WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: JOHN MCCAIN AT CNN DEBATE
McCain Won The Debate With A "Beautiful, Soulful, Substantive" Performance And "Did What Few Candidates, Republican Or Democrat, Have Done So Sure-Footedly In This Campaign McCain Stepped Up"
National Review's John Podhoretz: "McCain At His Best." (John Podhoretz, National Review's "The Corner" Blog, "McCain At His Best," corner.nationalreview.com, 6/5/07)
· Podhoretz: "He gives a beautiful, soulful, substantive answer to a woman whose brother died in Iraq." (John Podhoretz, National Review's "The Corner" Blog, "McCain At His Best," corner.nationalreview.com, 6/5/07)
The New York Times' Katharine Q. Seelye: "Mr. McCain Just Did What Few Candidates, Republican Or Democrat, Have Done So Sure-Footedly In This Campaign ... McCain Stepped Up And Addressed Her In A Totally Human Way." "Mr. McCain just did what few candidates, Republican or Democrat, have done so sure-footedly in this campaign. When a woman from the audience said that her brother had been killed in Iraq, Mr. McCain stepped up and addressed her in a totally human way. The sacrifice of your brother will not be in vain,' he assured her. He seems to have well learned the Dukakis lesson from 1988: Show your heart." (Katharine Q. Seelye, "The Caucus" Blog, "Live-Blogging The GOP Debate," http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/, 6/5/07)
National Review's Jim Geraghty: "He hits it out of the park." (Jim Geraghty, National Review's "The Hillary Spot" Blog, "The Third Republican Debate, Part Three," hillaryspot.nationalreview.com, 6/5/07)
NBC's Chuck Todd: "McCain Showed His Emotional Side Which Has Always Been A Hidden Strength For Him." "On Monday, a colleague commented to me that he was amazed at the lack of empathy in the Dem candidates on stage Sunday night when CNN had a relative who was personally touched by the Iraq War. None got up and addressed the woman directly. This colleague noted: Bubba would have had his arm around her in seconds...' Well, McCain's folks clearly believed the same thing when watching on Sunday. McCain showed his emotional side which has always been a hidden strength for him." (Chuck Todd, MSNBC's "First Read" Blog, "Bill McCain? John Clinton?," firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
· New York Sun's Ryan Sager: "[McCain's] answer to a young woman whose brother died in Iraq was eloquent and clearly heart-felt." (Ryan Sager, New York Sun's "Latest Politics" Blog, "The NH GOP Debate," www.latestpolitics.com, 6/5/07)
McCain Dominated The Debate And Drove "Home His Views" As Other Candidates Played "Follow The Leader"
Politico's Jonathan Martin: "In A Very Smooth Move Sensing Opportunity, McCain Speaks Up And Gets More Time To Drive Home His Views On The Broader Immigration Issue." "In a very smooth move, McCain speaks up when the English as the official language' question is posed. Nobody else on stage, of course, dared do anything but silently acknowledge their support for such a measure. Sensing opportunity, McCain speaks up and gets more time to drive home his views on the broader immigration issue. Oh, and he slyly drops in a reference to Jeb Bush supporting the deal to all the Florida primary voters watching at home." (Jonathan Martin, Politico's "Smith And Martin" Blog, "McCain Buys More Time On His Immigration Message," www.politico.com, 6/5/07)
NBC's Mark Murray: "McCain Walks!" "[I]n addressing the woman who asked the question about losing her brother. All other GOP candidates were sitting downThis came during the second half of the debate, with all the candidates seated. McCain got up out of his chair and directly addressed the woman." (Mark Murray, MSNBC's "First Read" Blog, "McCain Walks!," firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
· Townhall's Matt Lewis: McCain Is "The First To Stand Up." "This format is much better for McCain. He's the first to stand up. He's better out from behind a podium." (Matt Lewis, "Townhall" Blog, "It's Showtime!" www.townhall.com, 6/5/07)
Hotline's Emily Goodin: Candidates Followed McCain By Standing Up. "The town hall format, which was the slower half of the Democratic debate, John McCain stood up when it was his turn to address the audience. Rudy Giuliani and Jim Gilmore quickly followed. It was much better TV." (Emily Goodin, "Hotline" Blog, "We Were Watching," hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com, 6/5/07)
· NBC's Mark Murray: "The GOP Candidates Are Following The Leader McCain." "Now Gilmore walks up....The GOP candidates are following the leader McCain." (Mark Murray, MSNBC's "First Read" Blog, "Now Gilmore," firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
NBC's Chuck Todd: "McCain Is Dominating The Subject Matter Of The Debate." "[S]o far, in this debate, McCain's point of view has been the dominant topic of discussion, be it on the war or on immigration so far, this debate is providing a media spark." (Chuck Todd, "First Read" Blog, "It's McCain's Debate Right Now " firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
CNN's Candy Crowley: Talking About Immigration Was "A Good Moment For McCain." "I thought he made a pretty strong defense of his position on immigration when he said, look kind of looking into the audience my friends, we've done exactly what you expect us to do and that is to sit down and come up with some sort of compromise.' He went on to say our job is to do the tough things, for which he got applause, so I thought that was a good moment for McCain." (CNN's "Republican Debate," 6/5/07)
· Crowley: "McCain Obviously Came Loaded For Bear McCain Is Taking The Lead." "I think McCain obviously came loaded for bear in terms of how he was going to explain this. This is obviously a conversation that he's had in many townhall meetings. So in terms of just sort of the power of their presentation, I would think McCain is taking the lead." (CNN's "Republican Debate," 6/5/07)
McCain Delivered "Fantastic" And "Good And Strong" Answers, Getting "Loud Applause"
National Review's Rich Lowry: "Fantastic statement by McCain [on Iraq] " (Rich Lowry, National Review's "The Corner" Blog, "'Presidents ... Don't Lose Wars,'" corner.nationalreview.com, 6/5/07)
Powerline's John Hinderaker: "I thought McCain was good and strong on there being no alternative to success in Iraq." (John Hinderaker, "Powerline" Blog, "Live-Blog The Republicans' Debate," www.plnewsforum.com, 6/5/07)
McCain "Received Loud Applause From The Audience For Saying That The United States Needs To Succeed In The War In Iraq" And Criticizing Hillary Clinton For Her Description Of The War. "Arizona Sen. John McCain received loud applause from the audience for saying that the United States needs to succeed in the war in Iraq. He criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton for describing the conflict in Iraq as President Bush's war. What Sen. Clinton doesn't understand is that presidents don't lose wars,' McCain said. Political parties don't lose wars. Nations lose wars and nations have the consequences of failure. We must succeed in this conflict.'" (Lauren Kornreich, "CNN Political Ticker" Blog, "McCain: Presidents Don't Lose Wars, Nations Do," politicalticker.blo gs.cnn.com, 6/5/07)
Townhall's Matt Lewis: McCain "Made A Good Point Gets The First Applause Of The Night." " McCain just made a good point that he didn't say it was President Clinton's War' in Bosnia. He gets the first applause of the night." (Matt Lewis, "Townhall" Blog, "It's Showtime!" www.townhall.com, 6/5/07)
· Politico's Jonathan Martin: "McCain Gets First Applause." "McCain gets first applause. With an attack on HRC for her criticism of Iraq as President Bush's war. It didn't hurt that he played the Bill card with the GOP crowd." (Jonathan Martin, Politico's "Smith And Martin" Blog, "McCain Gets First Applause," www.politico.com, 6/5/07)
National Review's Jim Geraghty: McCain "gets applause" in saying "Presidents don't lose wars, parties don't lose wars, nations lose wars, and we must prevail." (Jim Geraghty, National Review's "The Hillary Spot" Blog, "The Third GOP Presidential Debate Is Underway," hillaryspot.nationalreview.com, 6/5/07)
NBC's Chuck Todd: All The Candidates Listened "Intently To His Lecture About What's Next For Iraq. It Was A Powerful Moment For McCain." "There was just a moment on the tube where CNN showed every Republican candidate angled to McCain listening intently to his lecture about what's next for Iraq. It was a powerful moment for McCain and a photo the McCain folks will want on the cover of tomorrow's Union Leader." (Chuck Todd, "First Read" Blog, firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
RedState's Erick Erickson: McCain On Iraq "Is Well Said." "McCain is willing to own the war. His take on of Senator Clinton and Brownback's partition plan is well said." (Erick, "RedState" Blog, "Miscellaneous Debate Thoughts," www.redstate.com)
