McCain & Obama At Saddleback

Weak weak weak

When asked the same question McCain immediately answered “at the moment of conception.” (check out Mike’s post below for more on this non-answer)

One of the reasons I respect Bush so much is he is willing to answer the tough question, even if the answer pisses people off and brings down the poll numbers. McCain’s performance tonight reminded me of this kind of attitude. He took a position on every question…not waffling…not uncommitted as Obama did. Do you want this kind of waffling, uncommitted man answering that 3am phone call?

Jonah Goldberg agrees:

I think Obama did very well (and he doesn’t need to win a majority of this audience, he merely needs to keep McCain’s support below typical trends). But this was McCain’s best performance in memory. For the first time I can think of in ’08, at least, he comes across as the kind of guy a lot of conservatives can want to vote for, rather than merely settle for.

Here is another example of the rotting of the liberal mind. Moral relativism:

McClatchy Watch with a partial transcript:

Question to Obama: “Does evil exist, and if it does, do we ignore it, do we negotiate with it, do we contain it, do we defeat it?”

Obama: “… a lot of evil has been perpetrated, uh, based on the claim that we were trying to confront evil.”

Question to McCain: “Does evil exist, and if so, should we ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it, or defeat it?”

McCain: “Defeat it.”

Sigh…..

It gets better. Obama either flat out lies:

Obama said the most gut-wrenching decision of his life was to vote against the Iraq War. McCain said it was when he declined an offer to leave a prison camp in Vietnam.

Uh, messiah….you were not in the Senate for that vote. Guess he just misspoke on this one also…

To think this Jimmy Carter redux is so close to the Presidency.

UPDATE

Mark Hemingway at The Corner nails it:

McCain did extremely well and Obama did very poorly. McCain’s answers were direct, confident and, most importantly, serious. When asked about what leaders he would consult as president, he first suggested Gen. Petraeus, architect of the surge, who he correctly praised as one of America’s all-time great military leaders. By way of contrast, Obama suggested he would seek out the advice of a typical white person, er, his grandmother and his wife Michelle, who’s still trying to decide whether she’s proud of her country.

When asked “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?,” McCain answered “At the moment of conception.” Obama’s answer here was flaming-dirigible bad:

Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade.

That spectacularly inept metaphor is going to haunt Obama throughout the rest of the campaign. News flash: There’s not a job on the planet above the pay grade of the President of the United States. If you can’t solve every problem and are humble about it, that’s fine — but you can’t get away with being unsure about the most defining moral issue in politics. Of course, he didn’t put down the shovel:

But let me speak more generally about the issue of abortion. Because this is something, obviously, the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue. And So I think that anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue is not paying attention.

So after completely hedging on the question and declining to give a specific answer — he wants to speak “more generally” about the issue? And, lo and behold, speak more generally he does: “I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue.” In related news, Obama is also “absolutely convinced” that the sky is blue, water is wet and puppies are adorable. None of this, however, tells me a thing about his judgment and moral worldview.

More here and at American Power, Ace of Spades HQ, Macsmind, Riehl World View, Betsy’s Page, Gateway Pundit, RightWingSparkle, Atlas Shrugs, The Radio Patriot, Cheat Seeking Missiles, Instapundit, Sister Toldjah, & Hot Air.

Curt

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