That being said, it is absurd that Obama's camp accused McCain of cheating with zero proof. It is stupid politically, and it is just poor sportsmanship. McCain had a great night, Obama should learn from him and improve his performance instead of whining about it. Both candidates were given the first two questions and McCain still had stronger and more focused answers than Obama. They also knew the general topics that would be covered, it isn't like there were any surprise questions.

If Obama is complaining about McCain's well-received performance, because the audience liked his answers, then I guess he'd better come up with better ones himself.  

That's not a push back, that's a self inflicted wound.  What will they do for the three debates?  Cry "Cheater!" each time?  Or "Media Bias!"?

McCain's people are right to complain that Andrea Mitchell did what so many at NBC do - she trotted out the Obama talking point without bothering to do any verification - giving millions of people the impression that it was true.  We know this is how they do things - we saw it over and over again in the primaries, for heaven's sake.

I watched the whole thing, and it smacked of a right-wing set up to me. It's why I thought Obama should never have gone in the first place. These people are the enemy to progressives - and should never be trusted. I don't think Obama should engage on the evangelical front at all, but I know that's not a popular opinion.

Against an opponent who isn't automatically presumed guilty by the media, it's kinda risky to throw allegations like this out there with no evidence.  Yes, McCain's invocation of the POW card is laughable, but the bottom line is that they're not going to take it lying down.

You want to know what sticks?  The "Obama called a war hero a cheater".  That's the sound bite that sticks.  Well played McCain camp.  Poorly played Obama camp.

Honest. to. god.  It's like Obama's running for 6th grade president sometimes:  "He CHEATED!!!"  Who the frick cares?  Nobody cared that Bush was carrying a WWII radio on his back in the 2004 debates.  Nobody cares about the "cone of silence" now.  

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I don't agree with McCain on a LOT of issues, but find it hard to believe that he is so afraid of Obama that he would feel the need to cheat.  The risk is far outweighed by the reward.

But think of the plausibility of the argument from the standpoint of most people.

The thing that always showed character in McCain in his ordeal as a POW was that he steadfastly refused to be released by his captors as some kind of special treatment that would distinguish him from his fellow POWs.

It is a little hard to see that such a person doesn't have a very powerful sense of honor.

Now, again, I hardly think that sense of honor necessarily generalizes to his conduct in politics.

But if the Obama campaign really believes they can get away with calling McCain a liar and a cheat without a particle of evidence, they are as crazy as loons.

Such a politician will always enjoy the presumption of honorable behavior in the eyes of the public, unless an overwhelming case can be made against him.

I think that the Obama campaign has found it so easy in the past to get traction for its smears that it can't yet comprehend that sometimes even the media can't carry its water.

Politicians use the story they have.  Or in Obama's case, the story that was carefully created.

I guess that while McCain was in a vehicle travelling to the forum, he COULD HAVE heard Obama answering some questions.  That doesn't mean that HE DID HEAR them.

Isn't it far more plausible that the reason McCain had ready answers to the questions was that he has been answering these types of questions for this type of audience for YEARS and know what they want to hear.  He may not have always shared their views completely as when he called the far right as dangerous as the far left in 2000.  But, he surely knows the answers they want to hear.

As for Andrea Mitchell's role in all of this.  Well it couldn't be funnier.  She reports what the Obama camp CLAIMS might have happened.  Then the NYT backs her up by saying, in effect, yes that is what the Obama camp said.  Well if all Andrea is reporting is what a campaign says, she could hardly ever be wrong, could she?  How about if Andrea actually investigate and find out if McCain ACTUALLY DID HEAR any of Obama's interview beforehand and complete the story instead of just reporting that McCain HAD THE OPPORTUNITY to hear since for a part of the time he was in a car and not the green room?  Oh well, that might have taken some actual WORK on her part.

Maybe someone now should find out exactly the timing of McCain's travel to the event and see exactly which of Obama's questions and answers he had access to and which he did not.  Then let's compare McCain's answers to those specific quesitons and see if those are the only ones McCain did well on.

Oh but i am sure he grasps what he says today..about a National War Hero..being a cheater?? oh please..

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070325obama-youth-story,0,5069625.story?page=3

Teachers, former playmates and friends recall a boy who never fully grasped their language and who was very quiet as a result. But one word Obama learned quickly in his new home was curang, which means "cheater."

When kids teased him, Obama yelled back, "Curang, curang!" When a friend gave him shrimp paste instead of chocolate, he yelled, "Curang, curang!"

Zulfan Adi was one of the neighborhood kids who teased Obama most mercilessly. He remembers one day when young Obama, a hopelessly upbeat boy who seemed oblivious to the fact that the older kids didn't want him tagging along, followed a group of Adi's friends to a nearby swamp.

so this man is a cheater now..or Curang, curang!..by Obama's thugs...

We best watch what we say Obama..since it was Kerry who begged McCain to be his running mate in 2004....and the Democratic party...and this is the man John McCain..that many of us in his generation well remember..and whose husbands and boyfriends and fathers and brothers .. fought the same war in.

John McCain..
"In 1968 he was offered early release, and when he refused, because others had been there longer, his captors went at him again; he suffered cracked ribs, teeth broken off at the gum line, and torture with ropes that lashed his arms behind his back and that were progressively tightened all through the night." Source Vanity Fair, February 2007

"He spent two years in solitary confinement, suffered from dysentery and even tried to commit suicide by hanging himself with his own shirt.

In 1968, the Vietnamese broke off many of his teeth at the gum and tortured him for hours on end. They offered him early release, knowing his value as an admirals son, but he refused, saying others had been held captive longer." Source Daily Mail, February 1, 2008

EXCLUSIVE - PUNDIT PREP - TALK RADIO ALERT: So it turns out that Pastor Rick Warren, in an effort to increase the candidates' comfort level with his pioneering format, gave each of them a heads-up on several of the hardest questions he asked Saturday night during his "the Saddleback Civil Forum on the presidency."

A source close to Warren tells Playbook that the candidates knew in advance they would be asked their own greatest moral failure, America's greatest moral failure, and the three wisest people in their lives.

The source said Obama also knew he would be asked if he'd be willing to commit to an emergency plan for orphans, like President Bush has for AIDS. GIVE OBAMA CREDIT FOR ANSWERING CANDIDLY: "I cheated a little bit. I actually looked at this idea ahead of time, and I think it is a great idea."

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