Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee was the setting for the second meeting of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama; and the location wasn't the only difference. The spirited debate started off with a Town Hall forum that quickly unraveled into a free-for-all, and ended with heart-tugging speeches from each of them about how they have lived the American dream. However, if you were paying attention, there was something eerily unsettling about McCain's rhetoric. Oh, he had a classic line tonight about voters paying attention to a candidate's record rather than rhetoric, yet his choice of words shouldn't be ignored.

McCain's tone quickly shifted from that of an honorable statesman to a grouchy, and sometimes, condescending speaker when talking about his rival Obama. Instead of addressing his fellow congressman by name, McCain stooped to calling him "that one," a remark that immediately generated buzz on the Internet according to television correspondents. As if that wasn't insulting enough, he also fell back on the phrase "he doesn't understand."

The major distinction between this interaction and last one was that Obama didn't take the swipes lying down, interrupting moderator Tom Brokaw so he could fire back and say he that did understand the issue. Later on, Obama even got in some jabs of his own. He mocked McCain, saying the "Straight Talk Express lost a wheel on that one," referring not only to the bus that McCain travels, but to his inaccurate portray of Obama and his leadership qualities, It was an attempt to assert that he has a name that should be respected and it is Barack Obama.





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