Does Obama expect to get away with this every time McCain knows more?

What exactly is the point of having a “town hall” if you are going to take questions from the Internet? There are far too few people in the audience, robbing McCain the kind of crowd he needs to laugh at his occasional jokes. Boy is this whole debate poorly conceived.

McCain just knows this stuff cold.  Obama spends his time criticizing the Karzai government. McCain outlines a strategy to win against al Qaeda.

…to point out that the only reason we’re talking right now about fighting Al-Qaeda in Waziristan is because we’ve already defeated the group in Iraq. A state of affairs, of course, that would never have come to pass if Obama had gotten his way. There is a serious amount of opportunism and duplicity to Obama’s position.

McCain should let people know: Obama’s loud talk has already compromised America’s relationship with Pakistan.

McCain hits Obama again on his threats on Pakistan.  The problem is that when Obama answered he hit hard on going after Osama and most Americans would agreee with that.

If we set a date for withdraw in Iraq we would have come home in defeat, he argues.  He points to Somalia and Lebanon and stresses the need to “temper” our actions. He doesn’t quite put all the pieces together, namely that use of hard force which Obama nearly always opposes is the only solution in many instances  to prevent humanitarian suffering.

So says Obama. We have, Senator. In Iraq.

Obama is on record:

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

Brokaw just asked the first really substantive question of the evening.   And Obama just called for US intervention in Darfur. 

“We intervene where possible…” This is a good answer by Obama.

Noah, it’s also not true. Many Americans were greeted as liberators in Iraq.

Obama loves, absolutely loves, to say that American soldiers weren’t “greeted as liberators” in Iraq. It’s such a strange fixation.

I’m sure all these questioners are well-intentioned, decent folks. But it would be great if we could learn something about who these people are; ie, have they donated to campaigns?; are they declared supporters?; have they ever worked for candidates of either party?; are they union members, veterans, etc? The press apparently had the list of all the questioners in advance, including in what order their questions would come. Couldn’t one network get up a chyron with some relevant background on each person who asks a question?

Obama goes after McCain on Iraq. Maybe the best way for McCain to answer would be to say, “We are the liberators of Iraq.”

Where they get away with murder? Where the heck has Senator Biden been??

Obama is very very big on understanding the rest of the world through people he’s known–never himself. He knows the horror of crafty insurance companies because of his mother’s death, understands racism because of his grandmother’s prejudice, appreciates the sacrifice of Americans in uniform because of his uncle’s service in WWII. He has a relative for every issue. What has he done? Something, anything!

Will people buy the Obama promise that he can provide enormous benefits at less cost?

 McCain gives the right answer on health care as a responsibility not a privilege or right.  Obama says it should be a right. Why is health care a right but not food or shelter?  I’ve never understood why the left thinks that health care should be the government’s responsibility.  Government already provides health care for the poor.