This morning, I heard some interviews with a few of the folks that were in the audience. One, that seemed inadvertently revealing, said that he liked McCain’s answers a lot, because he answered quickly and didn’t have to think. I’m afraid that squares with my view of a lot of folks who are happiest with a doctrinaire approach to issues - many of which, in my opinion - tend to be stolid conservatives. It tends to symbolize the larger anti-intellectual tenor of the times, and paints thoughtful statesmen - which I believe Obama to be - as needlessly reflective and cogitative. Never mind that we’ve been run into the ground domestically as well as internationally by a man who takes pride in not thinking, but going on gut instinct. Note, by the way, what his old friend, Putin, is doing in Georgia - the same man whom W judged a good man by looking into his eyes. Nope, give me thought over snap decisions anytime.
I don’t know.
You have no way of knowing it was a lie, and I doubt anyone will ever be able to demonstrate that it is.
That disturbed me a lot. Obama had a conversation. McCain made a stump speech, and Warren never called him on it once.
I too found the POW story about the soldier and the cross highly, highly convenient, and would be interested to know if it shows up in McCain’s book Faith of My Fathers. If not, I think we can take it as given that it was made up. If it does show up, then we don’t know.
And, John, I agree that the “my friends” line from McCain was quite irritating. I didn’t find Obama’s stuttering as bad, because it showed to me that he was thinking about the question. Oddly, I like the idea of a thinking president, especially since I don’t see Obama as someone who would overly delay action; I think he’s a very decisive person. His campaign has made that very clear.
I’m hoping that at least some of the evangelicals won’t hate the idea of an Obama presidency as much as they did before. That will help.
BTW, here’s an interview from 3 years ago when McCain told the story about the guard and the cross in the dirt. All Things Considered, Oct 2005.
I obviously liked Obama’s answers, but if I’m forced to give something I didn’t like about it, I think he danced a little bit during the abortion question. Also, I think he had a brief WTF moment when the Evil Question was posed along with its answers (fight it, negotiate with it, etc.)
I like that Obama said that evil has been done in the name of doing good, that’s a very good point to make, but I’d like for him to have said that people can see “evil” in many places, if not, any place.
I don’t like how Obama wasn’t supposed to give a stump speech, but McCain did. I was very skeptical about the event in the first place, but when I saw how it went with Obama, I thought it’d actually end up to be a very good event (with some very good and interesting questions, as well). I was disappointed when it looked like the rules changed a little bit, but overall, I thought McCain came off relatively well, even if he looked robotic and old. Turning to the crowd and saying “my friends” as well as the instance where he said he was pandering a little bit in one of his answers made me arch my eyebrow.
OK, good for him; he didn’t make if up for last night. On the down side, it’s almost word for word what he said last night. I sure wish I had a copy of his book.
I don’t really care if it can be proven conclusively or not. I will go by the weight of the evidence. In his 1973 article, he mentions specifically the gun guard who loosened his shackles, but says nothing about the cross drawing. He also mentions it happened in May of 1969, not the current version of Christmas. Apparantly, he first began telling the story in 1999, when running in the Republican primaries, and was needing evangelical support.
That sounds one heck of a lot more plausible. Not that Viet Namese can’t be Christians. But on Christmas? Couldn’t he work in a kitten with a hurt paw in there somehow?
Aw. Poor Vietnamese kitten with the hurt paw. I change my vote now.
I tried to post last night, but, you know.
Obama’s answers seemed more thoughtful, McCain’s were ideological recitations of his stump speech. Nothing new, nothing revealing, even the strident tone seemed shopworn. I think he alienated people when he kept trying to direct the questions; “Are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court Justices?” And the smarmy, repetitive use of “My Friends” (15 times by my count) is wearing very thin.
Though I have to give McCain props for not confusing Sunnis and Shiites, or other major gaffs. Just no insight into his views beyond the boilerplate we have heard ad infinitum.
Unfortunately, guys, the audience seemed to profoundly disagree with us. We can only hope that the country at large does not.
Actually, he’s always said it was several months later.
Is there a replay of this thing available somewhere?
-Kris
Why should I accept that link as authoritative? It’s just some McCain suporters blog.
Here is what McCain wrote in 1973:* It was also in May, 1969, that they wanted me to write—as I remember—a letter to U. S. pilots who were flying over North Vietnam asking them not to do it. I was being forced to stand up continuously—sometimes they’d make you stand up or sit on a stool for a long period of time. I’d stood up for a couple of days, with a respite only because one of the guards—the only real human being that I ever met over there —let me lie down for a couple of hours while he was on watch the middle of one night.*
As it turns out, McCain was transferred to a different location that December (again, in his own words). So are we to believe that the same guard was transferred to the same new location, did the same thing with the shackles, and drew a cross in the dirt?
It now turns out that McCain wasn’t even at the church for the first half hour last night, so he was listening to the questions and Obama’s answers. This event is starting to look like it was a planned event for McCain’s benefit.
It’s on CNN right now.
Wait a minute. What about the cone of silence? :dubious:
I hadn’t heard that. No wonder he answered so quickly. i thought they flipped a coin to see who went first?
Well, they could have flipped a coin a week ago, so that’s no big deal.
ETA: Lamar, do you know McCain was listening to Obama or are you speculating?
Where does he give a specific date for the incident? And why does it have to be the same guard?
Where are you getting this information?
Rick Warren said it on CNN today. His repeated talk of McCain being in a soundproof room was all another lie. John, you can go down the plausible deniability road if you choose, but the facts are that McCain told the same story repeatedly, but it wasn’t until he was running for President in 1999 that he inserted the part about the cross.