@CCIP I fully agree, and I hope that we don't fall into another 1914 scenario through militancy and the failure of diplomacy. It's one of the reasons I worry about the rise of extremism in politics, and jingoism through patriotism carried too far.
We've seen the rise of partisanship in America over the past decade, and a rise of patriotic pride which threatens sometimes to spill over into jingoism in a manner reminiscent of Britain circa 1870, but there's still hope that the mistakes of the past can be avoided in time.
@August I think Romney came close a couple of times to stepping on his own johnson, certainly his foot may have brushed it during the military spending section, allowing Obama to impart his one and only 'zinger' of the three debates, and during his attempt to keep claiming that Obama went on an 'apology tour' which is a subjective thing, and quite honestly it's not something I would have challenged Obama on since there was no firm evidence that it was an 'apology tour' despite many on the right claiming that it was. Other than that though, he kept it tight and by not going off too deeply into the right wing territory he pushed into the central ground where he might harvest some votes from.
Honestly, it's too tight to come down firmly on either side, I think we're looking at a Gore/Bush rerun in terms of how tight it's going to be, but I'm still in the belief that Obama is going to get himself a second term. I might be wrong, as I said, it's far too tight to be certain, but that's where I'm leaning at the moment.
@Neal, Obama was on good form tonight, some good soundbites which have already ascended to memes, I did like the whole "Foreign policy from the 1980s, social policy from the 1950s and an economic policy from the 1920s." quote, as well as the two you mentioned. I think, if anything, these debates are going to be remembered for binders and bayonets.
