Great speech. We should see him like this tonight...!!

McCain lost the maverick tag by voting for the "gimme-my-money-back" bailout bill.

I think he will get hammered. The guy has no concept of fighting an ideological battle, and the Republicans persist in their bad habits: follow bad leadership blindly, earmarks (no good saying "the other guy steals too!").

McCain thinks fighting a couple of Senate elections in Arizona means he can handle the big stage? Wrong.

The other problem is the unbelievable election "system." It's far too easy to cheat. Democrats are better at it though, so I reckon they'll win this time.

It's good, but I wish he would press Obama on how damaging it would be to raise taxes in the middle of an economic crisis.

It was good to hear McCain call Obama on several issues. A couple of the jokes were a pleasure. (I especially liked the line about "if I needed lessons in speaking honestly... I wouldn't ask a Chicago politician." Cute.) However, what really struck me about this clip was the weird behavior of the audience in the background. It sounded like a cheesy game show audience. Was the sound system different from the usual? Or have times really changed that much since I used to watch such events? Since when is it nice audience manners to distract one's own candidate with poorly-articulated mini-speeches?

I like this speech, but I fear it is too little too late. Of course I am in Atlanta where Obama is way popular so perhaps my impression is skewed. It is totally frustrating how McCain has handled this campaign. It's almost as if he is intimidated by Obama, who is an empty suit in many regards. Yet McCain is supposed to be the strong warrior candidate. He doesn't come off that way enough of the time.