"John McCain excels in the Town Hall format." Really now?

[Lex]

Pacing around, clenching his jaw, and using that whiny lecturing tone with the audience?

I wonder how he'll look in comparison with Senator Obama, who strikes me as reasoned and poised and Presidential.

Will be interesting to see because the media keeps saying McCain does so well in this format.

[OKNancy]

1. They all think he is their "friend"

I mean, he calls them his friends often enough. :)

[flpoljunkie]

2. Yes, a forum where no one questions McCain's answers or asks a followup question.

[Canuckistanian]

3. He keeps saying that, so it must be true

And the stenographers dutifully write it down.

[AlCzervik]

4. i asked the same question and got no response so either everyone has me on ignore or no one

could tell me why that's his best debate format.

[Lex]

13. Not hard to believe we had the same take on

this topic! I didn't see your thread or I'd have been all 'WTF' along with you. :hi:

[Virginia Dare]

46. HIS perception is that it's his best format..

because he tells those schmaltzy stories about soldiers that he's met and places he's been and he thinks he can connect to an audience with these. I will LOL if he tells the same schmaltzy story that he told at the last debate, like an old granny would.

That's my opinion anyway...didn't see your thread...:hi:

[Lucky 13]

5. VISUALLY I think it should highly favor Obama.

McCain is a frail old man, short in stature. Obama is young, TALL, trim, and not an albino.

McCain is apparently VERY sensitive about his appearance and height.

:)

[Abacus]

6. I think his town hall performances are overrated

I'm not sure where that meme came from, but raising his expectations is fine with me.

McCain's best performances seem to be one-on-one interviews when he isn't being a prick.

[CitizenLeft]

21. so do I.

And the pundits forget to mention that McCain was forced into holding "town halls" because he couldn't get anyone to come listen to him... so he chose small venues by necessity.

And his whining about Obama not having 10 town halls with him - get serious! Obama wasn't about to do exactly what he wanted on his terms! WTF! Especially since the only person to benefit from that would be McCain, since he couldn't possibly attract the same crowds without Obama standing on the stage with him. What a petulant petty vindictive old man.

[CLANG]

53. Remember his green screen background speech?

When he had that creepy ghoulish smile? I think that either created or certainly strongly reinforced the meme that this is his best formst. How can you argue with that? :rofl:

[Abacus]

58. Update: After that debate, it will be *were* overrated.

[billyoc]

7. Sure. There's no stage for the bloodless freak to get lost on.

[TwilightGardener]

8. I'm always baffled by that assertion. He sort of does the same vaudeville act

that he's been doing for years, and he takes mostly friendly softball questions from a friendly audience, and the media is just bowled over by that as evidence of some sort of awesome political skill.

[myrna minx]

35. His plate spinning, poodles on unicycles, his jazz hands and his "Heh" honking may dazzle

his own base, but I think it will fall flat with a bi-partisan American audience.

[TwilightGardener]

37. I loved that video of him saying "How bout that Sarah Palin, heh heh heh"--

what a creepy old perv. Like she just did a pole dance or jumped out of a cake.

[Virginia Dare]

47. He should have added, quite a swing in that back yard eh?...

while he twists his wedding band around obsessively--what a creep.

[TwilightGardener]

57. LOL! Never heard that saying before--cracks me up.

[dgibby]

9. His audiences are handpicked

from his supporters. The audience at the debate tonight is composed of undecided voters, so it shouldn't be as biased. Should be very interesting.

[Lex]

18. Good point.

He may blow his top tonight.

[AspenRose]

Didn't he insult that high school kid in NH in the Town Hall format?

Maybe we'll be so lucky tonight...

[Lex]

14. yes he did!

gramps gets grumpy sometimes

[Virginia Dare]

48. called him a stupid little jerk...

"jokingly" of course...:eyes: I hope he tells lots of "jokes" tonight, that should go over like a fart in church.

[bullwinkle428]

10. Let's look at some some of his "Great Town Hall Moments" -

-called a teenager "you little jerk" when he questioned McCain about his age

-when a woman asked "What do we do about the bitch?" in reference to Hillary, McCain enjoyed a hearty chuckle and said "That's a great question!"

-"Bomb, bomb, bomb...bomb, bomb Iran!"

-reference to Czech Republic as "Czechoslovakia", a nation that hasn't existed for years

-agreeing with the woman in the crowd that more or less stated that a draft was absolutely necessary in order to continue with the policies that he was pushing

[TwilightGardener]

12. The "little jerk" comment was part of McStupid's comedy act, he's been

calling kids that as a joke when they question his age.

[high density]

28. The questions will be pre-screened

So I think we can assume there won't be any questions with the word "bitch" in them. :)

And the participants will all be of voting age, so there will be no "little jerk" comments to make.

[Ikonoklast]

33. But, anyone under the age of fifty is a kid to McSame

They're all draft-dodging commie lovers.

[Johonny]

41. Yeah I think it's a media myth that McCain is good at this style

He actually wasn't bad in the last debate. The thing people didn't like was his personality. Obama has a lot more personality than McCain. It's hard to doubt this format will be worse for McCain, who can be great when he's in the mood, but often bombs in this format when he gets angry. He's getting trounced in the polls, guess what McCain shows up.

[Virginia Dare]

50. He sounded angry and condescending too..

when he kept saying "Senator Obama doesn't understand", and then Obama would just go on proving that he did understand. It just didn't ring true.

[Johonny]

56. Ive seen McCain on the TDS a lot of times

sometimes McCain the nice every man showed up and really worked well with John. A lot of times McCain the mean bitter man showed up insulted John and turned the audience quickly against him. Given what I've heard the last week out of his mouth, I see no way the nice John shows up tonight.

[CLANG]

54. About getting things wrong repeatedly

My father has Alzheimer's, and I see A LOT of similarities at the early stages with McCain. He probably says Czechoslovakia because that is a long term memory. And when he got lost onstage yesterday, the look in his eyes was eerily familiar to me.

[dogtag]

11. Excels? Only compared to

his failed efforts to read a teleprompter. He doesn't excel at anything. Not flying, marriage, truth telling, reforming, regulating, straight talking, veep picking.....help me out here. So much more to list.

[Lex]

15. Exactly the word CNN used this morning.

"McCain excels in this town hall format"

Me: "NOT"

[SuperTrouper]

16. In a Townhall is where he said: McHouses and 100 years Iraq

Yup, that is excelling in a Townhall.
What about Bomb bomb bomb Iran?

[Wetzelbill]

17. Yeah in front of a kool aid crowd where he rambles on and sings "Bomb Iran"

He does fine then. But millions of viewers don't watch that stuff. They will be watching this. He has overinflated his abilities badly. He's not a good debater and he's not that good in town halls. It's why he lost that last debate by so much. He's not that good or knowledgable in the first place, but he tries to portray himself like he's a real seasoned and experienced ace who knows policy like the back of his hand. He makes himself out to be like Joe Biden, and he's not that smart or knowledgable.

[ecstatic]

19. And haven't his biggest gaffes occurred at townhalls?

Such as bomb bomb bomb Iran and 100 years in Iraq... and the time when he got rude with the vet?

It's funny how once a meme is set, one million examples of why the meme is false still can't kill it. :shrug:

[SuperTrouper]

30. and McHouses LOL!! And the fundamentals of the economy!!

[rucky]

20. Let's keep those expectations high.

so his fans can face the ultimate letdown.

[JeffR]

22. Good point. Just one of the McCain cliches the MSM embraces.

Ranking right up there with:

"Foreign policy is his strong suit!"

"He's a maverick!"

"He's a war hero!"

"Bucks his own party!"

"Stood up to the religious right!"

"He's a straight talker!"

Blah blah blah...

[NewJeffCT]

23. I think Obama has no chance tonight

It's obviously McCain's preferred setting, and Obama has been avoiding the Town Halls out of fear of McCain, and it is 100% Obama's fault that the campaign has gone negative because he didn't want to do the town halls.

If Obama manages to even answer one question competently, it will be a victory for him. I mean, he's like the Christian being tossed to the lion here, David against Goliath, Poland vs Germany in 1939, etc, etc.









:sarcasm:

[Lex]

26. Agreed!

(I see what you are doing there.)

:)

[DefenseLawyer]

24. Maybe he will agree again that we need to reinstate the draft

at this town hall meeting.

[zulchzulu]

25. McCain excels in a town format with PRE-SCREENED REPIGS...

Yeah, if you get an audience that is pre-screened and only asks puff questions, sure, a goddamn monkey on crack can do pretty well.

If you have an audience that is hopefully independent or not for one candidate or another, it turns it into a different story.

We'll see who in the audience is honest or not.

[jjanpundt]

34. Hopefully, tonight's audience will truly be unbiased. We should

get some interesting questions. I'm concerned with Brokaw moderating although in a town hall format he's not much more than a traffic cop. I've never seen Obama in a town hall setting, does he do ok?

[progressivebydesign]

27. McKeating "excels" in those when the audience is HAND PICKED republicans. DUH!

Is the media that stupid on this? the repukes exel at those because they fill them with donors and volunteers for the campaign. Give me a break. I'd love to see Mckeating at a REAL town hall, when people were just let in the door at random.

Put that fucker on a street corner with a live feed and a mic, and have people walking on the street ask him questions. THAT'S a REAL town hall.

[Lex]

29. Yes--I like that idea

about the street corner and a live mic and taking questions. LOL. I actually think Obama would do well at that.

[sampsonblk]

31. Agreed

Mcain does great in a town hall full of GOPers with no one on the stage to disagree with him. How will he do against Barack Obama?

I love our chances. McCain needs a game-changer, and I certainly don't expect one tonight.

[Overseas]

32. How's that Johnny McLiar-- HAAAAHNH? How's he gonna do-- HAAAHNH?

I agree with you that he doesn't really do well in those. Even as RNC planned events with "spontaneous" questions McLiar has prepared for. He reels off the same tired negative attacks in those formats all set up to help him succeed. He just lies through his teeth with little smiles.

He wears his windbreaker often in those formats. Zipper jacket is supposed to offset the $520 loafers and too many houses to count.

He walks around to show that he can walk without assistance.

But this time he will have Tom Brokaw on his side. Tommy B. has told the McLiar campaign that he would do his best to offset those horrible reporters like Keith who are rude enough to tell the truth about McLiar and the Bush gang.

[redqueen]

55. Hah... thanks for "HAAAAHNH?"

I really needed that laugh.

[Imagevision]

36. Yeah Mccain excels at town hall meetings - as long as Obama isn't there...

[Alter Ego]

38. Only because his town halls are packed with his supporters

who ask him questions like "Senator McCain, is Barack Obama just an evil black man or a terrorist bent on destroying America?" and "Senator McCain, do you prefer puppies or kittens?"

[Lex]

39. Will be interesting if the audience *isn't* full of kool-aid drinkers

for the repubs.

[LTR]

40. Those town halls are packed with McCain supporters

How does he do with undecided voters and people who don't like him much?

[Lex]

43. This place tonight, the people there--conservative.

It's "the largest Christian university in Tennessee" so says wiki anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmont_University

[TexasObserver]

42. McCain excels when he can play stand up comic to a room of octogenarian bigots.

And they think that's doing well in a town hall format.

McCain is terrible anywhere but in front of supporters.

[Phx_Dem]

44. Some moron on MSNBC said he was the . . . wait for it

"Michael Phelps of town hall meetings." Bwahahahahaaaa. The media has lost their everlovin minds. Town hall meetings are where McCain makes most of his gaffes.

Now that they've set the bar about 100 ft. over his head let's see how the old fart does.

[Lex]

45. OMG---that is a priceless quote!!

McCain as ""Michael Phelps of" anything makes me laugh uncontrollably.

[Erin Elizabeth]

49. Yep, the differences will be striking.

McCain will not look good in this format next to Obama.

[Ganja Ninja]

51. When you pack a hall full of Republican's only, how can he fail?

Hopefully that won't be the case tonight.

[Virginia Dare]

52. The first time one of his lame "jokes" falls flat..

or the audience fails to respond accordingly to one of his "heart-warming" stories, he'll lose it, and it will be over for him.