(This will be a relatively short diary, but it addresses something I didn't see covered in others. If it has been covered already, I apologize and will delete...)
Less than 10 minutes into last night's debate, McCain tied himself to the bailout package irretrievably, and in a way that is bad for him no matter which way he votes when it comes up. It opens up a new line of attack on McCain for Obama, and could spell very bad news indeed for the Republican candidate.
When asked by Lehrer if he was happy enough with the bill as it now stood that he could vote for it, McCain responded:
Yeah, sure...sure...
I don't know if anyone esle caught this moment, or saw what McCain had done, but essentially he admitted live on TV before millions of people that he was going to vote for the bailout.
He is now cornered; no matter which way he breaks, he's hung on the issue.
If he votes "Nay", Obama merely needs to point out that he'd replied "yes" to the question, and that being said, how could the American public trust him on anything he said?
If he votes "Yea", he immediately loses the hardline Republican base who hate the package in every way. Obama doesn't need to point it out, but his surrogates can at that point.
For his part, Obama was a lot more cagey on the question, responding that it was still delicate, and he wanted to make sure the language of the bill was right before he would vote on it. A nuanced response, yes, but a necessary one, cautious yet optimistic, laying the groundwork for whatever his final vote will be in a way the precludes Republican attack.
I don't know if anyone else saw it, or even agrees with my assessment; open question then - What Do You All Think?