[Always Right]

Doubt it. It's hard to warm up to a man who clearly does not believe in conservatism.

You missed a good performance last night then. McCain came across as by far the most conservative candidate since Reagan. He made the Bush's look like far-left. It was pretty shocking just how conservative and desicive McCain was with his answers. Of course immigration was not mentioned, but on taxes, spending, attacking government health care, abortion, energy, defense, identifying the enemy as radical islam, McCain was shooting bullseyes.

[raybbr]

As I posted earlier:

"I will watch it later. One interview will not erase years of deconstruction of conservatism. I will always see McCain as a very watered down conservative. Heck, he WANTS to be known as a maverick - defying many aspects of conservatism."

You missed a good performance last night then.

Interesting that you called it a "performance". I wonder why?

[nathanbedford]

I agree with everything you say, McCain was absolutely brilliant. His answers were crisp and clear and could not have been more conservative or more forthright. His anecdotes were compelling. He had the audience in his hand from the beginning.

Obama, on the other hand, sounded like he was dictating into my Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. He was stilted, hesitant, and too calculating by half. If one asks the question who did the better job, the answer is undeniable: McCain.

But if one asks who won the evening, that is not so easy to answer. The problem is that the two men had different tasks. McCain performed his task, he had to appear compelling. But Obama was not tasked with the same burden. Because this is a Democrat year for all the reasons we all know, Obama's job was merely to look like he could be a president.

Consider the debate in 1980 between Carter and Reagan. Reagan had merely to show the world that he did not have two heads because he was a conservative and the people, who were itching to get rid of Jimmy Carter anyway said, "okay, Reagan looks like he could be a president and that's what we wanted to know." End of story for Jimmy Carter.

But this time the conditions are reversed for the Republicans. We can only hope that the debates go as well as this forum. If McCain can stay within range of Obama through the debates, I think he might actually be able to win this, despite the formidable odds against him.

One last thought. I thought McCain came off because he was a man serenely in possession of himself, full of self-confidence because he had been through the fire, he has proved himself as a man and has grown so far past that game that he becomes beautifully transparent and attractive.