Who Won?

For conservatives, reaction to last night's debate is all over the map. Bill Dyer's assesment, "McCain the Warrior awoke, pivoted on Obama the Professor, and pounded him," is nearly euphoric.

Professor Obama tonight again proved himself to be the more cautious candidate, but the greater risk for America. Captain McCain again showed that he is the political risk-taker, and he will govern as a reformer — but without bringing the risks inherent in the candidacy of anyone so inexperienced and yet smug as Professor Barack Obama. "Change you don't have to risk the future of the world on" is indeed a winning program for this election.

Ed Morrissey is optimistic-yet-sober, and probably more accurate, "Debate analysis: Both men improve, McCain wins on points."

The second presidential debate goes into the record books, and this time both men managed to stick closer to their game plans.  Barack Obama rid himself of the “John is right” tic that appeared in various forms almost a dozen times in the first debate.  John McCain gave a much more focused response on economic issues.  In the end — literally, in this case — McCain prevailed on his strength on foreign policy and national security.

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McCain won, but he didn’t score a knockout by any stretch of the imagination.  Is this a game-changer?  I think not.  It may help narrow the gap a little, but I think the two men are pretty evenly matched in these debates.  I wouldn’t expect a knockout in the last debate, either.

Andy McCarthy is down right pessimistic: "You Guys Are Nuts."

We have a disaster here — which is what you should expect when you delegate a non-conservative to make the conservative (nay, the American) case.  We can parse it eight ways to Sunday, but I think the commentary is missing the big picture.

Democrats, predictably, are marching in lock-step behind the "Obama Won" banner. So, who's right? And why are conservatives of mixed opinion?

Well, the Democrats are probably right, but not by much. All Senator Obama had to do was appear to be a normal human being, instead of the radical leftist he really is, and he would squeak out a win. Though I knew that practically every position Obama took was not his real position, I don't think that it would have been evident to people who are counting on the debates to form their opinions of the candidates. Though Ed Morrissey is correct that McCain won on points, points are not what counted in last night's contest. My twelve year old son said, "Bad news dad. I can understand Obama better."

As to why punditry on the right is of such diverse opinion, it is not the result of this debate. It is that we have no conservative candidate in the race. John McCain is the better of the two choices we have, but he is not a conservative. His message is not conservative. I get the definite impression that he doesn't even like conservatives. On the right there are two main categories of Republican. Those who are Republican first, and those who are conservative first. Republicans favor John McCain because he is a Republican. Conservatives don't favor John McCain because he is not conservative. Both groups are stuck voting for the same candidate. Conservatives are voting for him because McCain, at best center-right and often center-left, is a much better choice than ultra-left socialist Obama.

Let's be absolutely clear about this: though they will vote for him, McCain is almost never what conservatives want him to be. While it may be a close call as to whether Democrats or Republicans won last night, one thing is certain: it wasn't conservatives.