MY FRIENDS...

This was a night of missed opportunities. The John McCain I know personally was caught up in earmark minutae (again) and reminding people (again) that he can "reach across the aisle". Swell. Gaining "presence" in a forum is all about the opening... and Senator McCain started with rambling. The "town hall" format is his best situation, and it hasn't been used to his advantage. Maybe he's tired, maybe he's cautious. This was not the night to be "nice". First problem: The question about whose responsibility? Who is responsible for the current economic crisis? Missed the chance to tell is like it was..and is. McCain should have nailed the current Democrat leadership regarding Fannie and Freddie. And what was the deal about "buying up" bad mortgages? Didn't we just sorta do that with the bailout/rescue? Is there money stashed in DC that we don't know about? He also totally missed the opening to expose Obama's "tax cut for 95% of the people" claim. Brokaw was good early on when he took control of the debate format (unlike Lehrer and Gwen). McCain's "my friends" is a "filler" just like Obama's "uh's". Makes me want to scream. He knows better, and blew the rhythm, for whatever reason. He let Obama crank up class warfare... even enabling Obama's feeble claim that "health care is a right". Where exactly is that in the Constitution? I really like McCain, but this was an evening of frustration. He is capable of much better. Now the campaign gets tougher as time is tight.

Then there was Obama's continued fuzzy math about Iraq: We're spending $10 billion a month in money we "don't have", but he wants to spend it (this money we don't have) at home anyway. Obama screwed up the evil empire question about Russia, but the trends had been set in the debate. Bill Ayers was nowhere to be found. Obama goofed in his comment about "who among us wouldn't have gone in if we knew the Holocaust was going on?" in World War II. Uh, well, we were already "in", fighting a war with Germany, and the government knew things weren't right regarding the Nazi's treatment of the Jews. But in a world of relativism, I guess historical context doesn't matter. No one cares that Obama's sense of history is suspect at best. Overall? A huge missed opportunity for McCain, and a bigger hole to dig out of for the rest of the election season. One other thing. America clearly loves BS over substance, and loves to have the national "ears" tickled instead of really thinking it all through. Obama's "vision" has plenty of gaps, but he's mastered the method of "looking thoughtful" as he's grasping. McCain can't do that.

Does John McCain have a chance to pull it out with the next (and final) debate? Sure. But it's more diificult, and less likely.

I couldn't help thinking tonight: What would Romney have done?