McCain Leads on Iraq, Immigration in Third Debate

A few responses from around the web:

Patrick Ruffini on McCain, “John McCain helped himself too, I thought. In past debates, McCain was so programmed he seemed animatronic. Sticking to talking points can only get you so far, especially when primary voters don’t buy your message. If you’re the maverick, you need to show unscripted flashes of authenticity with the goal of getting voters to respect you when they don’t agree with you. McCain did that twice tonight. First in his moving response to the sister of the fallen soldier. (Giuliani and Hunter did very well on this question too). And second in his tribute to the immigrants who’ve fought in our military. McCain probably didn’t change any minds on immigration tonight, but if his goal was to get people to at least listen, he did that.”

Don Ward and Eric Earling at SoundPolitics.com.

John Podhoretz at the Corner: “McCain at His Best. He gives a beautiful, soulful, substantive answer to a woman whose brother died in Iraq.” (see clip above)

Jonathan Martin at the Politico.com:

McCain buys more time on his immigration message

 

In a very smooth move, McCain speaks up when the “English as the official language” question is posed.

Nobody else on stage, of course, dared do anything but silently acknowledge their support for such a measure.

Sensing opportunity, McCain speaks up and gets more time to drive home his views on the broader immigration issue. Oh, and he slyly drops in a reference to Jeb Bush supporting the deal to all the Florida primary voters watching at home.

CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich:

 

McCain: Presidents don’t lose wars, nations do

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Arizona Sen. John McCain received loud applause from the audience for saying that the United States needs to succeed in the war in Iraq.

He criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton for describing the conflict in Iraq as President Bush’s war.

“What Sen. Clinton doesn’t understand is that presidents don’t lose wars,” McCain said. “Political parties don’t lose wars. Nations lose wars and nations have the consequences of failure. We must succeed in this conflict.”

When asked what he would do if the commander of forces in Iraq said the new strategy and troop surge in Iraq weren’t working, McCain said he’d be willing to look at the options.

But, he said, succeeding in Iraq is the United States best option. He said to fail would turn Iraq into a base for al Qaeda, lead to genocide in Baghdad and the destabilization of Jordan.

“All of the options I could run through with you,” McCain said. “My friend, none of them are good. That’s why we must succeed and give it a chance to succeed.”