9:41 – I can't believe it's over already. I could have listened to them talk about Service for at least another seven minutes.

9:38 – Obama's doing a good job in this forum.

I'll bet McCain's glad that nobody's watching it.

9:36 – Hear that? It's Barack Obama's job as president to make the government cool again! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! (<– That's my Fonzie impersonation.)

9:35 – Did he say anything interesting about Palin? I fell asleep.

9:31 – Oh, small town mayor talk!

9:26 – From the comments: "Uh-Oh. Obama urges Americans to learn a foreign language. Palin is sure to respond he wants us to learn Muslim." – Cube

Cube's on fire tonight.

9:24 – Why does Obama even try to propagate this meme that he would have served in the army if there had been a war? Yeah, like he would have signed up to go to Vietnam or Iraq. Does anyone really believe that?

9:22 – I think Obama escaped his cone of silence during McCain's interview.

9:21 – Obama just said that the ROTC should be allowed on campus at Columbia.

Fascist!

9:20 – Obama's grandfather served under Patton?! Gah!

These guys are brilliant at slipping their talking points into any situation.

9:19 – From the comments: "This forum makes Ishtar look like Star Wars." – Cube

9:16 – We're in a break, and Obama is working the crowd like Don Rickles.

This really is like the Bizarro Saddleback Forum, about community service instead of Jesus and an Obama-friendly crowd with McCain on the defensive.

9:14 – Judy Woodruff just said this is not a night to focus on the differences between Obama and McCain.

So, what is it about? What's the point of any of this then?

9:11 – He said the word "mosque!" J'accuse!

9:10 – Holy wow! Did you know Barack Obama was a community organizer?! When he could have had a lucrative career on Wall Street?! I just keep learning all kinds of things about these guys.

9:08 – Special shout out to Zeke and Bernie.

9:06 – We're in a break right now, but I just found Andrew Sullivan's reaction to Sarah Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson:

I just read it. I'm not sure how to respond because I believe the entire last two weeks have been a farce, and ABC News is now an integral, enabling part of that farce. It's also unfair to judge a partial interview, because Gibson has so far asked no questions about her record as governor or mayor, and none of the tough questions that a press conference would ask. Maybe that is to come.

So I will reserve judgment until I'm able to watch and read the entire interview. All I have learned thus far is that a McCain administration would be prepared to go to war with Russia over Georgia and will never, ever criticize or oppose any decision made by the government of the state of Israel.

And I knew that already.

9:01 – Blah blah blah question about people's responsibility to service.

Obama's answer: "America is the greatest nation on Earth."

Well, you can't say he's not learning from the Republicans.

8:59 – A comment about reducing our addiction to oil just got a shriek from the audience, as if Jon Bon Jovi had taken off his shirt at the Meadowlands. Politics is a bizarre animal.

8:58 – I wish this interview thing was less about "Service" and more about "Angelina Jolie."

8:56 – Obama just made a joke that when he attended Columbia, he could afford the apartments nearby, but that he can't now.

You think that was a dig against McCain's 32 houses?

Or against Sarah Palin being a pig?

8:55 – Now, let's see how Barack Obama politicizes 9/11. I'm excited.

8:53 – From the comments: "Gotta say, a Comedy Central blog just encouraged me to turn on C-Span. And I did. This is a strange year." – Michelle

Stranger still, a CC blog got me to turn on C-SPAN. Now, that's crazy.

8:51 – Here comes Obama. And the crowd goes crazy! Clearly, we must be in New York.

8:50 – McCain just finished up. He did pretty good. Not quite as good as he did at Saddleback. But pretty good. He seemed calm. But not electrifying.

8:47 – He's flaking for town hall meetings again. And, again, as a response to a question about the nastiness of his campaign. "He brought this on himself by not doing things my way."

8:44 – Judy Woodruff: "On this 9/11, this special day…" Yeah! It's the most specialest day of the year.

8:41 – McCain made fun of his age by pretending to fall asleep. That's a favored chestnut of his. I think he pulls it out whenever he wants to be liked.

8:34 – McCain's response (in a nut shell): "If he had agreed to have a townhall meeting, Sarah Palin wouldn't have had to have been mean." – Michael Kraskin

8:32 – They're asking about Palin's comments about community service.

8:28 – "There's so many ways to serve our country. And there's so many ways that are noble."

I wonder if one of those ways is by being a community organizer.

8:23 – They just asked McCain about his feelings about the majority of our volunteer army being poor people.

He's deflecting the issue by complaining about Columbia University (where this event is being held) not allowing ROTC on campus. How the shit did that just happen?

8:21 – So far, this is all about service. Service, service, service. Did you people know that John McCain was in the Army? I know! I'm amazed, too.

8:15 – Two 45 minute back-to-back interviews. This is so weird. This is a fantastic way of honoring the lives lost seven years ago today. With politics.

8:12 – John McCain made a joke. He was elected Miss Congeniality. Ha.

8:10 – Amazingly, this is actually a campaigny kind of thing! It's set up exactly like Saddleback. I'm stunned. This is tacky, and I'm actually kind of offended. (I never get offended.)

Man, I sure hope Obama's in his cone of silence.

8:07 – From the comments (of some other post): "Ahhhhh, the candidates forum on service. I wonder if they'll mention the tragic events of December 25th." – Cube

I sure hope so. Every year, that day is like a nightmare to me.

8:06 – There was a coin toss? This isn't supposed to be a debate.

Or a football game.

8:03 – If you turn on C-SPAN (yeah, I didn't know what channel number that was either), you'll get to see John Obama and Barack McCain engaging in what should be a somewhat civil conversation about something or other related to September 11th.