As much as I hate to say this, I'm starting to feel sorry for the guy.

One word: Eloquence

He's been pushed WAY above his pay grade, and he's just plain not ready.

It's proof eloquence and charisma aren't worth much without intellegence and knowledge.

Sadly, too many people take the first two as evidence of the latter two - usually with really bad results.

Did the media give him the questions already?
Didn't they give Gore the questions in 2000?

Funny isn't it?

We've heard for 7 years how bumbling Bush is but now when there's evidence their "preferred" (to half the dems) candidate is in the running for the same label.

And they're in complete denial.

He looked like a deer in the headlights.

Haha, stupid Obama. Guy probably thinks Spain is in South America too.

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2008/09/john-mccain-thi.html

I've been worried about that Freddie Fae bailout...

That is funny. Scary, but funny just the same. As for hard to take? Try listening to the 8+ minutes of unrepeated "uh"s and other stammerings that Limbaughs' producer took from a 40 min. speech. Now that'll make one long for un-novacained dental surgery, YIKES!

hyper, is that like the idiot you support not knowing how many states there are?

He looked like a deer in the headlights.

Uh-Bama!

JLawson is right on the money. It was only a matter of time before his inexperience and inability to speak extemporaneously was demonstrated for all to see. I predict he will try to make the debate all fluff and no substance because McCain will chanllenge him on it. ww

One minor verbal mix up and he's somehow not qualified?

What about McCain's confusion about the SEC versus FEC? What about McCain's confusion about Shia versus Sunni? What about McCain's assertion that the president can fire the head of the SEC?

Sorry ... this is a lame attempt to make Obama look bad.

SDW -

It's not one minor mixup - he's got a record of NOT being able to stay on track without a teleprompter, and his attempts at speaking off the cuff are grotesque. For all the jokes about how Bush couldn't speak clearly, Obama is, in my estimation, a hundred times less eloquent - WITHOUT HIS TELEPROMPTER.

With it, he's great. Eloquent, charismatic - he could sell snow to Eskimos, charm birds out of the trees, you know the drill. But take it away and he's toast. (Dry, stale toast at that.)

The man CANNOT speak without a script unrolling in front of him.

Yes, he's charismatic. Yes, he's eloquent when fed the right words.

Put him in front of a microphone without a prepped speech, and he's terrible.

And it worries me that this incoherent fashion plate is seen as the BEST that the Democratic Party has to offer.

Freddie Fae? I suppose we should be thankful he didn't comment on the bailout of Bernie Mac.

"One minor verbal mix up..."

Complete denial.

"Sorry ... this is a lame attempt to make Obama look bad."

No "attempt" on our part there. He's done it all on his own.

hyperbolist,

Guy probably thinks Spain is in South America too.

But of course you can't link to the LA Times, and an opinion piece at that, and epect to get the actual facts. Unlike Obama's "other 57 states" comment, McCain wasn't at all confused, he simply refused to give a more specific answer in order to keep his options open. The Washington Post sets the record straight.

What "options" has he got when it comes to a NATO ally, Mac? If anybody declares war on Spain the United States is bound by treaty to consider it a declaration of war on itself.

Early in the interview McCain seemed to think Zapatero (and Spain?) had something to do with Mexico:

"I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion," McCain said, throwing in words of praise for the Mexican government.

So... wtf, right? Next:

The reporter pressed again, and McCain replied: "I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not."

Which hemisphere? Who divides the world by north vs. south, especially when the interview to that point had been about countries in the western hemisphere?

And anyway even if he didn't misunderstand, why the hell would he talk tough towards the leadership of Spain? Sure they're centre-left, but they suffer no bullshit from Chavez in Venezuela and they played along with the Iraqi adventure longer than most other American allies did.

Guy is a moron, whether or not Obama is too.

hyperbolist,

There was no confusion. When the interviewer asked a specific question that McCain didn't what to give a specific answer to he just repeated his talking points and switched the focus back to Latin America. If you've paid attention to any of McCain's interviews (not that you would), you would know that that's his modus operandi. This is evident by what the interviewer said:

Yoly Cuello, the reporter who interviewed McCain, said she repeatedly asked McCain about Spain because "he didn't want to answer my question."

It's a big mistake to answer an interviewer's specific questions with specific answers that cut off your future options. Obama makes that mistake repeatedly, but McCain has the experience to know better. The only confusion is on the part of those trying to make this into McCain being confused.

Neither Obama nor Biden took up the issue of McCain's remarks about Zapatero Thursday."

There's the final nail in the coffin of this story. If there were something there to make political hay with you can bet Obama / Biden would have been all over it. If they missed it, as you seem to think, then maybe they are the ones getting senile.

JLawson -

You didn't address McCain's frequent brain farts. McCain is unfit to lead this country.

Obama on the other hand, is very sharp, intelligent and like it or not, runs circles around McCain when it comes to staying on message.

How many times has McCain changed his message in the past week? I can't keep up.

You guys on the right GOT NOTHIN! The McCain-Palin ticket makes the Dole-Kemp ticket of 96 exciting.

Mac Lorry -

Right ... I think the Obama-Biden campaign didn't jump all over the Zapatero gaffe because there was nothing left to say. McCain is proving just how unfit he is to be president.

I really feel sorry for McCain. He seems confused. I feel even more sorry for you folks that continue to buy into the BS coming out of the RNC, Rush Limaugh, Sean Hannity and the other highly-paid liars.

This is going to get fun thru the election.

All of us including the candidates make some type of errors. This doesnt make any of us 'senile'.
I expect these errors, they are human and I am not looking for every little misstep like some do but this is so ridiculous and continuous...
O is so unprepared... he should be able to make impromptu speeches by now
and have solid stance on what he plans to do instead of being so wishy-washy.

Right ... I think the Obama-Biden campaign didn't jump all over the Zapatero gaffe because there was nothing left to say. McCain is proving just how unfit he is to be president.

Obama / Biden did jump all over this because there was nothing to jump on and they know it. In a similar situation Obama backed himself into meeting with the tyrant of Iran with no preconditions. His inexperience is really showing and whenever his handlers can't teleprompt Obama what to say you get the pathetic result seen in the clip. Obama looks like an unmanned suit that's been disconnected from it's control circuit.

SDW-

"Obama on the other hand, is very sharp, intelligent and like it or not, runs circles around McCain when it comes to staying on message."

Most kids like running around in circles. It gets them dizzy. Then they fall laughing in a heap on the grass.

But I'm not laughing at the circles Obama's been running around in. Wright, Rezko, Ayres - those circles I'd avoid, myself. Your mileage may vary.

As far as intellignt goes - nobody would doubt the intelligence of Karl Marx, or Lenin. What they thought was a great idea, a wonderful way to run a country, ended up killing tens of millions. So Obama is intelligent? That doesn't matter to me so much as what comes with it, and I'm not impressed by Obama's background, his listed experience, and his proposals. The thing most to be feared in a President is someone who will proclaim loudly that they'll sacrifice one group in favor of another. And that's Obama.

Also, it's easy staying on message when someone else is writing the script. It's when he's NOT supported by a teleprompter that you see the real Obama, and he's not someone I want as President. He's not ready for prime time, much as you think he might be - and I think he'd be a complete disaster for the country.

Especially if he doesn't have a teleprompter handy.

"Senator McCain, what do you think about Spain?"

"I'm going to be tough on Latin American countries."

This is just getting stupid, Mac. I *know* McCain hates answering questions he hasn't memorized a response to in advance. But he should be able to deflect a little more artfully than that, if that is indeed what he was doing (as you suggest).

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRFyODeLF3AyRmK-Cgx8Egg_dZQA

Obama didn't need to jump on it and say "Gotcha"; he just had to be reasonable and say "Of course I'd meet with a NATO ally." He should have ended that statement with "What am I, some sort of retard who doesn't understand what NATO is and what obligations it entails for our country?"

McCain appears either to not know where Spain is (unlikely), or he's keeping with Bush's decision to be frosty towards their centre-left leadership. Yeah, that'll teach you to remove your soldiers from harm's way, Zapatero!

We should all refrain from making fun of the mentally handicapped. Obama does the best he can with the gifts God gave him, as limited as they are.

This is just getting stupid, Mac.

It's McCain's MO. Try to divert to another subject or pin him down on something he's not ready to give a specific answer to and you'll get a talking point answer. What's stupid is what Obama did in a similarly situation and made a promise to meet with any tyrant without preconditions. Obama has since had to try to weasel out of that.

McCain appears either to not know where Spain is (unlikely), or he's keeping with Bush's decision to be frosty towards their centre-left leadership. Yeah, that'll teach you to remove your soldiers from harm's way, Zapatero! .

By taking their soldiers out of harms way they put ours at greater risk. They also proved to terrorists that Spain can be intimidated with a few bombs. Guess what, that will get them more bombs in the future when Islam tries to regain territory it once held. People who understand how the world really works are not going to play buddy buddy with Spain.