Did “that one” win last night’s debate?

We’re talking about the phrase, which has burst through the clutter of debate chatter to be one of the most talked-about moments in the 90 minutes from Nashville.

“That one” was the way Senator John McCain referred to Senator Barack Obama at one point last night. Angry reaction has emerged on the Internet today and lit up black-oriented radio stations, with commenters and callers saying that Mr. McCain was demeaning a fellow Senator and the presidential nominee of a major party.

Here’s the moment, as Mr. McCain is describing Mr. Obama’s support for an energy bill.

“There was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate – loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies,” Mr. McCain says. “And it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it – you might never know? That one. You know who voted against it? Me.”

When he says “that one,” Mr. McCain is smiling. He is not looking at Mr. Obama, but he points over to him.

Marc Ambinder at theatlantic.com offers a relatively benign explanation: “McCain uses ‘that one’ frequently in his stump speeches; the set-up is usually clearer, as McCain refers to Obama’s being one of the senators who supported it, not McCain — as in, if you had to guess who supported the Bush-Cheney ‘05 energy bill, it’s that senator, not this senator. But it came off awkwardly on stage tonight.”

Warren Ballentine, an African-American radio host in Atlanta and a strong Obama supporter, had a different take.

“It was totally disrespectful,” he said in an interview. “If you disrespect someone who is your equal, how will you treat me as a citizen?”

Mr. Ballentine saw other moments in the debate that troubled him as well, including Mr. McCain’s reference to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in response to a questioner who was black. “I’ll bet you, you may never even have heard of them before this crisis.”

Mr. Ballentine said that in the first debate, he had not perceived anything from Mr. McCain as particularly racial. “But now,” he said, “McCain’s back is up against the wall and he’s playing into stereotypical fears to get people to vote for him because people have a problem with blacks.”

Nicolle Wallace, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, said in a statement: “I am shocked that at a moment of national crisis, where our economy is on the minds of every single person, I am shocked that they are again proving to be the fussiest campaign in American history.”

Mr. Obama’s spokesman, Bill Burton, had sent reporters an e-mail last night after Mr. McCain had said “that one” asking if Mr. McCain had just said “that one.”

Mr. Burton was just on MSNBC and did not directly answer a question about what his specific objection was to the phrase, saying instead that in the first debate, Mr. McCain had not looked at Mr. Obama and in this debate, he “didn’t say his name.”