I gave a speech tonight and then had to sign books afterward, so I missed the first half or so of the debae. I’ve got to watch the whole thing from the beginning, but one thing really stuck me. It was interesting, even oddly refreshing, to see what a good politician McCain is. I sometimes forget that. I’m not sure why, though I have some theories. One of them: I’ve heard so many of his lines so many times, I was jazzed to hear how good he can be when he’s extemporaneous (or when he’s good at being extemporaneous). Obama is a good politician too, of course. But he can give the sense that he’s merely a politician; a talker. McCain doesn’t give the sense he’s a talker, so it’s actually more surprising — and encouraging — when he shows himself to be a good talker.