"Raising Arizona"--The Official LLamaLiveBlog of the third Presidential Debate

Welcome to the LLamaliveblog of Debate Three. We're going with a "Raising Arizona" theme, in honor of one of the greatest movies of all time, starring Nicholas Cage before he started taking Thorazines the size of coasters and be an "action hero."

Here's a sample: Cage is H.I. McDunnough

Man #1: You're not just tellin' us what we wanna hear?

Hi: : No sir, no way

Man #2: 'Cause we just want to hear the truth.

Hi: Well, then I guess I am tellin'you what you wanna hear.

Man #1: Boy, didn't we just tell you not to do that?

Hi: Yessir.

Man #1: OK then.

So, the trick tonight will be bouncing back and forth between the debate, the Yankees/Sawx game, and the Raising Arizona clip page...

Who else is liveblogging tonight? Blogs4Bush have a round-up of a dozen. The Commissar is manning the commanding heights, and he's joined in the weenie roast by LaShawn Barber, Hugh Hewitt, Ann Althouse, the Captain, and of course Steve Green. The creator of worlds will certainly check in at some point soon.

If you're liveblogging, drop us some TastyBits in the mail sack or in the comment section, and I'll link to it. Or, if you have some other Nicholas Cage movie quote suggestions to highlight the debates, let me know.

THE PREGAME

Sawx down by one, Pedro pitching like crap. It's going to be a long night.
Over at the electronic political futures markets at Tradesports,
Bush's reelect contract is down $2.40 for the day and is currently at $56.6, while Kerry's elect contract is up $4 and is at $45.

Nicole at Potomac Ponderings is cracking it up tonight---Ola!

QUESTION 1: Wait, is this a repeat? Firehouses and container cargo again? Freedom is on the march? Outsourcing Tora Bora?

Good for nailing the issue of "nuisance." But he's smiling too much.

QUESTION 2: Flu vaccine? What the......?

Nice turn of the vaccine issue back on Edwards.

BOTTOM of the Second, 1-0 Yankees. Grrrr.

QUESTION 3: Health care

What? No containers? No out-sourcing Tora Bora? I'm confused....

Interesting...Kerry is dropping at Tradesports....

9:16....Ted Kennedy wanders drunk on stage, pantless, falls down...

QUESTION 4: Taxes

Raising Arizona moment:

Payroll clerk: The government do take a bite, don't she?

WHOA--Tony Soprano quote. Did it leave a mark?

Geek Empire is liveblogging too.

GAME UPDATE: End of 3rd, 1-0 Yanks.

NEXT QUESTION (lost track of the number--you want specifics, go check out Hugh Hewitt, he's got the scorecard up).

9:25---third time Kerry cites Reagan authoratively too his side.....

Ted Kennedy, drunk on floor, gets up "I'd like to thank the Academy...."

GAY MARRIAGE: Andrew Sullivan goes noo-cklear.

Bob Schieffer: "Senator Kerry, when did the President stop beating on Dick Cheney's daughter?"

Third invocation of being an altar boy.......is he trying to tell us something? Hmmm?

Kerry is dropping at tradesports, Bush is rising. Go figure.

Did Kerry just say "God's work has to be our own"? I wonder how that nuanced statement will translate tomorrow in the Arab News....

"Raising Arizona" moment:

Ed: You go right back up there and get me a toddler. I need a baby, Hi. They got more'n they can handle.
...

Hi: I ain't like that no more. I'm a changed man. You were right, I was wrong. We got a family here, I'm gonna start acting responsibly. So let's go, Honey. (sound of shotgun being cocked) Let's go get Nathan Junior!

QUESTION: HEALTH CARE COSTS

Didn't we just do that?

What the hell was that laugh for? We're going to be seeing that one over the next week, alas.

Radio silence still from the Cake Eater.

Bush is flubbing the health care question, big time.

John Kerry: "My health care solution is simple, Amerika: Marry an heiress. Divorce her and then marry a bigger heiress."

9:41 Was that just a Rathergate joke directed at Bob Schieffer? Geez, it's not like he's already tossing Kerry softballs. What, you want him to bring out the batting tee?

9:46 THE REAGAN REVOLUTION AND REALIGNMENT WAS FOR REAL

Kerry invokes Graham Rudman Hollings (not by name), cites Reagan again. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was running as a 1984 Republican. I wonder what Bruce Springsteen thinks about that....

9:50 Steve Green and Glenn Reynolds are doing "Beavis and Butthead"---this debate sucks....eheheheheheheheh

Hugh Hewitt is scoring it for Bush heavily, but I think he's grading on a curve. I agree with the "they are both sucking" point of view. The question is, if two bears suck in the woods, does it effect the polls?

9:56 Scheiffer: "Senator Kerry, this here press release from the DNC says you'll keep the minimum wage the same. True?"
Kerry: "No, I'll raise it! And for the girls too""
Schieffer: "Wow. Cool. President, why are you going to overturn Roe v. Wade?"

I don't know why the education question made me think of this quote:

Smalls: You wanna find an outlaw you call an outlaw. You wanna find a Dunkin' Donuts call a cop.

10:01 2/3rds of the way home

Kerry running to Bush's right on No Child Left Behind? Huh?

Kerry slips on Supreme Court: "Some other right given under our Courts....."

We're going to see that in ads over the next three weeks in West Virginia and Nevada.

Bush is seeming more human, where Kerry is getting more haughty. But that's just me, Mr. Vegas.

SCHIEFFER: "Senator Kerry: We know Mr. Bush said he's against a draft, but we know he's a liar. Thoughts?"

Bush is up $4 at Tradesports, Kerry has lost half the ground he made today. These things can shift radically, but.....

wait for it......double the special forces?

YES!

This is verbatim from #1 and #2.

This was a ridiculous soft-ball question from Schieffer for the domestic policy debate.

Bush is not slouching, or grimacing (I'm watching on CSpan).

Bush: Best way to relieve pressure on the Guard is to win. Good answer. He's being respectfully somber. Nice invocation of the Global Test---I wonder if Schieffer saw that coming....

10:10 Schieffer's question on gun control was absolutely ridiculous.

Was that the first time Kerry has said "Bill Clinton"? I know he durn well hasn't mentionned Jimmy Carter....

10:14 Schieffer: "Senator Kerry, how much of a racist do you think the President is?"

10:15 Schieffer: "Do you pray to a redneck gawd, or you just a simpelton?"

I think Bush's answer is more sincere than Kerry's before with his craven Altar Boy genuflections, but that's just me, Mr. Vegas. (And I say that with 8 years of experience as an altar boy in a RC Church).

I'm not sure about Kerry and Bush, but the loser tonight is Schieffer--BIG TIME!

I wonder how well this overt Christian talk from Kerry is playing with the MoveOn and the communist wings of his constituency? You can almost hear the KFC crumbs flying out of Mike Moore's mouth, his greasy fingers curled around the remote.....

10:19 Schieffer: "Senator Kerry: why did the president piss away the goodwill from 9/11, and is it because he's a rube?"

Kerry's answer is tricky here.....the question is what's going to be the BUT

ah, here it comes. Kerry: "I've never seen such ideological divisions in Congress"

Hmmmmm, what about this:

Ah, yes.

And Kerry wants what Teh-RAYYY-zuh would call the little people to participate? Here's the list of the top donors to the 527s, and look at all of them who are Democrats and of the further left.

Bush hit the mark on his answer to the question of McCain. Look for McCain and Rudy out on the trail over the next two weeks. And, if they are interested in running in four years, they damn well better....

The stand up straight and not scowl joke was Reaganesque.

the Kerry "marrying up" joke is a killer. Cue the Richard Gere "American Gigalo" music...

10:26 Wow, Kerry invokes FDR. He's still at a net total of Republican president citiations.

Look for the "just as I fought for my nation" line in the next Swift Vet ad.

Bush sum up: personable, even, he's finally in his groove. Four and a half hours of primetime debates, but he didn't really warm up until the last hour.

But then again Stephen Douglas too was a great debater....

Wrap up in a minute.