Debate Post Mortem

What a pity that Sen. John McCain didn't take this approach during the first two debates. He was much firmer than we've seen previously and yet did not display the "erratic" temper that Team Obama keeps referencing.

If anyone showed a temper, it was Sen. Barack Obama -- though his was thinly disguised with an incessant smirk, made more noticeable with his capped teeth. What came across, on the split screen, is that Barry has a mean side.

McCain finally hit on issues that he has not addressed in the previous debates: judges, small businesses and Obama's record on infanticide. McCain finally cut the ties that bind him to George Bush with the best line of the debate -- that McCain is not Bush, and if Obama wants to run against Bush he should have done so four years ago.

It was not enough to change the race, but there are other factors at play.

Yesterday I received an email that is circulating the internet. It's a prayer for McCain and the country. Turns out that ordinary, non-political people are fed up with the media's drumbeat to the tune of Boz Scaggs: "Why can't you just get it through your head? It's over, it's over now."

As the email notes, if faith can move mountains, then it can certainly move voters to wake up from their Obama-induced stupor. After all, McCain's campaign was supposed to fold 18 months ago. According to the "conventional wisdom," he was not supposed to last through the primaries.

McCain's survival -- not just his political survival but the fact that he is still alive -- is extraordinary, miraculous even. He should have died in the fire that killed his comrades. He should have died in the Prisoner of War camp. He did not.

I will submit that McCain's life was spared for a reason. This race is not over.