You must read the transcript of the Swampland live-blog of the debate, by reporters Karen Tumulty, Michael Grunwald, and James Poniewozik. It’s hysterical. They started a half hour before the debate started, and continued to the end, injecting snide little comments throughout. Here are snippets:

• Poniewozik: “Staffer who gave Obama the current price of gas in Nashville gets a little something extra in his paycheck this week.
• Tumulty: “It really is feeling like Short Attentin Span Theater.”
• Poniewozik: “What does Soledad O’Brien think about again being consigned to undecided-voter-panel hell in Columbus again?
• Tumulty: “What’s with the stools. Is this “Cheers”?
• Poniewozik: “There will be an acoustic guitar segment.”
• Grunwald: “It’s like they take turns delivering their stump speeches.”
• Poniewozik: “Somewhere, Bill Clinton is throwing things at the TV.”
• Tumulty: “I’m very distracted by McCain standing behind Obama and looking really, really mad.”
• Grunwald: “This format sucks. It’s just side-by-side stump speeches with human props.”
• Poniewozik: “Congratulations, Commission on Presidential Debates! You managed to take an encounter with real Americans and drain it of any possible human interest!”