Why would McCain agree to a free flowing debate?

[Wetzelbill]

I think he truly believes he can take Obama, maybe he has to believe it. I think from his "town hall" meetings he's gotten the idea that he's really good at this sort of thing. Maybe he honestly believes that he's smooth in front of a crowd in that manner and Obama feared going up against him, so he turned down those events?

I am sure McCain will get extremely negative and try to fluster Obama, interrupting etc. But Billo is highly skilled at that sort of thing and Obama was totally cool the whole time. McCain gets angry at the drop of a hat over little things. You can see him get red-faced all the time. Like how he bizarrely went after Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe recently.

I don't think this is a good move for him. He should have kept it as scripted as possible. Remember when Ron Paul asked him a question about the President's Working Group on Financial Markets? We might see McCain pull another one of those. Plus I've seen him at those town halls and rambling on in front of a kool aid crowd who hangs on your every word is not the same as actually sounding like you really know what you're talking about. Those people will eat up anything. He might even completely lose his temper too. All in all, my notion is it's a mistake for him, possibly done out of desperation.

Here is Paul asking McCain that question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqKaU2fZkAc

[bridgit]

1. McCain hopes to enhance his lying-shit-talk factor...

He'll be planning on saying as many outrageous things as possible in whatever time frame is allotted

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. I asked a couple of the docs in my family how McCain, who is 71 and a sickly man....

... could be handling the grueling stressors of a campaign. Even younger men cannot handle such a thing easily, much less an old, sick man. Both think he's on something. Medications can sometimes make you feel invincible and perhaps that's the reason for the free flowing debate. However, if he's on meds, amphetamines or who knows, this will take a toll on his body and cause him even greater damage. This man already is not well.

[renie408]

3. Free flowing... McCain.... .free flowing....McCain ....Hmmmmm...Something about that

just doesn't seem right.

[boomboom]

8. sounds like a prostate problem

[billyoc]

4. "What's that, we're going to a buffet? OK."

[renie408]

9. Jesus. he looks like the emperor from Star Wars. n/t

[frogcycle]

5. I think you're right - he has an inflated opinion of his capabilities

The example you give though, in all likelihood would make his followers ecstatic. They have no idea what the question was, and they think McCain countered it brilliantly. The could not follow his rambling babble, so figure it must have been really smart or something.

Obama is not always at his best in free-flowing conversation - not that he is flustered, but he is thoughtful, will pause, maybe stammer a bit as he tries to phrase the response precisely as he wants it to be understood. To those same morons, he will look like an idiot. Like his response about "evil" in that religious crapfest - he answered thoughtfully and philosophically; mccain gave a two-word answer. they LOVE that.

Depending on the topics, mccain could actually score well. With idiots, of course, but there are a lot of those.

[crappyjazz]

6. He thought "free flowing" meant bathroom breaks

were ok at any time during the debate

[RooseveltTruman]

7. You struck gold with...

You struck the golden answer with "I think from his "town hall" meetings he's gotten the idea that he's really good at this sort of thing."

He thinks that because he's so "good" with Town Halls that this freewheeling style will be to his benefit. After all, it's supposedly this "freewheeling style" that had him come from nowhere in 2000 and win the nomination in 2008. Also, he probably buys into the idea that Obama is great with a speech or a teleprompter, but once you get him off-script, he's toast.

Offscript in early-2007, Obama was okay but impressive. Now, he's really improved and honed his skills, as the O'Reilly interview proved.

This choice is going to come back and bite McCain on the butt.

Remember 1980: it was then that the staid Jimmy Carter was still neck-and-neck in the polls with his opponent.....but then in the debates, his charismatic challenger--a "change" candidate against an unpopular status quo and a bad economy--was perceived to have outmaneuvered and defeated him. For the last two weeks, the polls showed a dramatic increase in his opponent's numbers.

And of course, Ronald Reagan won in a landslide.

I am not a Ronald Reagan fan, and I know that Obama (thank God) would take our country in a fundamentally different direction than Reagan did. But the comparisons here between candidate personalities, poll numbers and debate timing are pretty impressive.

[OHdem10]

10. Newt Gingrich suggested this long ago. The next step will be

having candidates seated. Watch out Obama. There is a method in\
their "madness".

[RooseveltTruman]

11. That much

That much is already agreed to--I believe for the first and third debates (the non-town hall ones) the candidates will be seated.

[iceman66]

12. You make a good point.

I can't see McCain being any tougher than O'Reilly, and Obama handled him just fine.

[anonymous171]

13. It's easier for McCain to avoid the issues that way.

[nc4bo]

16. But unlike his TH meetings where he just makes up stuff without fear of

follow up questions, Obama (hopefully) will follow up every asshat sentence that comes of mccain's mouth.

I hope Mcfail realizes this isn't going to be his typical townhall meeting.

[calmblueocean]

14. Because McCain wants to "schmooze" his way out of scrutiny

I thought the rigid, timed debates we had in 2004 were some of the best ever. You could really see them thinking (or not thinking) on their feet. There's not a lot of room for jokes or filler or bullshit when the eyes of the nation are upon you, expecting you to give a series of 3 minute extemporaneous speeches about foreign and domestic policy. You just can't fake it.

McCain knows that, too, and knows that he's boring when he's on his own. He's been wanting to share Obama's limelight since Obama became the nominee, and this finally gives him the chance. Just repeat a few catchphrases and buzzwords. That's really all he has to do.

[Top Cat]

15. McSame thinks that Obama is a loser when it comes to debates

He has made a big mistake because he will not get a repeat performance from Saddleback....

[Hansel]

17. Because he plans to shout over Obama with pithy vacuous non-answers

like "evil" or "I know how to win a war" or "bomb them to hell" or "America first" which will win over the moronic pundits. And he figures Obama will play the sucker and give intelligent thoughtful answers to the questions actually asked.

The pundits will then gush over McCain for his memorable and clever lines that clearly "connect with America's heartland" while they pan Obama as boring, out of touch and indecisive because he actually took time to answer the question.

[vaberella]

18. I dunno...I'm waiting for an economic "gotcha" question. :D n/t