WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: JOHN MCCAIN "IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN"
"Declare McCain The Winner" For "Stealing The Show" And "Was Noticeably In A League Of His Own"
NBC's Chuck Todd: "Declare McCain The Winner." "McCain was the news. It felt as if the first 45 minutes of the debate was all about McCain. From Iraq to immigration, the candidates essentially were point-counterpointing with McCain. So if owning the subject matter of the debate qualifies as winning, then declare McCain the winner." (Chuck Todd, MSNBC's "First Read" Blog, "Like A Heavyweight Boxing Match...," firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: McCain's Answer "Moving" "His answer to a NHer's question about ending the war in Iraq was moving, and the CNN cutaway showed that the questioner was moved." (Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic Online's "A Reported Blog On Politics" Blog, The Republican Debate," marcambinder.theatlantic.com, 6/5/07)
NBC's Domenico Montanaro: "McCain Stealing The Show." "Giuliani's following him (twice now); he slapped down Tancredo and got the loudest applause of the evening." (Domenico Montanaro, MSNBC's "First Read" Blog, firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
"CNN Pipeline Commentators Were Stunned Into Silence As Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, Delivered 'The Best Moment Of His Campaign.'" "For just a few moments, the CNN Pipeline commentators were stunned into silence as Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, delivered 'the best moment of his campaign,' according to Republican strategist and one-time McCain advisor Mike Murphy. In response to a question from the sister of a fallen soldier, McCain stood up, offered his condolences and elaborated on his vision for the future of Iraq. 'It was an extremely strong answer, he charged ahead right there,' said Murphy. Pipeline analyst and Democrat Arianna Huffington was left nearly speechless - 'wow, simply wow.'" (Josh Li psky, "CNN Political Ticker," Blog, "Murphy: McCain Charg es Ahead," politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com, 6/5/07)
GOP Strategist Mike Murphy: "I think McCain had the best single moment of his campaign in that question with the woman whose brother had been killed in Iraq. He admitted mistakes, he was great and right to her on the point, no political kind of dancing to it." (CNN's Post-Debate Coverage, 6/5/07)
McCain Delivered "Bold" And "Moving" Answers, Showed "Easy Command" Of National Security And "Impassioned Presentation Of His Views"
The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: "McCain's Easy Command On National Security Issues Drew The Evening's First Applause." "McCain's easy command on national security issues drew the evening's first applause when he criticized Hillary Clinton for calling Iraq 'Bush's war.'" (Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic Online's "A Reported Blog On Politics" Blog, The Republican Debate," marcambinder.theatlantic.com, 6/5/07)
ยท The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: McCain's Answer "Moving" "His answer to a NHer's question about ending the war in Iraq was moving, and the CNN cutaway showed that the questioner was moved." (Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic Online's "A Reported Blog On Politics" Blog, The Republican Debate," marcambinder.theatlantic.com, 6/5/07)
CNN's Candy Crowley: John McCain Reaching Out To Woman Whose Brother Had Died In Iraq Was "The Most Powerful Moment Of The Night." "John McCain in a very poignant moment ... when the young woman talked about her brother who had died in the war John McCain stood up, sort of bodily reached out to her and talked about some of the mistakes that had been made that the war had been terribly mismanaged and had been what he called unnecessary sacrifices, again that was probably the most powerful moment of the night ..." (CNN's "Post-Debate Coverage," 6/5/07)
The New York Times' Katharine Q. Seelye: "McCain Seems Especially Relaxed Tonight" Delivering "Impassioned Presentation Of His Views." "Mr. McCain seems especially relaxed tonight. On a question about Hispanics, he opened with, 'Muchas gracias governor,' and turned to Mr. Romney. And he went on to advise people that when they are in Washington - no, he wasn't trashing Washington here - he told them to visit the Vietnam Memorial, where they would see a lot of Hispanic names. He has had a few days of appearing on television defending the immigration bill and has been by turns angry and adamant; this is definitely a moderate, but impassioned presentation of his views." (Katharine Q. Seelye, "The Caucus" Blog, "Live-Blogging The GOP Debate," thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com, 6/5/07)
CNN's Bill Schneider: McCain "Bold" To Defend Immigration, "He Doesn't Back Down." "Sen. John McCain is being very bold in defending the immigration bill during the debate. He doesn't back down, despite attacks from the other candidates on the stage." (Bill Schneider, "CNN Political Ticker," Blog, "Schneider: McCain Bold' To Defend Immigration," politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com, 6/5/07)
NBC's Chuck Todd: "He Led The Way In Standing Up During The Town Hall Portion Of The Debate." "His emotive high point was when he led the way in standing up during the town hall portion of the debate and showed incredible Clintonesque empathy toward the woman who lost a relative in Iraq." (Chuck Todd, MSNBC's "First Read" Blog, "Like A Heavyweight Boxing Match..." firstread.msnbc.msn.com, 6/5/07)
GraniteGrok Blog: "McCain Got Huge Applause." "McCain spoke of Hispanic people and names on VietNam wall. Spoke about immigrants using military service to fast track citizenship. We are all God's children. He got huge applause on this answer." ("GraniteGrok" Blog, "Live from Manchester - The GOP Debate!" www.granitegrok.com, 6/5/07)
Townhall's Matt Lewis: McCain's "Got A Great Sense Of Humor." "'Muchas Gracias,' says McCain to Tancredo. You gotta give it to McCain, he's got a great sense of humor. I think he's scoring some points on being compassionate toward immigrants." (Matt Lewis, "Townhall" Blog, "The Debate Part II," www.townhall.com, 6/5/07)
