Replies

I’m not so sure. I guess it would be foolish to disagree with the conventional wisdom put forth by the MSM that McCain is far behind and in desperate need of a “game changer.” But I will disagree given their track record (no, I’m not saying Townhall.com is MSM. If that it were so...)

I think McCain needs to show himself as he was tonight. Solid. Opinionated. Spry. Patriotic. Experienced. You can trust him to do the right thing and make politics secondary when dealing with the country’s problems. And you can also count on him to be vigilant about this nation’s security.

McCain is a known quantity. A solid pick. Sure, his Obama is this smooth talking guy, but he has no track record and very little history. While the conventional wisdom is that in a crisis, particularly an economic one, the incumbent party will get thrown out, I’m not so sure that’s the case in this election. Bush43 isn’t up on that stage asking for re-election. It’s McCain and McCain is his own man. Sure, Obama talks a good game, but how many politicians don’t?

I think certainty in political leadership trumps change in this election. With so much uncertainty in the economy and in the world, don’t we need certainty in the White House?

Obama hasn’t made a compelling case as to why McCain is not the more certain candidate.

Of course, this does not mean that the McCain campaign should stop attacking the certainty of Obama (who is the real Obama?). They need Palin to continue that line of attack. McCain should stick to his plan for America and continue to tweak Obama for his...lack of certainty by raising so many questions about him and his lack of experience.

No matter who wins, the public already knows that they will get “change.” But change that is steady and experienced will win the day, and the candidate for that change is John McCain.

I would love to accept your reasoning because it is so reasonable but, alas, we are not in a season of reason. People who are afraid simply do not vote out of reason or nuance.

What happened last night on television was utterly devastating. Too late, the McCain campaign began this week to do what it should have done months ago and began exposing Obama for the dangerous radical he is. The American people tuned on their televisions and did not see a radical, they saw a man who outwardly appeared presidential. Indeed, he appeared (and in a television debate appearances are everything) more presidential in many respects than did McCain himself.

Watching television, the American people will choose to believe their own eyes and disregard all of the related and uncoordinated attacks as the mere chaff and clutter of every campaign. They are concentrating on only one thing: the financial crisis which McCain has now bungled it for a second time. His half-baked mortgage proposal has succeeded only in shearing off a fragment of his base.

Turn out the lights, the party is over.

As conservatism in this election is reduced to some of the Mountain states and the old Confederacy, as all of the branches of government are denied us, the question for conservatives will be, how do we save the movement and survive the nuclear winter to come so it can save the country?

I like your analysis and it provoked the thought: we don’t hear about how old/sick McCain is any more much, do we?

One benefit to the debates has been that McCain is obviously sharp, energetic, and healthy. There is not difference in the energy or capacity of the two men as they stand toe to toe. I have not even considered the issue of “too old” when watching the debates.

Is that argument dead?