When Is A Town Hall Debate Not A Town Hall Debate?

When the Republican spin operatives say is isn't.

As Logan Murphy at C&L makes clear, a half hour before the debate was even over, the GOP spin doctors were already sending out e-mails disparaging the debate as not really a town hall format and therefore a disadvantage to McCain.

Yeah, that's right. They saw the writing on the wall with McCain before the gig was over and didn't blame the debater, they blamed the style of the debate. The "town hall" debate that BOTH candidates agreed to - signing off on the rules of the debate in advance - the "town hall" setting that John McCain asked Obama to weekly. The "town hall" style that would've shown the country who connects with the average American - "Joe Six-pack," if you will.

How pathetic. But in a strange way, they spin machine is right. A real town hall would've had a back and forth between the audience member who asked the question and the debater. The rules gave the debater a chance to avoid answering the question or changing the subject. Perhaps if Obama had agreed to do the town halls in the first place, he would have had this thing wrapped up a month ago.