McCain Delivers Big In the Final Debate; Obama Not So Much

What I find hilarious, and most accurate, is our bloggers covering the debate predicted that even if Obama took a nap at the table last night, or pulled belly button lint out of his own navel, the networks would have given him a win on style points. The real story however, is altogether different. Take a look at the round-up and you tell me who won on the only measure that counts: Substance.

The New York Times’ Patrick Healy reported, “John McCain Was In A Groove Early.”

Denver Post’s Joanne Ostrow said, “It Wasn’t Obama’s Night.”

The Arizona Republic’s Dan Nowicki: “For McCain, It Clearly Was His Best Debate Performance …He Effortlessly Kept Obama Off-Balance.”

Even Marc Halperin of TIME, part of the all-Obama-all-the-time cadre admitted:

McCain has best debate yet in final face-off.
McCain: A-
Obama: B

If a koolaid sipper like Halperin gave Obama a B, you know Barack’s real grade had to be much lower.

The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes:

“The winner, and in my view quite decisively, was John McCain. From the very first question, McCain seemed certain of himself and his answers.”

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos had this to say:

“I think the fact that John McCain was able to make Joe [the plumber] Wurzelbacher a character in this campaign …this was his best debate so far. He was able to set the agenda on a lot of issues like taxes, especially with Joe Wurzelbacher.”

National Review’s Byron York:

“Who Won? There Seems Little Doubt That McCain Scored Many More Points Than Obama.”

New York Post said McCain had…:

“The best debate performance of his campaign last night. On issue after issue, McCain made his case, deftly countering Obama’s jabs. Why, he asked, does Obama ‘always say we have to spend more? Throwing money at every problem is not the answer.’”

Charles Hurt of the New York Post said:

“McCain last night made the strongest and most convincing argument yet that he is prepared to keep the federal government from making the current economic crisis even worse.”

USA Today noted that John McCain…

“[K]ept Obama on the defensive for much of the 90-minute forum, attacking him for everything from his association with ’60s radical Bill Ayers to his decision not to take public financing for his campaign.“

Ironically, it was none other than George Stephanopoulos of ABC who nipped at McCain’s heels for bringing up Obama’s ties to the unrepentant terrorist, Bill Ayers. I guess George S. had to redeem himself in the eyes of all the Obama stalwarts who flooded the station with complaints in April when Georgie rightly brought this up at the Clinton/Obama debate in April – gee Georgie …still doing penance??

Both The Politico’s Jonathan Martin and National Review’s Jim Geraghty noted how well McCain differentiated himself from the Bush administration:

“John McCain creates an instant headline with some of his firmest language yet to distance himself from President Bush. ‘Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago. I will take this country in a new direction.’”

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza agrees:

“HUGE moment for McCain. Slams Obama for comparing him to Bush. VERY savvy. AND, he looked directly at Obama. …McCain with a break from Bush Administration — ‘disappointed’ with Paulson’s approach on financial crisis. …McCain has done well for himself… kept Obama on defense.

Yes, Obama was on defense most of the night. And as even Mr. Chris “I’ve got a tingle up my leg” Matthews has noted “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

Politico also noted that:

Perhaps the best news for McCain is the rating he received from independent voters. Among respondents not identified with either major political party, McCain was judged tonight’s winner, 51-42 percent.

I’d say that was mighty good news indeed since it is Independents who are going to decide this election, not the Democrats that are being consistently over-polled.

MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan shares his view on the debate as well. Whatever one may think of Buchanan’s politics, his observations have been spot on:

“I think [McCain] clearly won it on points. It was his best performance. He was intense and ideological and he’s appealing to the base, clearly. McCain much more aggressive and specific, and more compassionate on John Lewis, issues of ACORN and Ayer.”

Los Angeles Times:

“McCain again shows that he came into this debate more focused and more disciplined …”

As noted by Commentary’s John Podhoretz.

“McCain got in a good zinger when Obama mentions he wants Warren Buffett to pay more taxes and McCain says we’re talking about Joe the Plumber, not Warren Buffett.”

National Review’s Mark R. Levin:

“I am impressed with McCain tonight. Obama is off his game, as they say.”

Obama lost his trademark cool – he was actually sweating up there.

“McCain came ready tonight, he has Obama resorting to his stump speech answers and a bit unnerved…. And for the most part, he is not letting Obama get away with his endless dissembling.”

McCain made very clear last night there is a huge difference between talking and doing. The American people heard Senator Obama, in his typical dispassionate way, make a lot of vague promises, yet he has not delivered on any one of them. Contrast that with Senator McCain, who named specific instances where he has walked the walk. McCain said “he has stood up to the Bush administration and members of his own party on the floor of the Senate and “has the scars to prove it.” McCain further stated: “Senator Obama, your argument for standing up to the leaders of your party isn’t very convincing.”

No kidding. There were a few moments when McCain eyes bulged incredulously at some of the nonsense Senator Obama was spewing.

As I have said before, McCain will never sound like Shakespeare, but he used that to his advantage. He pointed out that Obama speaks eloquently, but that you really have to listen to what he’s saying – and follow the clues to the reality of his plans under the pretty words. A gentleman interviewed in a focus group after the debate also made telling comments in this regard. He said Obama sounded the most eloquent – but that he did not trust him. If you don’t trust him, you ain’t gonna vote for him. Period.

That summed up last night’s debate for me.

I am also heeding the advice of a fellow traveler, and taking a look at what each campaign is doing. I know many voiced irritation that our beloved Hillary was out there on the network after the debate, trumpeting how well Obama did. I look at that as good news:

Obama was humiliated by Clinton. He will never forgive her for showing him up in the debates as the empty, unprepared suit that he is and making it clear he limped to the finish line, needing cowardly super delegates to push him over the top. His campaign wanted to distance itself from Hillary in every way and prove he could win this without her, otherwise he would have pleaded with her, and her 18,000,000 voters, to be on his ticket.

The other morning on FOX and Friends, Hillary declared she’ll “bloom where she’s planted” in the Senate and last night, like a good Mommy, she gave the seal of approval to Obama’s debate performance. Hillary promised she would campaign her heart out to help the Dem nominee and no matter how angry that makes me, I have to respect a woman of her word – unlike Obama who never met a promise he wouldn’t or couldn’t break.

But here’s the news flash: Do you really think if Obama had this election sewn up, as the polls say, they would be trotting out Hillary to say the chance she’ll run again is “near zero” and vote for him ‘cause he’s really great? This is nonsense. Trust me, if McCain wins, she’ll be firing up the exploratory committee for 2012.

The Obama campaign has to be more than a little worried that the constant media drumbeat of b.s. for him is not really working. They know if even a portion of Hillary Dems don’t vote for him, he is toast. I know a number of these voters myself. They are not swayed. They were certainly not swayed by his lackluster performance last night. Come November 4th, these die hard Dems will absolutely be voting McCain/Palin.

And it sure sounded like Peter Canellos of The Boston Globe thought there were shades of the PA Clinton/Obama debate last night:

“John McCain last night put Barack Obama through a red-hot grilling, barely hiding his disdain for the Illinois senator and his outrage over Obama’s policies.”

Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody chimed in with this gem:

“John McCain Put A Dent In The Obama Persona. He was able to pokes some holes in Obama’s armor. He nicked him with Ayers, ACORN, public financing, negative advertising, abortion and yes, Joe the Plumber. Not only was McCain able to use the Joe the Plumber story as an example of class warfare, he also used Joe as a way to make the economy a personal story.”

Speaking of Joe the Plumber, perhaps the best recommendation that McCain can get came from the man himself, as reported by NBC 24 News:

[Joe's ] reaction to talking with Obama about his proposed tax plan: “I wasn’t impressed. In fact, it upset me. For someone to sit there and say you’ve done too good, and I’m going to penalize you now. In essence that’s what he said. I’m paraphrasing, but you done too good; I want some more of your money now. That’s wrong. That’s wrong across the board and I can’t imagine someone not agreeing with that. I can’t imagine America not agreeing with that,” Wurzelbacher.
…
Although it seems Wurzelbacher supports McCain, he refuses to say who he plans to vote for come November 4th.

But this MUST WATCH you tube video of Joe assessing the debate tells the story.

[Wurzelbacher’s] advice to other voters: “Do your own homework. Don’t sit there and take your friends’ advice. Don’t sit there and take TV’s advice. Do your own homework. Find out what you really want instead of what your union steward wants, what anyone wants. That’s my biggest thing right there. Do your own homework.”

Good advice indeed.