The problem with "experience" is that it is subjective. There are no standards that apply to determining what will make a good POTUS. Presidential historians have done a lot of research and come to one conclusion: experience prior to office has no causal relationship to effectiveness in office. I guess one can be experienced at doing things poorly. Obama has more national experience than Bush did coming into office and that is for sure. McCain had much more experience than Bush in 2000. Why did the GOP slander McCain in SC to torpedo his candidacy and get Bush the office? That is a question that has never been answered. And now the GOP gets all indignent over experience. If that really mattered to them then why Bush over McCain in 2000? Hypocracy at its worst in my opinion. The GOP lost all credibility on this issue when they chose Bush over McCain back then. To me other factors matter more but this is the topic of the day.

I never said I agreed totally with Mccain or his voting record in the Senate but at least he was there and actually voted something besides Present to bills on the floor. Mccain is not innocent and has made in my opinion mistakes but he is not the one being crowned as the Messiah by the media and he is not the one renaming his aircraft the BIG O. If any republican canidate did this they would to this day continue to be flame-sprayed by the media as having a god like complex and being held as and eltist which is exactly what Barry is doing. Mcain has more time in the Senate than Messiah Obama has in politics total so just who is lacking experience at least President Clinton had been Governor of Arkansas for 12yrs prior to running For the presidancy.

Did I say Obama was innocent, as you put it? No I did not. Where do you pull this bull from? The only absolutist here is gabrielle who said McCain is not a windbag and I responded with proof that he is one-just like all other politicians. I think that some of Obama's votes were wrong just as I do politician's record. Can you say the same and can you admit that McCain is just as full of it as anyone else?

In just one week Barack Obama has changed his mind on several key issues. (1) He was against granting immunity to telecom companies that aided our government in eavesdropping on telephone messages to and from known terrorist operatives overseas. Now he is for granting this immunity to the evil telecom corporations. (2)Some time ago Obama said that he wholeheartedly supported the ban on the private ownership of guns in Washington DC. Then, after the Supreme Court came down with their ruling last week, suddenly Obama is a supporter of the people's right to keep and bear arms. (3)Earlier this year Obama said that he was going to accept public financing of his presidential campaign after the convention. Now that he has seen he could get more money from private contributions than he would from public financing, he changed his mind.and last but not least (4) NAFTA? Barack was going to immediately renegotiate all of the evil NAFTA treaty. Now ... well, let's just say "not so much." Messiah innocent I think not So try again PD LOL :)

Mr. McCain divorced his wife after he returned from his time as a POW. She had had an accident that left her shorter and plumper (Google it--the details are on several sites of all political flavors)--I have never seen anyone describe the accident as "life altering" before, unless putting on weight is life altering (there are days I might agree on that!).

Probably lots of other things happened to her in the five years he was a POW. He doesn't mention them either. They may have been irrelevant to the divorce, as we can't read his mind about why it happened (some POW's simply never reassimilated into their families). Cheers, MGM

I never stated Dems were not windbags. All politicians are to some degree, but to say McCain is not one is not paying attention in a big way. I submit McCain has: flip-flopped on many issues including campaign reform, offshore drilling, and the Bush tax cuts; forgotten/confused the sects in Iraq (even Joe Lieberman had to embarrasingly correct him); approved personal attack ads that question a fellow citizen's patriotism and calls that person a traitor; has approved ads that are outright lies; answers tough questions with either a short non-answer that provides no context (like Bush does) or as he has done again recently uses the p.o.w. trump card; and has tried to pin Obama has an elitest out of touch yet he has no idea of how many homes he has and is by far richer than either Dem candidate. That is an windbag!!! And I was just starting and can provide much more.

PD --- if you are tired of windbag politicians you should be happy that McCain isn't one. You obviously know nothing about Obama or, and especially, Joe Biden, who are nothing but windbags that use 35 words for what could be easily said in 10 or less. If either says anything at all.

You hit it on the head. Speaking for myself and looking at McCain's vapid answers to questions I have come to the conclusion that he is of the same intellectual mindest of Bush. All he gives are quick quips and soundbites with no context at all. For some that is enough but I for one am tired of windbag politicians with no answers. What does McCain really propose doing differently from what is going on now?

"Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one." -- Thomas Jefferson

When asked what do you consider your biggest failure, McCain said "My first marriage." I could have used more details. Interestingly, he chose not to mention he divorced the woman after her life altering accident.

When asked what he has to say about evil, he said, "Defeat it." If that wasn't a George W. Bush answer I'll chew and swallow my hat.

It was stupid, useless set of questions - except for the right wing evangelicals sitting in the audience, who needed reassurance. Give me a man or woman who is intelligent, can speak in full sentences, and doesn't pander endlessly, to someone, and that person gets my vote.