McCain-Obama debate followup

In the frist debate, I though McCain won. McCain's hammered many points home that all should be fatal to Obama to an educated voter. McCain had a strong finish with a clear message: "I have the ability, the background, the knowledge, and the judgement. I don't think I need any on-the-job training." Time and again, he pointed out where Obama has failed to lead, has a wrong and naive view, and simply doesn't get it when it comes to keeping us safe, being commander in chief, and doing what is right.

One area of leadership is fiscal responsibility: Electing McCain will keep spending so much under control compared with what Obama and the big-spending Democrats would do, there is one solution to the question of how to pay for the bailout: Elect McCain. Hold McCain to his promise to hold the line on spending and we can pay for the bailout. McCain - "We have to cut the spending. ... I saved the taxpayers $6 billion (Boeing contract) "Senator Obama has the most liberal record in the Senate. You can't reach across the aisle from that far left."

McCain won the debate if you go by substance.

1. Obama said 'Jon isright' about 6 or 7 times.
“I think Senator McCain’s absolutely right that we need more responsibility…”
“Senator McCain is absolutely right that the earmarks process has been abused…”
“He’s also right that oftentimes lobbyists and special interests are the ones that are introducing these…requests…”
“John mentioned the fact that business taxes on paper are high in this country, and he’s absolutely right…”
“John is right we have to make cuts…”
“Senator McCain is absolutely right that the violence has been reduced as a consequence of the extraordinary sacrifice of our troops and our military families…”
“John — you’re absolutely right that presidents have to be prudent in what they say…”
“Senator McCain is absolutely right, we cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran…”

2. Barack Obama played the "me too" game during the Friday debates on September 26 after Senator John McCain mentioned that he was wearing a bracelet with the name of Cpl. Matthew Stanley, a resident of New Hampshire and a soldier that lost his life in Iraq in 2006. Obama said that he too had a bracelet. After fumbling and straining to remember the name, he revealed that his had the name of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek of Merrill, Wisconsin.hockingly, however, Madison resident Brian Jopek, the father of Ryan Jopek, the young soldier who tragically lost his life to a roadside bomb in 2006, recently said on a Wisconsin Public Radio show that his family had asked Barack Obama to stop wearing the bracelet with his son's name on it. Yet Obama continues to do so despite the wishes of the family.

3. Obama claimed Kissinger supported the position that the President should just sit down with the president of Iran without preconditions. Henry Kissinger said this weekend "no president should sit down with the Iranian president without preconditions, preset by working level diplomats." He directly said that Obama was wrong and McCain was right, on the 'meet with dictators without preconditions'.

4. Obama stubbornly refuses to admit he is wrong on the surge. He in 2004 said his position was the same as Bush's on Iraq. Obama has flipflopped on Iraq for political convenience but in the end has shown to have had terrible judgment.

5. The timetable - McCain said that Admiral Mullen called it dangerous, Obama said that was not true. ABC Fact Check says: Reports that during a July interview Admiral Michael Mullen warned that the consequences of removing all U.S. troops by 2010 "could be very dangerous." Mullen and any military leader with a lick of sense knows that rigid timetables are recipes for disaster. Who puts a plan in place that ignores conditions on the ground? Mullen responded when asked about a pullout by 2010: "I think the consequences could be very dangerous in that regard. I'm convinced at this point in time that making reductions based on conditions on the ground are very important."

"The Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007 introduced by Obama specifically stated to stop the 2007 troop surge and to remove all combat forces by March 31, 2008. If we had followed Obama's advice we would have LOST IN IRAQ ALREADY and the consequences would have been dire for years to come. McCain said the surge success is fragile and timetable is a bad idea. McCain was right, Mullen was right, Obama was wrong. A timetable in 2008 is still as bad an idea as in 2007.

6. Obama said: "You said that there was no history of violence between Shiite and Sunni. And you were wrong." No, Senator Obama, On This One You Were Wrong and McCain Was Right

7. McCain: "Senator Obama doesn't know the difference between a tactic and a strategy." Obama argued the point, but only proved McCain correct. Obama does NOT understand the surge strategy.

8. Obama "4 times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan is a mistake." Wow. Can he really be serious? He's basically calling for immediate withdrawal now, or huge buildup in Afghanistan. Either way, it's an out-of-touch comment. McCain answered: "I have been to Waziristan. ... The same strategy he opposed in Iraq we have to employ in Waziristan. The bombing in Islamabad was a warning." (It was a warning from the terrorists to the Government of Pakistan not to work with us.) That was McCain's best answer so far, he shows that he is on another level from Obama. Obama just doesn't get it when it comes to how to deal with the malefactors around the world, and he dishonestly shifts positions, misstates facts, and discounts our military successes in order to bolster his campaign.

9. Obama: Blaming our not talking with North Korea unilaterally for the misbehavior of RPNK Government. This talking point was repeated by Senator Kerry on Fox News Sunday. Yet it is really nonsense. The North Korean Government violated accords long ago, and it was multilateral talks, not unilateral talks, that succeeded.

10. McCain: If Iran gets nuclear weapons it's "existential threat to Israel" and destabilizing.
Proposes league of democracies to address this. This is perhaps the biggest "change" idea of the season. I mentioned this idea in may as one good McCain idea that might change how we address international relations, currently stuck in the UN, a flawed entity, as the main vehicle for many global security issues.
McCain: "What Senator doesn't understand ... It's dangerous" to sit down without preconditions.

11. Obama: "We can't be focussed on Iraq." And yet his whole campaign and world-view revolves around that. McCain, in pointing out how Obama refuses to admit he is wrong on Iraq, says: "We have seen this stubborness before." Message: Obama is the new Bush.