I was almost in tears watching these clips.

I liked her attitude too, but maybe you should lower your dosage.

I loved watching it too.

The look on his face: Angry McCain getting slapped around.

Great optics, there.

She was excellent. Even CNN is reporting how hard she grilled him. Go Barbara.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/12/mccain-gets-grilled-on-the-view/

John McCain likes town halls because there are no counter questions. At least the ladies at the View got off a few.
He is down to a few responses to anything. His prisoner of war experience of course. But also this town hall meeting mantra he keeps chiming in with. As I understand it, the Obama campaign responded to his invitation asking for a single event and JM turned it down. Anyone who has ever negotiated knows that there is a process of counter offers and compromises. It ended there? John McCain just dropped something that is so obsessionally important to him. What happened? Why wasn't JM flexible? "He doth protest to much". A response to his mantra needs to be put out there, so that the MSM and the ladies of The View, when called upon, can put an end to this idiotic excuse.

I just took time off from preparations for the oncoming storm here in Houston to watch this, and it was certainly well worth it. I do hope the gentlemen in our media will follow the example of these ladies.

Walters is so old she remembers a time when there were typewriters, typesetters, reporters and journalists.

It irritates me that women who hated Bill Clinton for his infidelities and hated Hillary for "degrading herself" and staying with Bill are giving McCain a pass on his serial infidelities and on calling his wife the c-word in front of reporters, etc. I wish someone would have asked him about that. It would be hard for McCain to cry that they were picking on him.

These were great clips. They could have been a lot tougher on him but it is a start. Essentially, mccain is spending taxpayer money, since he's accepted the federal funding, on spreading lies and smears. He does not have any answers to the crucial issues facing this country - He has absolutely no clue and looks more "puzzled" each day.

And now we have mccain's problem with the latest Interior Dept sex, drugs and booze scandal.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/mccain_cleaning_up_lobbying_hi.php
Too bad this latest Republican sex scandal had to come at the same time as the latest hurricane. I was wondering if Dobbs or Blitzer would pick up on it.

Can't wait for the first debate, although I do wonder if Jim Lehrer is up to being the moderator.

It is ironic that I think she really was part and parcel of the beginning of treating political interviews like celebrity interviews by getting into personality.

The way she got the big "gets" earlier in her career was because the gets thought she would be easier on them than a more serious news reporter. That she would at least show them as a whole person and not just a politician or leader, by getting into personality and not just policy questions. Hence, many joke that her most famous question was "if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?"

Underneath it all, she really was serious, but she just was just ruthlessly going about getting interviews--and a bigger audience than the boring "Meet the Press." But after her, the deluge.

McCain didn't know how much trouble he was in.

He could have checked a few days ago.

Whoopi : "I believe that the separation of church and state is very necessary for this country because we're a country that welcomes all religions, people of all kinds of backgrounds and the minute it becomes one kind of religious country I'm very concerned. It feels not like a good idea. I like the separation.

Barbara : It's against the constitution. The constitution guarantees the separation of church and state.

Whoopi : Well you know, but it doesn't.

Barbara : But doesn't in exact words.

Whoopi : Right."

"Barbara : But the fact that it's god's will in a way takes the responsibility away from you - 'Oh, it's god...' On that point 'Oh, it's god...' And I think that's....concerning."

"Barbara : It's one thing to believe in faith, it's another thing to say that things that occur... a war... a pipeline...are god's will."

Whoopi later discusses how Obama cannot be seen as 'a black man hitting a white woman.' McCain of course released an ad suggesting Obama is a predatory who is disrespecting a white woman. So what part of this did McCain not understand?

At the end of the segment when he says "get barack on" and she dismissively says "yeah, you bring sarah palin on here and we'll get barack [you stupid putz]".

Barbara Walters ftw!

Barbara Walters' career was made on tough interviews, wasn't it? Not sure why folks are surprised.

I have to believe that he lost votes today from the constituency he most coveted.

I think Lincoln Chafee is right, and Sarah Palin is a "cocky wacko." Senator McCain is a soulless, honorless liar who will say or do anything to get elected.

And if Sarah Palin goes on "The View".... well, I can't see it happening now, since her handlers saw what the ladies did to the top of the ticket.

"The View" ought to have a ticker on how long their invitation is out to Gov. Palin without her response, like Letterman did with Oprah.

McCain looked incredibly uncomfortable. Fidgeting, playing w/ his hands and wedding ring, chuckling, grimaces. He looked nervous and you could tell that he didn't actually believe a lot of stuff he was saying.

I've talked to a couple of undecideds. Not sure if I've swayed any of them, but for me, it comes down to who "owns" their campaign.

Hillary lost the nomination because she didn't own her campaign - the messages, themes, etc - all decided by handlers who gave her a script. We all know about the infighting in her campaign between the Mark Penn "experienced" team and the others who wanted her to be more herself and appeal more to women. When she went with Penn, she lost. Too late, she started listening to the others. She never owned it.

McCain clearly doesn't own his campaign. Remember "McCain doesn't speak for the campaign" - when he would go "off message" in town halls? He no longer has press avails - when you know he loves that stuff. He wasn't allowed to pick his own VP (he wanted Lieberman). McCain just the figurehead, spouting talking points given to him by Steve Schmidt and others. (let's remember that many people saw/see Bush this way as well - the figurehead, while Cheney/Rove actually have the power)

Obama owns the campaign - he sets the tone, the message and the style. The reason he speaks so well, in both small events and large ones is because he's speaking his own words, words he's very likely to have written himself. So it's no wonder that the speeches flow so well. When he's asked questions, there are pauses, that's true - but they are thinking pauses, not "remember the talking point" pauses.

So - who do we want as president? Someone who owns the job, or someone who is a figurehead....