Was McCain’s Ear to the Wall After All?
17 August 2008 5:11 pm by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
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It’s come to this? It happened on “Meet
the Press” today.
On a question on evil, Warren asked if it existed. Obama’s response was “I
think it has to be confronted.” McCain’s was as follows:
SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): Defeat it. Couple of points. One, if I’m president
of the United States, my friends, if I have to follow him to the gates of
hell, I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. I will do that
and I know how to do it. I will get that done.
This answer is similar to ones he has given before. That I find myself defending
this neocon who should not be our next president infuritates me. But given what
Mitchell dropped today, like milk gone sour into someone’s morning mocha, I
find it incredulous that Democrats could possibly be reduced to this:
MR. GREGORY: Andrea Mitchell, that’s a pretty clear contrast.
MS. ANDREA MITCHELL: Oh, absolutely. And, you know, there was the crisp,
immediate, forceful response by John McCain, clearly in a comfort zone because
he was with his base. And Barack Obama, taking a risk in going there but seeing
an opportunity. And a much more nuanced approach. The Obama people
must feel that he didn’t do quite as well as they might have wanted to in
that context, because that–what they’re putting out privately is that McCain
may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to
overhear what the questions were to Obama. … ..
Some die hard Obama supporters, unlike myself who is a Clintonite supporting
Obama because I want the Democratic nominee to win in November, hinted at this
last night. It was embarrassing then, but most galling to hear Ms. Mitchell
float that the Obama camp is “putting out privately is that McCain
may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear
what the questions were to Obama.”
Reality is that nothing was stopping Obama from having short crisp answers, save having a lousy debate game. Chuck Todd’s review:
Obama spent more time trying to impress Warren (or to put another away) not offend Warren while McCain seemingly ignored Warren and decided he was talking to folks watching on TV. The McCain way of handling this forum is usually the winning way. Obama may have had more authentic moments but McCain was impressively on message.
Anyone who has watched Senator Obama in prior performances during
the primaries against Clinton did not see anything different in his presentation
last night, which I’ve already reviewed as a barrage of unfocused word fogs,
compared to McCain’s tightly drawn message that always reverted back to policy
and anecdotes that drew his character out more than the blurred exposition coming from the
Democrat, none of which gives me pleasure to say.
But basically floating to the likes of Andrea Mitchell that McCain cheated?
If we take her at her word, it’s staggering to think Obama’s campaign is this
desperate. You also don’t privately put out things like this in the political
big show unless you can prove it. Besides being ungracious, it reveals you can’t
take a beating like a man.
