August 17th, 2008
11:18 AM ET
11 years ago
Crowley: McCain was on his game
McCain won over the Saddleback crowd.
LAKE FOREST, California (CNN) - During a break, someone yelled: "We love you John." In fact, McCain was on his game, doing better than I thought he would, given that faith is not his most favorite subject to discuss in public. And in fact, it does seem that the crowd is greeting him every bit as warmly as they did Obama. (Although: as far as I can see, the two Obama supporters who told me they were forced to turn their t-shirts inside out left a while ago.)
Act Two is over - and McCain gets huge applause, and a standing ovation.
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The arrogance of Obama's supporters are driving me to give McCain a far longer look then I thought I would.
McCain is not in this for USA he is in it for his cronies.
John McCain is going to be tough to beat if he does this well in the upcoming debates. He knocked it out of the park for me! This is what America is looking for.
IT IS SO OBVIOUS THAT MCCAIN GOT ALL THE TALKING POINTS IN ADVANCE.
OBAMA = HONESTY
MCCAIN = POLITICS = DIRTY GAME = CNN
did any one find it funny that when obama was asked when did he cross party lines he pointed to ethics reform coming from a guy who went against him self on campain finance reform declined money anfter he said he would take it
McCain is A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems pretty obvious that John McCain had the questions before they were asked of him. He never thinks as quickly on his feet like he did last night. I smell a GOP setup. Why is every answer he gives related to war/defiance?
I honestly believe John McCain is an ATHIEST. He never talks about God or Jesus. I wish he would have been asked about his religious beliefs last night.
His every word was about "WAR"—
I promise you McCain will keep us in War(s)
mccain is so dangerous and risky...
Never has anyone ever gotten as much mileage out of being captured.
He's sucking up for the sympathy vote.
Of course McCain can declare victory in such a biased forum (i.e. "There have been 40 million abortions in America. Now tell us your position on abortion.")
McCain was on his game not addressing the issues and flipping and flopping all around.
McCain actually did better than expected. More of the same tough stance tactics though?? That hasn't worked very well over the last 8 years, has it? You think it might be time to come down from that high horse and restore America in the eyes of the international community. Or perhaps that doesn't matter to Americans!??
Debra, You will see the same scene in the film starring Charlton Heston in Ben Hur-1959
I hadn't planned on voting this election but after seeing the forum
last evening, Sen. McCain has my vote. What I never liked about
Sen. Obama was his false charm/smile, inexperience, flowery
speeches – all very empty and his answers were quite small/nothing.
On the other hand, I never knew anything about Sen. McCain...but last evening he answered all the questions directly, forcefully and looked
to be in command. I appreciate his service to our country which
Obama doesn't have. I would feel safer with Sen. McCain at the
helm.
So, after viewing last night's performances on 2 men, it got me to
go out and vote for a very strong man. That's who I want to lead this
country, not someone who has an empty answer for everying and
flowery speeches.
JUST SOME REASONS MCCAIN SHOULD NOT BE VOTED IN AS PRESIDENT:
HE IS A DUPLICATE OF OUR PRESENT PRESIDENT
HE IS TOOOOOO OLD
HE HAS A ONE TRACK MIND {OBSESSED WITH WAR}
HE IS JUST FOR THE RICH
HE IS NOT FLEXIBLE IN HIS WAY OF THINKING
HE WILL NOT LISTEN TO OTHERS THAT KNOW MORE THAN HIM
HE WILL NOT TAKE ADVICE, JUST WANTS TO DO IT {HIS WAY}
IF HE MAKES PRESIDENT THIS LIST WILL SURELY GROW, GROW, AND GROW.
What should be given great weight is the candidates answer about evil. McCain's bellicose approach is telling of what his presidency would be like. An example of McCain's bellicosity and over-stepping his boundaries is when he declared that "we are all Georgians." This has been erroneously viewed as superiorly presidential by many; however, if McCain continues, he may usher a U.S./Russian conflict; one that America does not have the military resources to engage. Be very careful America, we need humility in these volatile times.
Looks to me that many Obama supporters are in state of denile and refuse to acknowledge that his performance was very poor last night.
John McCain had devolved into a self-righteous prig. He was very brave forty years ago and everyone honors him for that, but his self-serving sanctimony has worn thin - and his smarmy belligerence is not the same thing as intelligent strength.
Some of you commentators are confusing Obama's THOUGHTFUL answers to complex questions as hesitancy. Maybe you should get another job in which your feeble powers of analysis would suffice.
Obama supporters stop crying! Obama uh uh oh uh is horrible without his teleprompter. Accept it and move on.
Let's be honest, he dodged this question. He said he failed at his marriage but did not acknowledge why. This held true for all of his answers. Yes they were short because they lacked any depth. McCain only talked about his war captivity in short stories. This gave no depth on who he is. If I want stories, give me Maya Angelou, give me answers. The only time he showed himself was on the question on evil and he says he will defeat evil and "I will chase Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell." The way he said it he sounded like a war monger.
On his game, not really. If you think about it, This was similar to when McCain and Obama talked in front of the NAACP, one was welcomed more than the other. The big difference is that Obama got a standing ovation at both events.
John McCain came across to me as a man stuck on war issues. Rick Warren gave up the podium too often to McCain to tell his stories of the past which I believe had no relevence to the overall interview. Senator Obama was not given that opportunity which was good because he was on point for his portion. McCain began to sound too much like Hillary duck sniper bullets in Bosnia with all of his sidebar and stump coments.
The format was good, however I do not think it was managed equally.
POO POO on Rick Warren.
McCain performed much better than BO. I can see why BO avoids debates. He did much better in debates when they asked Clinton the question first 90% of the time, and he just reiterated her knowledgeable, competent, well informed answer.
obama could live without the churchie vote. mccain absolutely can not. he desperately needs their endorsement—and they can't stand him. taking tv softballs from a country club "preacher" in la-la land isn't going to cut any more mustard with the baptists and methodists for mccain than it did for romney. at least obama (like clinton) actually goes to church. mccain doesn't.
so far as real christian voters go, mccain did nothing more last night than remind them once again that he's NOT huckabee.
McCain was impressive last night but with his stance on abortion he didn't do himself any favours. He finally solidified his position, which I respect, but he just lost much of the independent vote in favour of the Evangelical vote (hoping they will come through for him in places like Ohio, PA).
Obama was impressive but needs to become more direct. McCain won't be as easy a prey in the debates as I thought, but it's advantage Obama that he knows it and can prepare.