More on the Cone of Not-So-Silence

Hurrah !
Thanks for pointing that out. That’s what I have been saying since last night.
Their denials seem VERY narrow to me and I know how lawyers do it. This sounds like legalese caution to me.

I knew it was too good to be true. McCain answers seemed so thought out and calculated. For every question he turned it into a political answer.
And notice by the time he was in the cone of silence room the questions followed after are where McCain started giving ridiculous answers.
When asked when does a person enter the “rich” category from “middle class”, McCain response was $5,000,000.
Out of touch with the average American.

You have to have a sense of Humour. This will be Mccains response when caught in his own web of deception!
Mark my words!

I don’t care if McCain knew the answers or not, although I don’t believe he did. I will still vote for him, and I’ve never voted Republican before. The Republicans are trying to portray him as a empty suit. That’s not too hard to do, because that’s exactly what he is. His answers on Saturday night proved as much.

It is funny lord did not know the answer.
McCain was always and remains straight shooter. That is why we call Straight-Talk Express.
He did not say “It is above my pay grade” when he running for the highest office in the country may be in the world.
Obama supporters, Just Accept the fact that Obama was not specific and did not do well

That’s a smart catch, Jake. McCain hasn’t really denied the biggest issue here: Did McCain get ANY prior knowledge about the questions? If he didn’t, why doesn’t his campaign just say no. This is all very peculiar.

McCain the cheat. What a disgrace. Egg on his face. This, by the way, doesn’t excuse that foolish “above my paygrade” answer Obama gave.

During one point of the discussion, McCain was asked about evil. Then he went into a diatribe about Osamabin Ladin. He said he knows where he is, how to catch him, etc.
So why doesn’t he tell some one on the ground over there?
Or is he black mailing the Country. Vote for him or bin Laden gets away??
Kinda childish . . . . .

Kevin,
I didn’t see the “above my paygrade” answer as being, lame, snyde or silly. I thought he was referring to an answer that was more in league with God’s wisdom and knowledge. I don’t think he wanted to try to “interpret God’s knowledge.”
. . . .Way beyond human understanding comes to mind.

OMG
The questions ask, were not that hard to answer.
There was no right answer or wrong answer, They were personal answers.
Is Baby Bama ashamed of something he said?
Time to for Obama camp to Grow up!

McCain’s actions Sat nite just prove the point: he will do and say anything to get elected – even lie and cheat.

Senator Obama’s “above my paygrade” was an appropriate and humble response to a question that no human being’s been able to answer to everyone’s satisfaction.

dewey… I take it that you didn’t listen to the forum. Sen Obama answered all the questions with openess and candor. McCain told stories after every quesrtion. Which means he didn’t feel comfortable answering any question. The only question he answerws, besides the abortion one, was that he would do ANYTHING to get Bin Laden.

“When asked when does a person enter the “rich” category from “middle class”, McCain response was $5,000,000.”
That’s a silly answer to a silly question. No one thinks they are rich until they have so much money they can’t spend it all even if they try.
The tide is turning. Obama is coming off more and more as inexperienced. ‘Nuanced’ has become the code word for ‘rambling until Obama can think of a reply’.
OTOH, McCain’s ‘life at conception’ answers will rattle a lot of people who don’t want to revisit this issue.

Obama’s camp has gotten very good at creating a diversion when they feel something is about to hurt their candidate.
When Hillary Clinton won W Virginia, John Edwards endorsed Obama.
When Ryan Lizza wrote a not-entirely flattering piece about Obama in the New Yorker, a “controversy” arose about the cover art, drowning out any conversation about the article inside.
When Obama didn’t go to Landstuhl, accusations against the Pentagon (and Mitchell reported McCain’s people had a hand in this, according to the Obama camp) wouldn’t let them go. Then the discussion became about McCain’s ad. All kept the focus off the fact that Obama chose not to go to Lanstuhl.
Now Obama didn’t do well in this forum, and the “Cone of Silence” is suddenly important.
It’s a pattern.

Sen. Obama’s campaign and his supporters must be really running scared now! Instead of acknowledging that the old man got the best of Sen. Obama, they have to smear him with the same old Far Left tactics.
You Obama supporters need to pay closer attention to the details of Sen. Obama’s tax plan. He SAYS he will raise the taxes on those making at least $250,000 and lower the taxes on those making less than $150,000.
Here are the latest IRS statistics (updated July 2008) for the year 2006:
The Top 1% — 1.36 million individual federal income tax returns reported an Adjusted Gross Income greater than $388,806.
The Top 2%-5% — 5.43 million individual federal income tax returns reported an AGI greater than $153,542.
NOTE: The report does not include a specific breakdown for the percentage of individual federal income tax returns reporting an AGI of at least $250,000. So I am estimating that 45% of the Top 2%-5% reported at least $250,000. So that would equate to 2.44 million individual federal income tax returns.
Using the IRS figures in conjuction with my estimate, that would mean that in 2006 approximately 3.8 million individual federal income tax returns reported an AGI of at least $250,000. AND this group accounted for approximately 48.9% of the total federal income tax revenue received in 2006.
Do you really believe that 4 million people can provide ALL of the funding necessary for Obama’s handouts to the rest of the 300 million people living in the United States? And even if they could, isn’t that giving the “evil” wealthy class even more power over the purse strings…over you?

Can you imagine having Obama as a neighbor and seeking his advice on how to grow tomatoes? After you ask him – grab a chair and a beer .. it’s going to take hours for him to explain!!

You all act as if George Bush has personally put your #### in the gutter .. take some responsibility and realize it’s just your own personal shortcomings!

Well it’s obvious that Obama had prior knowledge of at least one question. When asked about adoption he said, “I cheated a little bit. I actually looked at this idea ahead of time, and I think it is a great idea.”
So apparently the brouhaha shouldn’t be whether or not McCain knew the questions (obviously Obama had at least some idea of what they would be; therefore, we can assume McCain did as well). The question is whether or not McCain heard Obama’s answers and quickly formulated his own to be superior – and that’s quite a reach considering McCain said what he always says, plus threw in a few personal stories which I thought was great in this format.
The real question is: If Obama knew the questions beforehand, why were his answers so discombobulated and rambling; shouldn’t he have been better prepared and performed better? This whole thing is an attempt by the Obama camp to divert attention away from Obama’s poor performance, or to somehow justify it by blaming McCain. Bottom line: Obama isn’t ready to be POTUS and it shows in forums such as this.

McCain is well known as a good town hall style speaker – that’s why Obama’s campaign has repeatedly turned down the idea that they hold joint town halls, or even share the stage at Warren’s shindig. So I have to love it now – all Obama fans can do is try and portray McCain as a cheater/liar/etc … what happened to your guy that you’re not stressing his positives? (Were there any? – no, because he Obombed!)

marylou,
Obama did not cheat – both candidates were given the first two questions in advance, that’s what Obama was referring to.
Does anyone really think that the unethical Rovian types McCain hired wouldn’t feed him the rest of the questions? Please.

This is garbage, there were no trick questions that McCain needed to know about before his turn. Why isn’t the “The Obama Nation” being analyzed by the media for what is true and what’s not?

If I was in Obama’s camp, I WILL SHUT MY MOUTH, this makes Obama seems weaker.
Obama did well, let’s not play kindergarten games…

So it’s McCain’s fault that Barry performed poorly? Even if Barry knew the questions before hand, he still would have fumbled and bumbled. He is nothing without his teleprompter.

McCain`s anwers were all bites from his stump speeches. They were all premeditatted. However Obama was more thoughtful and answered the questions intelligently.
Buttomline Obama won more moderates and independents while McCain told the right what they wanted to hear.

The complete transcript is available on the internet. I think Obama supporters are reaching for proof that simply isn’t there. McCain answered the questions decisively and if a topic was mentioned or he himself introduced a topic, he was able to draw from his wealth of experience and opinions to give an in-depth answer. The fact that Obama can’t do the same, doesn’t mean McCain cheated in any way.

Obama is rambling on so much that even his fellow Democrats are telling him to get to the point.
I think it was the governor from TN that said Obama should stop the huge rallies and give 10 word responses to people at Wal-Mart. Ouch!
Maybe Mac’s informal townhalls are more meaningful to regular voters. The ones that want real answers and not just empty slogans like: Hope and Change.

So how did McCain know he was going to be asked about supreme court judges?
Am I the only one that noticed this?

So, this man who many claim is too old to be President, claims he is senile and not on his game is suppose to, in an hour or so, remember all the questions Warren ask of Obama and then be Johnny on the spot with the answers?
Has the Obama camp come down with paranoia or just sore at not looking so hot in front of so many?

trudy, the adoption question was near the end of the forum; it certainly wan’t one of the first two. Again, the complete transcript is readily available on the internet (although the one I saw did omit Obama’s gaffe where he started to say that Clarence Thomas was too inexperienced to be appointed to the Supreme Court; they omitted all of his mumbles in the name of sanity for the reader).
And if Obama had the first two questions – Michelle and his typical white grandmother is the best he could come up with? Really?? The deeper you dig into this guy, the shallower he becomes!
Just admit that Obama did poorly and stop blaming McCain.

McCain should have shown up on time. Ronald Reagan was never late.

This is so beyond lowbrow and dirty politics that I am deeply ashamed that our media has stooped so low.
McCain would have to be a bloody genius to recall these questions if told in a motorcade just minutes before his arrival at the church. Smutty and despicable is how I view this.
And as far as I am concerned Andrea Mitchell has lost all credibility. To most Americans this will look like a bad job of discrediting McCain as he is percieved to have come across better in this particular forum than Barack did.
Best defense is a good offense and this is what I see here.
Now I am going to take a shower…..

You know, the real world is complex, as are the many issues that confront us and especially our next President. Important, world turning situations tend to be much more gray than black or white. We have suffered through 9 awful years of a President who shot from the hip, trusted his gut, and spoke in black and white. It got us 9/11, wars, a rotten economy, a weak dollar, the return of authoritarianism in Russia and China, more pollution, higher gas prices, more economic inequality, and a world that thinks much less of our nation.
Those of you who only want simple slogans, please grow up and recognize that lengthy answers and the thoughtful selection or words is how a future President should respond!

“Has the Obama camp come down with paranoia or just sore at not looking so hot in front of so many?”

Of course McCain cheated. The man has never made it through an entire sentence without making a blunder and now he sails through a 90-minute session with obviously scripted answers, even answering questions before they are asked? Add to that his performance in light of his onset Dementia problem and it becomes ever-more clear that he was given the questions ahead of time.

It’s not a surprise McCain cheated at this forum, he is not a Christian. He became a Baptist but was never Baptized. He shows up at church for the photo ops. Why else would he steal the “cross in the sand” story from a Russian author and use it to pander to the “agents of intolerance” crowd.

Pastor Warren has some ‘splanin to do tonight on Larry King. He is the real loser with this “Live From the No-Cone Zone” event.
I actually think he got played by the McCain campaign pretty bad. Although, it was Warren’s job to protect the sanctity of the “cone”.

jackt51….McCain has answers at the ready because he does this EVERYDAY and is sure of who he is and what he stands for and believes in. Obama just wants to get elected so has to do the dance, and understanding him sometimes is too time consuming. He doesn’t impress Americans when even his own party says he needs to answer a question and then briefly explain.
HILLARY SUPPORTER FOR McCAIN!

I loathe the idea that religion and politics are so intertwined..the IRS ought to start investigating this “Saddleback Church” and see if they still deserve their tax exemption.
Rick Warren, with his plump smugness reminds me so much of Jerry Falwell….anyone else notice this?
McCain has some very loyal and desperate handlers…fresh from the Rovian seminars. Better believe those BlackBerries were burning up, fingers flying over the keys….they couldn’t allow McCain to be his usual bumbling self—not in front of The Base!

“…Now Rick Warren is admitting not only did he give Mccain the questions ahead of time so he could be coached, Mccain had the opportunity to hear Obama. This whole thing was a sham….”
HUH? REally? What’s the source for this? I wonder if “The Base” will see anything wrong and immoral about this. Probably not.

I’ll post again…Jeremy, anything McCain got in advance OBAMA GOT TOO, and even if he heard Obama’s first 3 answeres (as it took about a half an hour to hear three)….the best he got was Obama thinks Michell and granny are two of the wisest people he knows. Did Warren say who you might put in your cabinet tho.
Anyway….Obama was probably trying to appease the Hillary group with that lame answer.

“It got us 9/11…”
Doubtful. The planning for 9/11 and other events (remember the bombing of the Trade Center pre-Bush), were underway long before Bush took the Oath.
I don’t support Shrub, but history shows radical Islamism as a long brewing problem for which no US administration has had a satisfactory response. The one thing Bush did right was take it to them in Afghanistan.

Bring on the debates and let’s move on1 I’m only sorry the “protected one” has only agreed to 3. I don’t think that’s enough for the American public to see the bumbling Nobama underperform up against McCain. Life experience, knowledge, confidence (NOT ARROGANCE) comes across with McCain…as was apparent Saturday and now all the Obots are scared and angrier than usual.
HILLARY SUPPORTER FOR McCAIN!!!!!

I didn’t want Donna Brazille making the decision regarding delegates based on her grandmother, and I don’t want a president making decisions based on the input of his grandmother and wife. I bet if asked the same question last year, Obama would have said Rev Wright.

Lisa…excellent point.

I agree with Lisa…Wright would have been on Obama’s list of 3 wisest….and yet how ironic at this forum on faith…Obama can’t bring his name up and Wright was the one “who brought him to Christ”? Wow….hypocrisy at it’s best.
Speaking of the “three wisest” question, did Warren end it with “someone you might have in your cabinet?”

Anyone who can’t smell what these carefully worded non-answers from the McCain campaign really mean, hasn’t been paying attention for the last eight years.
McCain and his lobbyists have learned from the best.

Anyone else taken aback by McCain’s comments that he wouldn’t nominate Souter, Ginsberg or Breyer to the Supreme Court? If he wouldn’t nominate them, why did he vote for all three of them?

He also told a story as a POW that he stole from a BOOK….The man is a LIAR and is not qualified to be Preisdent, he has LIED over and over and that is not something ANYONE would want in a President, we have had that for 8 yrs

This story “forgot” to mention that both candidates were given heads-up on some of the more tough questions.
This story also “forgot” to mention that Obama brought this up during the debate.

Jeremy…oops.. your right moot not mute, I still like “PO”

Why isn’t this front page news!!
If Obama went second and the same news came out, I am certain that it would be a front page event.
I watched the forum twice only because it was disturbing to me, now it is even more disturbing!

“There’s no reason we would do that,” says Lobbyist Black.
Well, I’m convinced. Nothing to see here.

Just read a story about a women in a Western Galilee village who had an abortion in the fifth month of her pregancy due to internal bleeding. The baby was pronounced dead and place in a cooler. When the husband came to take the baby home for burial, it was breathing. It is now in the intensive care ward in Nahariya Hospital.
I’m just saying…

And to think I just thought he had one to many shots of espresso prior to his Saddleback adventure…
Let’s face it…McCain’s performance even shocked our repub windbag Buchanon.
I questioned whether or not he previewed the questions…He was just to on his game….
We all already knew McCain had cheating in him – he all but came out and said it in his Saddleback performance.
Once a cheat always a cheat…..
Now how will all those Evangelicals feel about Mr.McCain cheating in their house God??????
Jake if you let this one go…..I will be very dissapointed…Keep on Camp Cheating McCain.

waiting to exhale….McCain seemed quick because Obama is long winded. My husband became frustrated BECAUSE WARREN HAD TO HELP OABMA FINISH HIS ANSWERS….PLAY IT BACK AND LISTEN!
McCAIN….A CANDIDATE WHO KNOWS WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE STANDS FOR!

Debra, I noticed that Warren helped McCain finish his answers and expanded them too. It was irritating/

NJ….I’m confused too…I thought Rick asked for the three wisest people who you might put in your cabinet? Is that right….his wife and granny?
Does anyone know how the question was posed?

even if both candidates had the questions before hand would it make any difference. if you have been listening to both candidates, they are saying much the same things they have been saying all along. their styles of delivery are very differenct, but they are in general answering just as i thought. many americans do not realize what the job of the president really is. first and foremost he is the commander in chief of the armed forces. this should factor in greatly when considering who to vote for. our lawmakers are the congress, not the president. he can veto, but they can over ride him. one very important thing the president can do is appoint judges, this should be taken into account when voting also. i believe both men sincerely love this country, but we must decide which of these men would be able to protect and defend us and appoint judges that follow the constitution.

I would like a president that doesn’t make excuses. Obama did bad in the forum and is trying to downplay it by making excuses.

Proof of McCain having the questions beforehand shows clearly in one key response…
Cross In The Dirt.
His ego and overconfidence led him to rehearse the answer he would give about an episode that happened to Alexander Solzenhitzyn. In other words, McCain pulled up an anecdote from the wrong part of his brain.
The more I discover about the possibility, the clearer it becomes. The Cross In The Dirt story is proof. McCain had the answers beforehand. Even Bill Kristol changed his web column to say “there is no evidence” as if to suggest it’s up to us to find the evidence, because they ain’t gonna tattle.
McCain will be done when the truth gets out. Cheating in an evangelical forum.
How Rovian.

I’m glad that Politico has reported that both campaigns received some hints as to what questions were going to be asked. Wow! Obama wants to distract people from his bodysurfing pictures.

exhale….I do believe he was in a room for some amount of time before the questioning…..that is how “he was trying to listen through the wall”.

The New York Sun
Obama said regarding the NRLC “have not been telling the truth and I hate to say that people are lying, but here’s a situation where folks are lying”. No one ever understands Mr. Obama because he changes his stance on everything. Obama spokeswoman, Hari Sevugan, grudgingly admitted Obama had indeed voted against the bill in committee to the New York Sun on Monday. Hillary Clinton pointed this out during the debates and it fell on deaf ears. Mr. Obama needs to apologize to a great many people. He is misleading the public again.

Obama’s inexperience is showing in the fact that his people did not think through the design of the Saddleback Sham before he agreed to it.
He gets questioned first. McCain gets questions by blackberry. Plans responses in advance, knowing how Obama responded. Genius.
Maybe Hillary was right.

“Cone of Silence” is meant to be a joke. I haven’t seen the new one, but in the old Get Smart show its purpose was to show how stupid classified info and government secrecy was, because inevitibly the two people inside the cone couldn’t hear each other, but the people outside could hear them. It was ultimate irony.

Belle Starr….thanks for the laugh….despite his drug use, he really should get some speech therapy for that stammer.

Zaggs, that is a fundamental misreading of the Constitution. The advice and consent is there to prevent the President from appointing foaming at the mouth right wing bigots to the bench, like Bush did.

This is why we need to keep religion and politics seperate. The question ‘does evil exist’ is a euphemism for ‘are our enemies less than human’.
Religion brings out the worst of the human race.

When all is said and done I would still vote for Obama over McGoo.

Obama was warmly received by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called him “a leader that God has blessed us with at this time.”
BAAARRRFFFF

Bam, you wrote: “Except that McCain and Pastor Rick Warren had not yet discussed the Supreme Court justices.”
After answering a question on abortion and the definition of marriage THAT is when Sen. McCain asked, “Are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court Justices?” Sen. McCain also said, “When we speak of the issue of the rights of the unborn we need to talk about judges, but anyway go ahead.”
BEFORE the forum both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama were given the topics from which Pastor Warren would be asking them. Apparently one of the topics mentioned was the importance of the Supreme Court Justices. So Sen. McCain wanted be sure that there would be a discussion of judges. Otherwise he would have given his thoughts on the Supreme Court during the questions regarding abortion and definition of marriage.

Obama might be good in front of a teleprompter, but he can’t think on his feet otherwise.
He’s an empty suit, this forum proved.
He has no legacy, he has no experience.

Obama’s puppy ate his homework?
Bottom line: Obama lost, folks. Get over it.

There is no way in hell McCain was in a cone of silence at that forum because he wa sanswering the questions before they were even asked. Also, he was shamelessly pandering with that POW story ad nauseum

Obama is a thinker, not a reactionary like McCain. I would rather have a thinker, one that is deliberate in thought and slow to speak than a reactionary that will pull the trigger at the drop of a hat. You guys don’t know what McCain is capable of. I would be very leary of someone who has spent a life time dwelling on military life. Look at the last military president we had Dwight D. Eisenhower. Led us into Viet Nam…need I say more.

In numerous articles and, most famously, in his own writings, Obama has cited Rev. Wright as his “mentor” and all-around guru. Indeed, “Audacity of Hope” is based on a sermon Obama heard Wright give. Those three words -”Audacity of Hope” – the mantra and basis of this charlatan’s entire sham of a campaign – are actually the good rev’s own words.
Was anyone else chuckling at Obama’s pathetic answer to Warren’s question about whose counsel he values?

The point the media and everyone else on Obama’s side is not acknowledging is that Saturday night’s debate for the most part was less about McCain and more about Obama. McCain is a known entity. Obama is still an enigma and many folks who are still confused and looking to understand all the fervor and fuss around his persona turn to the debates for answers, and that’s where Obama fell so short of expectations. It was frankly an embarrassing performance and Mr. Obama looked more like running for class president than commander-in-chief of the most powerful nation on earth. It is in that context that McCain’s performance especially in that side-by-side comparison made the realities of this election cycle so stark and undeniable.
One can appreciate the fact that many people look at Obama’s candidacy as an history-making event, but in the end majority of Americans will have to put the future of their country before symbolic gestures to suit the political ambitions of any one person.

Yeah, their denials are hilarious. The point is he could have been coached, he was not in a “cone of silence” as everyone was led to believe.
And I disagree completely with shirrin who claims McCain is a “known entity”. He is completely unknown. Most Americans think he’s a maverick because that is the image he has tried to hoist on us. But he is nothing of the sort. The prospect of a McCain presidency is frightening, and it’s high time the media (and the democrats since the media probably won’t do it) throw back the curtain and start applying the same scrutiny to McCain as they have been to Obama.

“Also, he was shamelessly pandering with that POW story ad nauseum”
If Obama ever actually did something of note in his life he should stop keeping it a secret. What has he actually accomplished? Well he did publish two books, one on the topic of himself and the other on the topic of himself.

Of course McCain cheated. He is after all a republican. Just like bush was wired for the debates so he could have someone else answer the questions for him. But that won’t sway the less intelligent voters and the republicans know this.

“What’s the latest “truth” about McCain stealing his “cross in the sand” story from that dead Russian story about the Gulag??”
It would take an idiot to think such a incident would only happen once throughout recorded human history.
Prisoners are routinely denied the ability to write…and if they did want to write, they’d wish to conceal what they wrote after the fact. THEREFORE, writing in the dirt is very, very common in prison camps.
The cross is a universal symbol of Christianity, and for some in such dire circumstances, Christianity is the last hope people look to. THEREFORE, the cross would be periodically used to try and uplift someone’s spirit.
THEREFORE, it’s extremely probable that the “cross in the dirt” story isn’t remotely unique to the Russian.
But hey, lefties don’t need proof, or even probability. Just a flimsy accusation no one can prove, and a willingness to believe.

McCain has been doing town halls, taking questions from all comers for years. He is good in this format, has a lot of experience. Now it has become clear why Obama is afraid of the format.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. When I first hear Obama’s voice, i thought, “this guy is good.” Now I just hear an idiot whiner who is mad he got beat in a debate. Wait for the next few. Obama is an empty suit, pretty, not as pretty as Edwards, but prettier than Hillary, and still an empty suit.

I have to wonder if the people making allegations that McCain is lying about this are even Americans.

Sour grapes from the Obama fans and MSNBC! If McCain heard the questions an hour before and remembered and formulated answers to them – why, that proves that he has the brain of a 21 year old! I am so proud of that white hair dude! Nimble brain!
Hillary got maligned for saying that she always got asked the questions first! Hey, your guy is saying the same thing now! What a hypocrite! It only proves how much better McCain did than the One!
Yes, Mc Can!

Re: cross comment
Some say that we should honor what the man had to say, as well as Swindle who has deep ties within the Republican party, simply because they were POW. I am afraid to inform them, if this is
true, it should work both ways.
Older veterans remember well how John McCain and John Kerry shut down all further investigation into remaining MIA/POW in order to open up trade with Vietnam. They remember full well how these families were treated and talked to by John McCain. They also remember
how John McCain’s father-in-law immediately opened up a beer industry in Vietnam.
If anyone wants to add honor as a reason to believe the cross story, I suggest they start with their research here:
aiipowmia.com/testimony
They might also remember we are talking about the man who was not above copyright infringement against two song writers and Wikipedia.

Why do people say that Obama didn’t do well? He was thoughtful and articulate in an arena that wasn’t receptive to Democrats in general. McCain gave his usual formulaic patter. It doesn’t matter if he heard in advance or not, he would still spew the robotic patter. Quit acting as if he did so well that he must have heard stuff in advance. He’s good at memorizing – not critical thinking!

McCain is using Swindle to verify the ‘cross in the dirt’ story. In other words, he’s using another Jack Abramoff connected lobbyist on his campaign. After disinviting Ralph Reed, yet another Jack Abramoff connected lobbyist from his fundraiser tonight.
More lobbyists in the White House!
McCain doesn’t need to be baptised into his religion…he’s got Jack Abramoff as his god almighty already.

The simple fact is that all McCain needed was an aide in the audience sending a text message of the questions to his motorcade as they were asked: ‘I did not HEAR the questions …’ is a quibble.

Of course, it helps as we’ve now learned that John was not in the “Cone of Silence”, but riding in a motorcade to the building where the “Forum” was being held, while Sen. Barack Obama was being questioned. And, during that period of time, there was nothing that prevented John McCain from hearing the questions being asked of Sen. Obama and Sen. Obama’s answers thereto. Do I think John McCain “cheated”, you bet I do.
Specifically, we learn from the NYT: Before an audience of more than 2,000 people at the church, the candidates answered questions about policy and social issues.
Mr. Warren, the pastor of Saddleback, had assured the audience while he was interviewing Mr. Obama that “we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence” and that he could not hear the questions.
After Mr. Obama’s interview, he was joined briefly by Mr. McCain, and the candidates shook hands and embraced.
Mr. Warren started by asking Mr. McCain, “Now, my first question: Was the cone of silence comfortable that you were in just now?”
Mr. McCain deadpanned, “I was trying to hear through the wall.”
This last statement by McCain seen on national television leads me to believe McCain cheated. If he had not cheated, why didn’t he come clean with the Rev. Warren, when he was asked: “Was the cone of silence comfortable that you were in just now?” To me, if McCain wanted to tell the truth, he would have told Rev. Warren that he was not in the “cone of silence”, but “in motorcade” (as Rick Davis put it) on his way to the building. By answering “I was trying to hear through the wall”, McCain led everyone to believe he was in the “cone of silence”, which we all know is false.

I don’t know what is worse:
A) Obama’s contingent of sore loser supporters
or
B) Obama’s contingent of sore loser reporters