3rd Presidential Debate Wednesday October 15th 2008 Third Presidential Debate in High Quality. mccain Obama debate from Hofstra University in Hempstead New York. mccain also sought to shift the direction of the debate by breaking sharply with President Bush, saying Obama was running against the incorrect man by criticizing the economic performance of the last eight years. Senator Obama, I am not President Bush, mccain said. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago. Obama said that, nonetheless, mccain had voted for four of Bushs last five budgets and said a mccain presidency would be a continuation of the Bush administration. If Ive occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bushs policies, its because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people — on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities — you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush, he said. The exchange came as both men outlined their new proposals to rescue the faltering US economy. Americans are hurting right now, and theyre mad, said mccain, calling struggling homeowners innocuous victims of greed and excess on Wall Road and Washington, DC Answering criticism of the $300 billion plot he unveiled in the last debate to buy Americans terrible mortgages, mccain said his proposal would subsidy, not hurt, homeowners who had continued to pay their mortgages on time. It doesnt help that persons home if their neighbors house is abandoned, he said.