October 2008 - Posts
by Chris Matthews
Newsweek had a down arrow in its Periscope column this week at the very prospect of the Phillies playing Tampa Bay in the World Series. It's followed by an "Ugh" - you know, "ugh" at the chances of it being an exciting Series.
Classic. If the Yankees or the Mets had made it to the Series - or the Red Sox - it would have been a dynamite Series. Why?
Because the Yankees or the Mets or the Red Sox made it. That's why.
Look, in all the years the Phillies didn't make it to the play-offs, much less to the Series, I rooted for the Red Sox as my East Coast team. That emotional time right after 9/11, I yelled like mad for the Yanks against the Diamondbacks. I've even rooted for the Mets when they made it to the World Series. You know: "love they neighbor." "If you're not with the one you love, love the one you're with."
So why is it that I haven't gotten so much as a phone call this October from my Boston and New York buddies rooting for my hometown team? Where's the reciprocity here? Where's the East Coast solidarity when our turn comes around? What do we get for our fabulous pitching, explosive hitting and a different hero every night?
Here's what: We get a downward arrow from Newsweek, followed by an "Ugh," followed by a series of cheering-on phone calls that never get made.
The next time you catch someone dumping on the over-the-top Philly fans, ask the guy "When was the last time you rooted for us?"
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: A vice president has a really great job because not only are they there to support the president's agenda, they're like the team member, the teammate to that president, but also they‘re in charge of the United States Senate. So if they want to, they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better.
Chris Matthews, on Hardball Wednesday
excerpted from a conversation with Nancy Pfotenhauer
As Colin Powell said on Sunday's "Meet the Press," the job of the vice president is to stand ready under the Constitution in the tragic circumstances to replace the president. Now, that‘s one role. The other role is to have only a tie-breaking role as presiding officer of the U.S. Senate. That's it. The Constitution specifically prescribes that. In fact, it says that‘s all that a person has the right to do.
Now, here‘s Sarah Palin with her definition of this role, which sounds strange to me. And I‘ve been in this city a long time. I have never heard anybody say—and by the way, it‘s very similar to what she said in her debate with Joe Biden— which made me wonder then, where does she get her civics?
She said that she had been asked the question earlier in the day by a 2nd grader. In this case, she‘s talking to a news reporter. Either she's right about the role of the vice presidency or I‘m wrong. I say the role of the vice presidency under the Constitution is limited to breaking ties in the U.S. Senate. It has nothing to do with policy making, nothing to do with Senate leadership on either side of the aisle. There is no policy role there whatever for the vice president. If you‘d even watched “John Adams” on television a few months ago, you would know that was the case, going into the very beginning of our democracy.
The vice president has a formal role only. She believes somehow that the vice president of the United States has a commanding policy development role...... and can lead the U.S. Senate. Where‘d she get this from? You've got a candidate who doesn't know the job description.
Chuck Todd on watching the McCain/Palin interview conducted by Brian Williams
I wouldn't blame Brian for wanting to say that there was a tenseness between -- first of all, between the two -- there's no chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin.
I felt as if we grabbed two people and said, "Here, sit next to each other. We are going to conduct an interview." They're not comfortable with each other yet.
The other thing about is, you could tell, they know that they are losing. There is an intensity there. They are drained. The entire campaign staff is drained. The two candidates seem guarded. They seem on edge. It's not as if they were rude or anything. It's not as if they weren't trying to be forthcoming. It's just an intense negative intensity. I don't know how else to describe it. But you will see, when you see the two of them together, the chemistry is not all there. You do wonder, is John McCain starting to blame her for things, blaming himself? Is she blaming him?
You just wonder, what's going on inside their heads? Are they upset with how the other has treated them?
from Chris Matthews
-When was the last time Republicans won the White House without a Bush or a Nixon on the ticket? You will not believe this: 1928.
You have got to go back to 1928 to find a year the Republicans won the White House without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket. I owe James Carville for that gigantic detail. 80 years of nothing but Bushes and Nixons in winning Republican tickets -- tonight's "Big Number." You can take that to the bar room tonight.
-Ben Barnes, who is lieutenant governor of Texas, sent me a letter. It was a letter sent by Barry Goldwater back in 1960, the day after Lyndon Johnson got the vice presidential nomination. Here's what Barry Goldwater, another senator from Arizona, said: "it is difficult to imagine a person like you running in a second spot to a weaker man" -- that would be Kennedy -- "but it is even more incredible to try to understand how you are going to try to embrace the socialist platform of your party."
by Chris Matthews
I have a thought about this election, something that means a lot to me as a citizen of this country.
You know what motivates most people - men, women, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives? It's being a provider, doing your level best to keep a roof over the family, putting food on the table, taking the family on vacation -- usually in the car -- buying Christmas presents for the kids and each other.
It's about being a provider, especially in tough times like the ones coming at us right now.
This is the heart of the political matter in this country and neither candidate, not even Barack Obama who is so good in saying the right thing in other areas, has talked directly to.
I think the average voter doesn't expect the politicians and the government to make life easy for them.
Believe me, no matter what the politicians promise, nobody believes they're getting something for nothing. Nobody expects or believes they should expect the political equivalent of breakfast in bed.
What they do expect is that government will be a modest help in doing what they need to do every day and week of their lives: provide for their families: some help with education, with health care, with taking care of their parents who are getting old. What they don't want is government making it harder to do what they have to do - by raising taxes on the working people or not keeping the streets safe.
It's not much to ask but it's the job of the two men running for president to talk directly to the providers out there and say they'll do it.
by Chris Matthews
Last Friday, we had an extraordinary claim made here on Hardball. U.S. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said this about the Democratic nominee for president:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: So this is a character issue. You believe that Barack Obama may -- you're suspicious because of this relationship -- may have anti-American views. Otherwise, it's probably irrelevant to this discussion.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, R-MINN.: Absolutely. I absolutely...
MATTHEWS: Do you believe that... Barack Obama may have anti-American views?
BACHMANN: Absolutely. I'm very concerned that he may have anti- American views. That's what the American people are concerned about. That's why they want to know what his answers are. That's why Joe the plumber has figured so highly in had the last few days...
MATTHEWS: OK. I just want to get off this...
BACHMANN: What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would love to see an expose like that.
What are we to make of this? An elected member of Congress says that a major party candidate may be anti-American, may be out to work against the interests and values of this country? May be an enemy?
What do we make of the call by a member of Congress for the press to launch an investigation of the U.S. Congress -- on her colleagues who have taken the oath to support the Constitution, of whether they are traitors or not. An investigation into people working against the interests and values of the United States? What are we to make of such a call?
Finally, let's get our vocabulary straight. What do we think is meant by this term "anti-American?" Is such a word being thrown around out of belief or for a partisan purpose?
It's impossible to know, given that we can't read minds. What would it mean if we read somewhere that a Canadian candidate for high office had just stood accused of being anti-Canadian? Would we treat that as absurd or what?
Let's hear what General Colin Powell had to say on the subject Sunday:
COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: If you are an American, you're an American and this business, for example, the congressman from Minnesota who is going around saying "let's examine all congressmen to see who is pro- America, and who is not pro- America." We have gotta stop this kind of non sense. Pull ourselves together, and remember that our great strength is in our unity, and in our diversity. That was really driving me, and put this on people like Mr. Ayers, are trivial issues, for the purpose of suggesting that Mr. Obama would have some kind of terrorist inclinations. I thought that was over the top. It was beyond just good fighting back and forth. I think it went beyond.
Yes, let's agree that it "went beyond."
Watch the complete video of Chris' response.
Click here to read and watch Keith Olbermann's Special Comment Monday: He lists examples of hateful, divisive politics from the right that actually do more to undermine America than the bogus accusations of anti-Americanism being leveled against Barack Obama.
On tonight's show, Rep. Michele Bachmann got in a heated exchange with Chris Matthews after she associated being liberal with being anti-American. She suggests that some Congress members are anti-American. Watch the clip below, and
click here for reaction from Katrina vanden Heuvel and Pat Buchanan.
MSNBC hosts and commentators reacted on-air to the final presidential debate of Decision '08.
Rachel Maddow
During the first part of the debate, I saw John McCain being quite spirited, aggressive, seeming to enjoy himself.
But before the halfway point, I thought his excitement and eagerness in participating in that sort of the back and forth devolved into a sort of anger and discomfort… a lot of eye-rolling and a tremendous amount of blinking, grimacing and mugging for the camera that he’s going to regret.
He got the zinger of the night when he said “I’m not George Bush,” to Obama. The zinger from Obama was probably against Fox News, not against McCain himself.
But I think the line that someone is going to regret, one that will resonate and will hurt McCain the most is when McCain ridiculed the idea that the life of the mother should be a concern in the abortion debate.
Women everywhere will reflect on that – that they’ll be forced by the government to carry to term and give birth. This will be seared on women’s minds: the government is not going to excuse you, short of death, from giving birth. It’s the extreme pro-abortion position.
Pat Buchanan
I thought Sen. Obama did not engage. He was like a boxer who knew he was winning on rounds and winning on points, and this is the 15th round. He knew all he had to do is avoid getting hit and knocked down.
I think he avoided engagement with McCain who clearly was intense, passionate, and aggressive all-evening long. It was McCain’s best performance -- he was intense and ideological, appealing to the base.
What surprised me changes were on the tone and tenor of the campaign. Bob Schieffer went at him directly for using words like “liar” and “terrorist.” McCain was passionate in defending what his campaign has done with Ayers and ACORN, even charging Obama’s campaign with the negative attack ads. I was surprised that Obama didn’t come back strong at all on that.
But when the vice presidential candidate qualifications were pointed out, Obama passed over any effort to criticize or suggest that Sarah Palin wasn’t qualified. And that's been the thing that’s consumed everybody on TV shows. Obama was gracious, which might have been pretty smart.
I think Obama realizes he’s got a winning formula. He’s saying to himself, “I’ve got this race wrapped up, what I’ve got to avoid is making some mistake and step into a K.O. punch.”
Obama does have this lead going for him. He knows it. To go with the boxing metaphor, he’s being told: “Just stay away from him.” He was super cautious in this final debate, and it tells me he’s trying to run out the clock. Obama simply has to not mess it up. I think Obama’s calm Zen-like confidence is also impressing people in these rocky times. He was even cooler than he was during the past two debates.
The last two presidential debates, I thought McCain the won the debate and a lot of people disagreed… so it’ll be interesting to see what people think.
Click here to see Rachel and Pat's live commentary during the debate.
Chris Matthews
I believe that it was a big mistake by John McCain tonight with regards to abortion rights. If it was his goal to win over the Hillary voter, or younger women in Florida or South East Pennsylvania, then what he said is not going to help him.
You can’t belittle the health exception with regard to abortion. You can’t say the exception is “only her possible death.” The health exception is in Roe V. Wade and characterizing it in a diminutive way is going to lose a lot of pro-choice women.
On another point: Sen. McCain never really did what he promised to do for weeks, questioning Obama about his patriotic impulse with regards to “palling around with terrorist.” If he’s going to use a phrase like the vice presidential candidate has done dramatically on the stump, if they are going to continue talking about Bill Ayres, they have to say what they mean with it. I don’t think he brought the question of the character and patriotism of Barack Obama.
On the economy, I think McCain has it wrong. The public is not angry. He made a calculation tonight and said to the public, “You’re angry,” about the current economic mess. He said those words a couple of times and I think he did that so he could be angry and be consistent with the public’s moods.
But I think on the economy, the public is scared, worried and depressed. That was captured by Obama tonight when he said, “We’re facing the worst economic challenge since the Great Depression.” He spoke about it alluding to an almost-historic weight on our shoulders now. He’s saying, “It’s not the time to shout out the window.” He may have the tenor right.
I thought it was a narrow victory for Barack Obama. People seem to like his casual performance over the heated intensity of John McCain. This debate has shown the most of McCain’s high intensity, but based on previous debates, that doesn’t seem to be working for the voters.
We’ll see in the hours and days ahead.
Keith Olbermann
I don't know about you, but I want to vote for this "Joe The Plumber" Guy.
If the Palin Biden match-up at the start of this month was the Joe Sixpack debate, the third and final meeting tonight between Senators Obama and McCain was about the Joe the Plumber.
Senator McCain answered the question of whether he would repeat the most negative attacks of his campaign to Obama's face by repeating the most negative attacks of his campaign to Obama's face.Forget the idea heading in that a sit-down format would lead to a chattier, friendlier exchange between the candidates. Tonight's debate was tough, and it was personal.
And for no one was it more personal than for Joe Wurzelbacher, henceforth known to this nation as "Joe the Plumber." Outside Toledo Ohio on Sunday, Mister Wurzelbacher approached Senator Obama to ask him about his tax plan, especially how it relates to small businesses.
Senator McCain spent the entirety of tonight's debate addressing most of his remarks -- on taxes and just about everything else -- to Joe the Plumber.
The other big name of the night: William Ayers. Yes, Senator McCain went there. The Republican nominee claimed the tone of this campaign could have been very different if Senator Obama had agreed to his request for a series joint town hall meetings. In other words, Ayers, Acorn and palling around with terrorists: Senator Obama had it coming.
In a campaign that has become about guilt by association, Obama talked about who he actually associates with. Senator McCain, meanwhile, tried to downplay any association between himself President Bush. He did effectively so, saying “I am not President Bush.”
Watch the complete interview between Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and Hardball’s Chris Matthews on topics ranging from McCain’s campaign tactics to the last presidential debate and the economic problems facing the country.
On Monday, Chris Matthews talked with Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden about his reaction to the McCain campaign's negative attack tactics during the past week of the race.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST, HARDBALL: I sat down with Sen. Biden and pushed him on the Republican efforts, including those by Gov. Sarah Palin, to paint Barack Obama as someone who associates with terrorists, someone obviously not to be trusted.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was talking about that ad on television that says Barack consorts with terrorists. I mean, look, I mean, Barack was 8 years old when this guy was doing the things he was doing in 1969.
And yet I think the average person will look at that -- would look at that guy's picture and say, "Is he al-Qaida? Is he something else?" I mean, I think it's over the edge.
MATTHEWS: What do you make of the, sort of the pattern with these Republican surrogates up on the stage last week referring to him by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama? Do you see that as part of that inference?
BIDEN: Yes. Look, I mean, I think this is all about not wanting to talk about what's really bothering people and trying to change the subject.
Look, think about it, Chris, real simple politics. You're an old-time politician. Me, too. How do you explain what got us into the spot we're in economically and in terms of our foreign policy without walking away from the last eight years' policies or coming up with another explanation why it's somebody else's fault?
Well, I don't think the McCain-Palin particularly can do either. One, if they do, they lose their base. The other, if they do, there's no legitimate argument. So what are they going to talk about? They're going to talk about Barack and they're going to try to scare people.
MATTHEWS: Scare people. John Lewis, who I know you respect, with the great civil rights record that he had, he said that he feels that the rhetoric coming from the other side, from the Republican side is stimulating, triggering the kind of atmosphere we saw back which led to so much tragedy in the '60s.
BIDEN: Well, look, I just think it's unhealthy, you know? You don't throw race, terrorism, you know, the "other guy," "Who is this man?"
That's a combustible mix in an environment where people are concerned, angry, some people, where we still haven't been able to deal with the cause of what 9/11 and, you know, I mean, it's just not a healthy mix. I don't think it's...
MATTHEWS: Are we talking the potential of violence here? Is that what we're talking about?
BIDEN: I hope not. I hope not. It's just not a useful time to be running an ad, I'll just stick to that, that says, look, the guy consorts with terrorists, puts a picture of a guy up nobody knows, doesn't explain Barack Obama was 8 years old when this guy did bad things and this guy has now received all kinds of awards, whether he should have or shouldn't have. I mean, I just think it's just not good.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let's talk about the big night coming up Wednesday night, the last of the debates. You were in one.
BIDEN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: There's been two presidential debates. It's an interesting thing, because Barack Obama, your running mate, has said, "OK, whatever you have to say, forget the inferences, forget the ads, say it to my face." What kind of a situation will that be Wednesday night, if John McCain does continue with that pattern that the campaign has been following of, as you call them, inferences?
BIDEN: I think John will regret the rest of his life, having an incredible career being cast in what people will remember. I don't think John will do that.
MATTHEWS: You don't think he'll get face-to-face?
BIDEN: No, I think John's already begun to realize, just by what I've seen on television and a lot of you have reported, that John's sort of pushing back on...
MATTHEWS: Friday night he did.
BIDEN: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have read about him, and he's not -- he's not -- he's a -- he's an Arab. He is not? No?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, ma'am. No, ma'am. No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. And that's what this campaign is all about. He's not. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: That was the old John McCain. That's the guy you and I, I'll speak for myself, that I've known.
MATTHEWS: Yes, well, we saw that all the time.
BIDEN: Yes, I mean, that...
MATTHEWS: You think he had enough of it?
BIDEN: I think he's had enough of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Ladies and gentlemen, good to be here. It's good to be home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: The states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, they seem to be once again called the battleground states, the states that will decide this -- what's your outlook right now, this Columbus weekend, for Pennsylvania?
BIDEN: Very good. I feel very good about Pennsylvania, now, maybe because I am in Delaware, and Pennsylvania has sort of been my market, and I'm from Pennsylvania. You know the state, Chris, better than anybody I know.
MATTHEWS: But you're the third senator from Pennsylvania, everybody calls you.
BIDEN: Yes, well -- well, it is. And I think I know the state. I think I know the state.
And, look, if there's ever a time when the things that matter to the people in Pennsylvania, those very people you're talking about, those seniors you're talking about, older population, my God, they just watched $2 trillion of, you know, their retirement just blown away. And these guys are talking about privatization or partial privatization of Social Security?
They're looking out there. And what's the one thing they've always valued, whether in North Philly or up here? Where was it? Education. "My kid's going to get educated."
They're looking now and saying, "I'm not going to be able to send Mary back to second semester, let alone get Charlie there the first time going around." So all of these issues are issues that I think are really the kitchen-table issues of -- of the people that I grew up with.
I don't know. I feel good about Pennsylvania. I know we're going to do very well in Michigan, and I think Ohio has come along. I also feel good about Florida.
MATTHEWS: Do you think the regular guy, the regular Joe up here, is going to be able to make that leap and say, "That guy out there from Chicago, with the different name, is in my interest. This guy who seems more familiar to me, John McCain, isn't?"
BIDEN: At first blush, no. But now they're getting to know them. Watch them both at debates. What did they see in those debates? They saw the guy from Chicago connecting more with them.
They saw the guy from Chicago standing there saying, "I can remember my mother when she was dying, having to argue with the insurance company." They get it. They get it.
They see -- they see Barack at the debate. They see him steady. They see him cool. They see him -- nothing at all about him came across as sort of ethereal. This guy is in a different -- and they watched John McCain, the guy -- heroes up this side of the -- this neck of the woods are people with steady hands, know exactly what they think, know where they want to go. John's bouncing from pillar to post on the issues. He doesn't seem...
MATTHEWS: He's lurching, you said.
BIDEN: Well, I did say lurching. I did.
MATTHEWS: What's that mean?
BIDEN: Well, he's just jumping from one position to another. He just -- it's almost like he's -- I think -- I think John knows...
MATTHEWS: You don't think he's too old, do you?
BIDEN: No, I don't he's too old.
MATTHEWS: Just -- when you say lurching, you mean policies?
BIDEN: Yes, I mean policy. I mean, he just is searching for what it is; I think John thought this whole race was going to be about foreign policy. And all of a sudden, it's about things that John -- they're not familiar to him.
MATTHEWS: Senator, it's great. Thank you very much, Sen. Joe Biden.
BIDEN: Appreciate it. Thanks.
Watch the complete video.
MSNBC hosts and commentators reacted on-air following the town hall debate between Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain. Below, are some of the highlights of their responses.
Chris Matthews
This debate had a lot more substance than you could have imagined and not as much of the character attacks that we feared would overtake this debate.
McCain on Obama, brought up taxes and said, “You can’t trust this guy. He lies.” He made the argument that we’ve seen different incarnations of Obama's tax plan, and that Obama was not leveling with voters that the economy is bad.
Barack Obama, meanwhile, talked about lobbyists and the evil thereof, presumably alluding to the Keating Five. He also made news by going after AIG and how they spent $400,000 on a luxury retreat in California. Obama now wants them to give the money back to the government, if only from that junket and even wants all their executive fired.
It was interesting too since there were bizarre moments when McCain took a shot at the moderator. When asked who he might consider Secretary of the Treasury, out of nowhere, he said, “Not you, Tom.” We have to figure that one out.
They showed a big difference on health care – on whether it’s a right or a responsibility – and I think Obama got that right. We as a society believe we have a right to health care. He had the right definition and he will win that argument.
And to use a Sherlock Homes term, “the dog didn’t bite.” Of the hour and a half of the debate, the assignment that McCain’s running mate has been carrying out for the past four days – associating Obama with Bill Ayers, 26 years later -- we saw none of that. It tells us that McCain is not personally comfortable with that kind of attack.
I think that’s going to get a lot of attention: John McCain would not stick it to his rival on the very issue that his campaign has been.
In the end, this debate was not a game changer for Sen. McCain. Because in tenor and appearance, Sen. Obama is gifted. He has a smile that seems to disarm, even when attacks are ferocious. McCain’s smile has a slightly menacing quality which makes you wonder what he’s thinking.
Obama comes across as a debonaire even under attack. I think he’ll stay in the lead.
Rachel Maddow
My impression of the debate was that Obama was not looking for a fight, and Sen. McCain was. Both candidates were confident, but McCain seemed edgy, even taking on the moderator Tom Brokaw, and once interjecting while Obama was speaking.
It left me with the sense that McCain was swinging and missing.
He may also regret talking about “joking with an old veteran-friend” when he sang “Bomb, bomb Iran,” because his campaign later adopted the same Beach Boys song, “Barbara Ann” as a campaign theme song. So if he meant it as a joke, he has a weird way of showing it.
Pat Buchanan
I agree with some of Rachel’s analysis but not all of it. McCain did come in with more heart and fight. He was the aggressor, as he needed to be, coming in behind the polls. He threw punches and scored more points. But I also thought that he slipped on some of the punches.
I thought he won last time, and he did better today than he did at the last debate. He smiled, he looked at his opponent, and he talked to the audience.
Obama meanwhile, also came back very tough on some of the attacks and pointed out McCain’s statements on Iran and North Korea right after McCain questioned Obama’s judgment and words.
At times, Sen. Obama seemed a bit too laid back. It felt like he could have responded harder at certain times. But the Democrat was clearly not knocked out. Barack also succeed. He came off as presidential, a cool customer, and unfazed by these attacks. He gave people the assurance that he isn’t “some radical.”
Keith Olbermann
In the history of American politics, you would be hard pressed to find any candidate who after not looking his opponent in the eye in their first debate, finally chose to do so in their second debate, but only to condescendingly refer to him as “that one.”
You would also be hard pressed to find any candidate who said of Social Security, "We are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers... that present day retirees have today."
You would also be hard pressed to find a candidate who thought he would gain benefit from a format that him walk around a room like an ailing man, winding up walking directly in front of the moderator's camera as the moderator is trying to say good night.
At least you would be hard pressed to find any candidate who did those things... and wanted to win.
Senator McCain is ostensibly running on the McCain/Palin ticket, but had at least three references to the Connecticut Democrat turned Independent. One would be forgiven for thinking it might be the McCain/Lieberman ticket.
McCain is up to his neck in toxic campaign waste of his own creation. His choice tonight was to (a) attack Obama in person, with sleaze and to risk looking irresponsible and even irrational and (b) if he didn’t attack, he would risk looking hypocritical.
But though McCain's tone seemed to be vaguely reminiscent of his own campaign's weekend of descent into the muck, there was not a mention of any of the subjects or people about whom Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin obsessed.
Obama, meanwhile, was playing from ahead: was he cautious or defensive? The Democrat tonight was not just the first candidate to mention 9/11 directly tonight, he was the only candidate who did so. And for a second consecutive debate, Sen. Obama was running against not only Sen. McCain but eight years of President George W. Bush.
by Chris Matthews
I have been watching and studying politics for a long time. What we're seeing here is a campaign that knows it's on a losing course; that knows it needs, desperately, to change the subject.
The subject right now is the economy. And it's killing the incumbent party. If you ask someone if they like the direction this country's heading in, only a fraction, a slice of voters will say, "Yeah, keep it up."
So what do the wise guys around John McCain tell him? They tell him that he either goes at his rival, personally, or he loses. He needs to change the topic from "What do you think of the way things are headed in this country" to "Who is this guy Barack Obama?"
Mystery! That's what they want to shroud Obama with. The guy's been out there in the open for four years now. We have been watching his every move, grabbing his every sound bite, watching everything in his public record. That's not the point. What the geniuses around John McCain want voters to do is to worry about something they can't determine and could never determine from the facts. They want to create a mystery that the imaginative voter can connect, like a string of dots: from "palled around with a terrorist," to his middle name, to his donor list that might just include some foreigners. They're out to say that Barack Obama is friendly to the people now threatening our country.
That's the dirt, and using this technique of creating a mystery in our minds, they want you, the voters to throw the dirt.
Watch Chris Matthews' commentary below:
MSNBC hosts reacted instantly on-air to how they thought the debate went. Below are a few highlights:
Chris Matthews
For a while, I thought I was hearing recitation. She was more of a contestant than a candidate. I thought I was watching a spelling bee with some of Gov. Palin’s responses. It was so reciting, so automatic.
She said she wasn’t going to listen to Gwen Ifill tonight. She also said didn't like "the filter of mainstream media," which means she’s not going to do more serious interviews like Katie Couric.
I also thought it was interesting that Sarah Palin wanted to enlarge the constitutional role for the vice president. I've never heard anyone seek an office, and then ask to have its powers increased on their watch. That was extraordinary and requires more exploration for the media.
So, in essence, tonight, what a statement: “I’m not playing by the rules, and when I get elected I want more power in the office than it has had before.” There's not too much humility there.
Pat Buchanan
Sarah Palin was sensational tonight. She not only met expectations, she wiped the floor with Joe Biden. She was personable, young, and exciting. She looked straight to the camera. I didn’t see a foot fault in the whole thing.
Of all the four candidates I’ve watched, she was the most interesting and attractive of them all. I would take a look at the over-all impression of that hour and a half. Joe Biden was boring and Palin was exciting.
I sat with some Democratic ladies as I was watching, and they were all surprised at how well she did. I think there are conservatives and Republicans breathing a sigh of relief, saying, “Yes, we were nervous.”
I think she has done a sensational job and she had recaptured that magic she had at the convention.
Rachel Maddow
I think Sarah Palin met the lower expectations of not being willing to discuss policy in too much substance or detail. On the higher expectations on personality and poise, I didn’t think she met them. She was certainly very folksy but in a frantic, gimmicky way.
I thought the moment when Joe Biden choked up, the way we’ve seen him do over the years on the Senate floor -- about how he was not sure his children were going to pull through, he was referring to his son being injured in a car accident and losing his daughter awhile back -- she ignored it, and then just talked about John McCain as a maverick. It was a talking point and she used them in a forced, inhuman kind of way. It was as if she was a character instead of someone you might like to spend time with.
She did make news by saying the power of the vice president ought to be expanded. That wouldn't have been a big deal four years ago, but coming out of Vice President Dick Cheney and his legacy, her saying that -- that's news.
She also made a gaffe by calling the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan McCllelan instead of McKiernan.
I don’t know, the next person that winks at me, I don’t think I’ll be able to take it.
Keith Olbermann
Gov. Sarah Palin did not crash, she did not burn, but she also did not answer the question.
Governor Palin began the debate with a request to keep things informal, asking Senator Biden at the handshake, "Hey, can I call you Joe?" From there, it was a short trip to attempting a connection with working class voters and the proverbial "Joe Six Pack."
But in addition to viewing the actual debate questions as optional, Palin's strategy when things got uncomfortable was to stray into energy no matter what the original topic.
Asked about her greatest weakness, Governor Palin talked about her strengths and her marriage and her executive skills and the shining city on the hill.
Asked about Afghanistan, she got the name of the commander there wrong, misquoted him, and tried to scold Senator Biden for getting the quotes right.
Asked about Iraq, she got the number of troops there, wrong.
Asked about X, she answered about Y, and on at least one occasion said in advance she would not answer the moderator's question.
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The Governor of Alaska did not spontaneously combust, she did not say she'd get back to us... in that sense, it was a triumph. And possibly, in no **other** sense.
The question tonight: Was it enough? Was Governor Palin's performance tonight the game-changer that was needed to reverse the downward slide of the Republican ticket?
