Perot Then...Obama and MSM Now

Well, that didn't take long. I am speaking, of course, about the Obama camp and the MSM [namely Andrea Mitchell] coming to the defense of their anointed one, Barack Hussein Obama, in his hour of need after Obama lost the Saddleback debate in a rout, by accusing John McCain of cheating. Here is the transcript of the Mitchell accusation from NBC's Meet The Press:

[(Videotape)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): Defeat it. Couple of points. One, if I'm president of the United States, my friends, if I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. I will do that and I know how to do it. I will get that done.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: Andrea Mitchell, that's a pretty clear contrast.

MS. ANDREA MITCHELL: Oh, absolutely. And, you know, there was the crisp, immediate, forceful response by John McCain, clearly in a comfort zone because he was with his base. And Barack Obama, taking a risk in going there but seeing an opportunity. And a much more nuanced approach. The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that--what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.

MR. GREGORY: Right.

MS. MITCHELL: He seemed so well prepared.]

What it brings to mind for me is the time Ross Perot and then-VP Al Gore had a debate on The Larry King show about NAFTA, and Gore ran rings around Perot to the point of embarrassment. Later, Perot accused Gore of cheating, too:

From the New York Times, September 16,1996--

[The Nafta Debate Accusing Gore Of Cheating

In November 1993, as the Clinton Administration was furiously working to win Congressional approval for the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mr. Perot, an opponent, agreed to debate Vice President Al Gore on ''Larry King Live.''

The billionaire was on the defensive much of the time, and Mr. Gore goaded Mr. Perot into making disparaging and sarcastic remarks to him, such as: ''You're lying -- you're lying now,'' and, ''Please, let's have an unnatural event and try not to interrupt me.''

The nationally televised debate caused Mr. Perot's poll ratings to plummet. And news coverage at the time had many people saying that Mr. Perot's impetuous performance made it harder to view him as a potential President.

In Mr. Posner's new book, Mr. Perot is quoted as saying why he thinks Mr. Gore did well in the debate. He says Mr. Gore was wearing a tiny, secret earpiece in his left ear, through which White House aides might have fed him information and debating tips.

''Watch the debate, and you will see that thing twinkle,'' Mr. Perot is quoted as saying. ''Let's say you were being fed good answers, or good questions, or you name it. Don't boast publicly about it because that is cheating. See, the news should have been, 'They cheated.' '']

The truth of the matter in both instances is that both Al Gore (then) and John McCain (now) came to their debates much more prepared than their adversaries. Al Gore was very specific in his examples to back up his claims and had statistics at his fingertips. John McCain has ready answers to questions because he has done one townhall meeting after another and has decades of experience from which to draw. In both instances, both Perot and Obama were so full of HUBRIS that neither of them went to enough trouble to prepare properly for the events in question. Frankly, I am a little surprised that the Obama camp hasn't cried racism at this point. Case closed.