You had McCain outright dissembling and distracting. "Mr. Deregulator" and friend of big business saying he didn't support "earmarks," and that more tax cuts for corporations was "good" for us. can't he get past Reagan's "Voodoo Economics?" While the US may have a higher tax rate on corporations than some nations, the corporations don't pay it - something I am glad that Obama pointed out (weakly), and should have had the stats to back it up. From the AP on 8/12/08, Most Companies In US Avoid Federal Income Taxes:

"Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005"

"about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period."

"Half of all business income in the United States now ends up going through the individual tax code,"

"More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax, the GAO said. Combined, the companies had $2.5 trillion in sales. About 25 percent of the U.S. corporations not paying corporate taxes were considered large corporations, meaning they had at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in receipts."

Obama continued his "I can out-hawk you" rhetoric, and McCain made his tear-suppressed association with those wounded vets. Yeah, and he is no friend of theirs when it comes to services.

Once again, we hear the campaign line that Obama doesn't know the difference between a "tactic and a strategy." And I waited with baited breath for Obama to say that McCain doesn't know the difference between a war and an occupation ... or at least to bring up that the most successful part of the surge is paying everybody on all sides big bucks not to shoot at each other (or U.S. forces). Nope - silence on all counts. Instead we hear (again) about the "good war" in Afghanistan, and that Obama would "kill" bin Laden if he was captured. Dumb and dumber. What happened to justice? What happened to the realization that such action would make a martyr of bin Laden and fuel radical recruitment?

Both support a bogus bail out of the (Ponzi) financial sector. Neither mentioned that the $700 billion is just the tip of the iceberg of the derivative debacle. Both successfully avoided mentioning that the bail out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was to cover those "toxic" mortgages.

Probably the smartest thing that Obama said was that single-payer health care would be a boon to both people and business. The smartest thing McCain said? Don't know, I must have missed it, but his healthcare plan that promotes "freedom of choice" (a $5000 tax credit, offset by charging taxes on employer healthcare contributions) will make for an even worse healthcare access problem than we already have.

Both expressed their supposed concern for the "middle class," but not one mention of the working class, working poor, or the downright destitute - ironically and sadly a population that returning vets are joining at an ever accelerating rate.

Ah Nuts!