Here is video of the exchange:

It is uncommon to not allow a Senator to finish his or her comments on the Senate floor. Senator Franken needs to learn to be a little more disciplined and diplomatic in his approach if he intends to chair debate in the Senate. Franken behaved childishly and if you look at his smirk in the video, he knew he was being a complete jerk.

Democrats are lowering debate in this country and are trying to push through a health care bill that no one wants. They are doing this even if it requires disregarding the will of the people and being unprofessional to fellow Senators.

I can’t wait for the 2010 elections. Democrats will then see the will of the people inflicted on them.

Senator McCain is clearly not comfortable with direct attacks. He is also clearly not as eloquent as Senator Obama. This is unfortunate because we may end up with a horrible president as a result. Obama is a master at facing the camera and appearing to sincerely address the audience. He would do a better job as a television anchor than all the ones we currently have working in that capacity.

Senator McCain is a great patriot and statesman. He is the person we need to lead this country now. Senator Obama has consistently tried to paint him as the second coming of George Bush (not that there would be anything wrong with that for me), but the truth is that he is not. McCain is an independent thinker with his own ideas.

One of the best lines in the debate was made by McCain when he said to Obama, “Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.”

Obama’s biggest negative during the debate was that he appeared arrogant. He stared at McCain, laughed dismissively quite often and even snickered. This conduct is unbecoming of a leader.

Right now, it is in our hands. We must decide who we want to lead us for at least the next four years. I know who I want.

Senator Obama is the stealth candidate. He has come from nowhere, with zero experience to become a contender for the most powerful political position on the planet. It scares the heck out of me.

I find it worrisome that he has not been attacked for his lack of record and experience. He is the stealth candidate for “Change.” What is he going to change? How is he going to do it? Will he only change the administration from Republican to Democrat? Is there something more sinister to this “change?”

At tonight’s debate, Senator McCain has a perfect opportunity to call Obama on his lack of experience and his use of the word “change” as his purpose and goal. Never mind his questionable associations with Rezco, Wright, Ayers and Acorn, how about looking Obama in the eye and saying, “Senator Obama you have never been the CEO of a company, the mayor of a town, the governor of a state and have barely been a senator. What experience do you have that entitles you to be President of the United States?” McCain should then wait patiently for an answer.

I bet that there would not be a good answer from Senator Obama. There couldn’t be one. He is inexperienced. I’d rather have the owner of the local supermarket be president. At least he has managed a budget, has had fiscal responsibility, has met a payroll, has hired and fired and is responsible for an enterprise. He is infinitely more qualified than Obama.

What do you think?

The questions that were selected by Tom Brokaw had all been answered by the candidates before. I believe that the debate should be a direct call-in event. I think everyone has forgotten that the Constitution of the United States starts with "We the People…" Wouldn’t it be more democratic to have the people ask questions that no one has read or approved? Maybe then we would get the answers that we want and deserve?

Just about the only newsworthy statement made at the debate was Senator McCain’s proposal to buy out home mortgages that are valued higher than the underlying property. This is something that has caused many foreclosures around the country and has become a major nightmare for both the homeowners and the banks. It would be a double bailout. However, this goes against Senator McCain’s fiscal conservatism and needs further explanation by the candidate.

If the economy is as desperately in need of bailouts as this proposal would indicate, then we are in a whole lot of trouble. More trouble than either candidate can fix.

By anyone’s estimation, Governor Palin won the debate and garnered new support for the McCain-Palin ticket. This should come as no surprise to anyone. Senator McCain would not have picked someone who was incompetent or weak. This is a strong, intelligent woman who knows how to connect with the American people. She is the real thing and has an unbelievable future ahead of her.

Biden attempted to deride McCain’s plan to allow drilling by saying that his only solution to the energy issue is to “Drill, drill, drill.” When Palin’s turn came up she corrected him and said that the correct chant is, “Drill, baby, drill.” She smiled and the audience was hers. She might as well have said, “We’re going to win, baby, win!”

Senator Biden repeatedly tried to link Senator McCain to George Bush. He, like Senator Obama, appears to be running against Bush instead of McCain. On one of Biden’s attempts to say that Bush did this or that, Governor Palin cleverly responded, “Say it ain’t so, Joe… There you go again talking about the past.” After that clever line, she went on to explain that the campaigns should be discussing the future and what could be done for the American public going forward.

If there was one message that Governor Palin drove home is that she and McCain are mavericks and that they will inject new ideas into Washington. She also stressed that she has experienced the same things that all American’s have including difficulty paying insurance bills and worrying about paying college tuition.

She proved that she was witty, clever, smart and articulate. Now we need Senator McCain to follow this strike against the Obama-Biden ticket with two more strikes in the next two presidential debates. If he can do that, the Obama-Biden ticket will be out and we the American people will be better off for it. Come on Senator McCain! Win, baby, win!

I think we should have a debate format where callers or e-mailers can send in their questions and direct them at both candidates. It seems like the media has too much of an interest in one candidate or the other. This bias is not good for our democracy and will lead to the continuation of ineffective government.

Let’s replace Gwen Ifill. I believe she could be professional in her approach, but why risk it. Don’t we deserve better?