirs a few years ago, and that show had a ton of food. There's a scene where the family sits down to dinner, and it would just look wrong without real food. And since the first bunch of lines in that scene are the kids complaining about the food, it had to be the specific food mentioned. We ended up using canned green beans to stand in for cabbage (it was the vaguely cabbagey-looking thing I could find in a can that didn't require a can opener), instant mashed potatoes, and slices of pumpernickel bread to look like meat.

My one Orthodox coworker is pretty firm that McCain is "better for Israel" (I don't know what she means specifically, because I refuse to engage), so I'm sure he's just trying to shore up that opinion.

I confirm this popular, almost baseless belief.

You see, most of the people here are convinced that without state-of-the-art military experience you're incapable to lead this country. When it comes to leaders of other countries, they believe they can't understand the Israeli position without that experience, and that the other leaders may tilt towards the Palestinian POV, God forbid (see how every time Israel agrees to stop the building in the settlements, it continue doing so, and act very surprise every time its been asked to stop it).

Personally, every time people tell me they prefer McCain, I ask them if they read the candidates' platforms, listened to debates, etc.. Answer's always "no". They just "know it's true" because "that's what everyone says". I ask them who are those "everyone", and they start to stutter. Not that it's helping to change their minds, but I just love to research people's unbased (is that a word?) choices and opinions.

It only took six months but I finally mistakenly grabbed my iPod thinking it was my iPhone.

Gonna be a lonnnnnng day.