WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN'S PERFORMANCE
Fortune's Nina Easton: "I thought it was a really good night for John McCain In the first 35 for a couple of reasons. The first 35 minutes I counted seven or eight attacks. He just went after Obama. Everything from accusing him of supporting earmarks to accusing him of supporting a -- what did he say? An energy bill that was festooned with goodies. And it seemed to knock Obama off balance. It did two things it knocked Obama off balance he really had trouble getting his sea legs again and secondly, it moved this whole conversation about the financial crisis back to a conversation that John McCain is comfortable with, which is spending. They didn't really talk about the financial crisis that much. And so I thought and the other thing is, just in terms of style, John McCain comes off as very clear, direct, you know, I looked at Putin and I saw KGB in his eyes. He talks directly. There's still something bland and policy-speak about Barack Obama that I don't think does really well in these settings. He comes off as -- and I know people use the term 'cool,' but I find it policy-speak in rounded edges and not direct." (Fox News' "On The Record With Greta Van Susteren," 9/26/08)
CNN's Bill Schneider: "McCain scores a good point, that under Obama's original plan on Iraq, US troops would have been out last spring, before the implementation of the surge." (Bill Schneider, "Schneider: McCain Hits Stride On Iraq," CNN's "Political Ticker" Blog, politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com, 9/26/08)
· Schneider: "McCain, in talking about Afghanistan and Pakistan, is drawing on his vast experience for the first time in this debate, and it really sounds very convincing." (Bill Schneider, "McCain Scores Points On Experience," CNN's "Political Ticker" Blog, politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com, 9/26/08)
· Schneider: "McCain's scoring points on Obama's opposition to the so-called surge in Iraq, a buildup of forces that McCain vigorously supported." (Bill Schneider, "McCain Scoring Points," CNN's "Political Ticker" Blog, politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com, 9/26/08)
Fox News' Mosheh Oinounou: "Obama has said 'John is right' five times in the debate so far." (Mosheh Oinounou, "'John Is Right'" Fox News' "Embeds" Blog, embeds.blogs.foxnews.com, 9/26/08)
· The Politico's Jonathan Martin: "Barack Obama repeatedly saying: 'I agree with Sen. McCain' or 'I agree with John.'" (Jonathan Martin, "A YouTube You Will See Before The Clock Strikes Midnight," The Politico's "Jonathan Martin" Blog, www.politico.com, 9/26/08)
The Politico's Ben Smith: "McCain's sharp and focused; he hasn't landed a really hard punch, but he's scoring on a lot of jabs." (Ben Smith, "McCain's Turf," The Politico's "Ben Smith" Blog, www.politico.com, 9/26/08)
· Smith: "McCain points out -- accurately -- that Henry Kissinger has suggested diplomacy at the Secretary of State level, not presidential summitry with Iran." (Ben Smith, "Kissinger Fact Check," The Politico's "Ben Smith" Blog, www.politico.com, 9/26/08)
ABC News' Jake Tapper: "9:53 - 'You don't do that, you don't say that out loud,' McCain says about Obama's threat to sent US troops into Pakistan to strike at high-level al Qaeda operatives if given high level intelligence, with or without Pakistani government permission. McCain quotes George Schulz saying don't point a gun unless you're prepared to pull the trigger. Credible riff here, I think." (Jake Tapper, "Live-Bloggin' The Debate," blogs.abcnews.com, 9/26/08)
ABC News' Rick Klein: "9:08 pm CT: You knew this was coming -- a blistering attack on the preconditions line Obama has long wished he never delivered. This is a McCain layup." (Rick Klein, "Live Debate Blog," ABC News, blogs.abcnews.com, 9/26/08)
The Politico's Jonathan Martin: "McCain has a strong moment early, drawing an implicit contrast with President Bush. Noting the criticism he took from his own party for calling on SEC head Chris Cox, the GOP nominee promises in firm language: 'As president of the United States people are going to be held accountable in my administration.'" (Jonathan Martin, "McCain Forceful On Accountability," The Politico's "Jonathan Martin" Blog, www.politico.com, 9/26/08)
· Martin: "Instead, in what surely made weary McCain aides smile, their guy just was able to set off a protracted discussion of earmarks and spending, getting in repeated references to Obama's requests for Illinois. Never bad turf for Republicans, but especially for this Republican." (Jonathan Martin, "The 'Foreign Policy' Debate..." The Politico's "Jonathan Martin" Blog, www.politico.com, 9/26/08)
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "An extended debate on meeting with foreign rogue leaders without preconditions = good for McCain." (Chris Cillizza, "The Fix Twitters The Debate," The Washington Post's "The Fix" Blog, voices.washingtonpost.com, 9/26/08)
The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: "McCain demonstrates a solid understanding of the region [Afghanistan and Pakistan] here..." (Marc Ambinder, "The Debate: Liveblogging III," The Atlantic's "Marc Ambinder" Blog, marcambinder.theatlantic.com, 9/26/08)
MSNBC's Carrie Dann: "McCain's is the message that tests more strongly with voters. The latest NBC/WSJ poll showed that respondents prefer 'a president who will go in and clean up Washington and take on the waste and fraud in the system' to 'a president who will end the Bush administration policies, and have active government oversight.' by a margin of 67 to 29%" (Carrie Dann, "The Two Money Messages: How They Test," MSNBC's "First Read" Blog, firstread.msnbc.com, 9/26/08)
National Review Online's Jim Geraghty: "Judging from CNN's scrolling chart, independents also seemed to like McCain citing Tom Coburn calling earmarks a 'gateway drug.'" (Jim Geraghty, "'Gateway Drug' And 'It Corrupts People!' Seem To Move The Dials," National Review Online's "The Campaign Spot" Blog, 9/26/08)
