Posted by
Mike Dixon on Saturday, September 27, 2008 3:31:44 AM
Wow! What a barn stormer! As an unabashed McCain fan, I must say I haven't had this much fun since Spider Man beat the Abomination! McCain pummeled Obama mercilessly for 90 minutes with a lock-jawed determination that was inspirational. I came away convinced that McCain is running not only because he knows he is fully prepared for this role: he is also fully aware of how dangerously ill prepared Barack Obama truly is. On issue after issue, McCain hammered away.
I'll recap a few of my favorite moments:
1. McCain flogged him over his foolish comment regarding meeting without precondition rogue dictators and legitimizing them with a Presidential meeting. This comment has dogged him from the day he foolishly uttered it on July 23, 2007 in the SC Primary Debate. Listed below is the transcript of that infamous moment from the CNN transcript archives.
Democratic Primary, South Carolina, July 23, 2007, CNN Transcript
QUESTION: In 1982, Anwar Sadat traveled to Israel, a trip that resulted in a peace agreement that has lasted ever since.
In the spirit of that type of bold leadership, would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?
Senator Obama?
OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them -- which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration -- is ridiculous.
CLINTON: Well, I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I will promise a very vigorous diplomatic effort because I think it is not that you promise a meeting at that high a level before you know what the intentions are.
And I will use a lot of high-level presidential envoys to test the waters, to feel the way. But certainly, we're not going to just have our president meet with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and, you know, the president of North Korea, Iran and Syria until we know better what the way forward would be.
2. McCain, the statesman, explains to Obama, the freshman Senator, the fallacies of prematurely announcing military strikes against a soveriegn country.
First Presidential Debate, MI, September 26, 2008, CNN Transcript
OBAMA: And that is a strategic mistake, because every intelligence agency will acknowledge that al Qaeda is the greatest threat against the United States and that Secretary of Defense Gates acknowledged the central front -- that the place where we have to deal with these folks is going to be in Afghanistan and in Pakistan.
MCCAIN: Now, on this issue of aiding Pakistan, if you're going to aim a gun at somebody, George Shultz, our great secretary of state, told me once, you'd better be prepared to pull the trigger.
I'm not prepared at this time to cut off aid to Pakistan. So I'm not prepared to threaten it, as Senator Obama apparently wants to do, as he has said that he would announce military strikes into Pakistan.
We've got to get the support of the people of -- of Pakistan. He said that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan.
Now, you don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government.
3. McCain movingly relates a personal account of a mother asking him to fight on for her recently fallen soldier son.
OBAMA: Jim, let me just make a point. I've got a bracelet, too ...