You Gotta Have Friends!

IF YOU MISSED LAST NIGHT'S DEBATE, I can recap it for you. It was a simple town hall affair that showed that Sen. Barack Obama was about "fundamental change." And Sen. John McCain was all about friends. How many friends? Oh, about 20 actually.

"My friend, I'd like you to see the letter that a group of senators and I wrote..."
"My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?"
"My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit..."
"My friends, some of this $700 billion ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations."
"My friends, the last president to raise taxes during tough economic times was Herbert Hoover."
"So let's not raise anybody's taxes, my friends..."
"We know what the problems are, my friends..."
"My friends, what we have to do with Medicare is have a commission..."
"Let's look at our records, my friends..."
"That's the good news, my friends."
**"By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth."
**"I vote against them, my friends."
**"We've got to drill offshore, my friends, and we've got to do it now."
"My friends, we have gone to all four corners of the Earth..."
"We don't have time for on-the-job training, my friends."
"Well, let me just follow up, my friends."
"There was a lot at stake there, my friends."
"I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends."
"I thank you, my friend. Thanks for serving."
"At the end of the day, my friend, I have to tell you again..."

I respect McCain for finding a comfortable refrain and returning to it 20 times in 90 minutes, including 3 times (marked with asterisks) in less than 90 seconds.

I also commend him for being the first candidate in probably 40 years to get off a snap on his political opponent by comparing him to Herbert Hoover. That one played well with both students of history and voters over the age of 70. Nice work, my friend. Now take some time off, my friend, because, my friend, you've earned it.

And now, here's another way of looking at the debate, thanks to TagCrowd and a transcript copied from Debates.org:

able america american around believe best billion brokaw bush care change country crisis deal done economic economy energy friends fundamental getting give going government health help home important insurance iran iraq issues jobs keep lot making mccain means money national nuclear obama oil pakistan people ph point president problem question record responsibility russia security senator situation something spending states support sure talk tax thank things think tom tonight understand united voted washington work world years

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