Debate revelations

I'm not going to get into any post-debate analysis, other than to say that the folks we were watching the debate with (not surprisingly) thought Obama "won," but I thought there were two relevant revelations offered by the candidates that warrant some further consideration.

First, and least importantly, is Venezuela really a rogue state? Obama made that assertion, lumping it together with Iran. Hugo Chavez likes to run his mouth off against America and in all likelihood has offered material support to FARC rebels/terrorists in Colombia, but last I checked we're still buying oil from them at a record pace. Is that going to change with an Obama presidency?

Second, and most importantly, McCain flat out stated (twice!) that the United States has tortured prisoners under the Bush administration. Not "used enhanced interrogation techniques" against prisoners, but tortured them. Condeelzza Rice has just gone on the record by saying that she and other top-level Bush administration officials (Rumsfeld and Gonzales included) met to authorize these actions. If McCain (rightly) believes that the interrogation techniques amount to torture, would he advocate a war crimes tribunal investigating and prosecuting the officials who authorized them? And, for that matter, would Obama advocate that?

As an aside, check out election.twitter.com during the next debate. It's hypnotic to watch the tweets comes streaming in live, and I think it's a better source of a wider range of opinions during and after the debates than whoever the networks put on television.