Blogging the Debates: What the Candidates Won't...

The Wall Street bailout is giving a lot of people a dose of cold fiscal reality – but you wouldn't know it to listen to Barack Obama and John McCain. And a great way to see this refusal to face fiscal facts in action is to watch Public Agenda's comments on the Blogging the Debates project.

Blogging the Debates is a kind of "Politics meets Mystery Science Theater" application, in which participating organizations can use VoterWatch's video player to make comments as the candidates debate. Organizations as varied as the Heritage Foundation and the Nader for President campaign are using it to analyze the presidential debates, and we're jumping in, too. You can see our video commentary below. We'll be doing similar commentaries on the remaining two presidential debates, as well as the vice presidential debate later this week.

If you've already seen the debate, you know moderator Jim Lehrer tried to get the candidates describe how they would deal with the bailout's enormous impact on the federal budget. The budget was running a $400 billion deficit even before the bailout, and the cost of the bailout plan ensures the next president won't have a lot of extra money to spend. Have a look at our video commentary – it's what we would have told you if we'd been sitting in your living room Thursday night. (That, and "Please pass the pretzels.")