All Smiles

Wednesday's CNN debate may not have done McCain much harm, but the performers previously known as his "base"--the pundits--are not happy with the Arizonan. Take, for instance, Roger Simon:

"John McCain may be getting the hang of this front-runner thing. You say whatever you want to say, you keep repeating it, and you don't worry about the details. Straight talk? That was earlier in the campaign.

"At a Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Wednesday night, McCain repeatedly charged -- without a whole lot of evidence -- that Mitt Romney once supported a specific timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Romney heatedly denied it, saying it 'sort of falls into the dirty tricks that I think Ronald Reagan would have found reprehensible.'

"McCain didn't care. He knew Ronald Reagan was not around to give an opinion one way or another."

The Philly Inquirer's Dick Polman is just as tough:

"When the mood strikes him -- as it did Wednesday night, with the GOP brass ring finally in sight -- John McCain can sure be a duplicitous rascal.

"In the final Republican debate before the Feb. 5 primaries, McCain took Mitt Romney apart. He gleefully tormented his rival -- bile with a smile - while Romney just sputtered and whined. McCain was hit with a few tough questions along the way, but he shrugged them off, bobbing and weaving and stonewalling . . . and Romney, perhaps still reeling from his critical primary defeat in Florida, let him get away with it.

"In other words, there wasn't much 'straight talk' from McCain last night. But if the Feb. 5 voters are in the hunt for a wily SOB, they've probably found him. As the fabled baseball manager Leo Durocher supposedly said half a century ago, 'Nice guys finish last.' "

Atlantic's Marc Ambinder is more upbeat about Mac:

"Yes, Romney got in a few zingers -- the point about McCain and dirty tricks being one of them. But McCain's rebuttal was effective, and in any event, McCain knows this subject like the back of his hand, and he's able to argue circles around Romney."

Some conservatives are downright disgusted. And Andrew Sullivan likes the guy:

"This struck me as McCain's worst performance of the campaign. He seemed - understandably - exhausted. He kept pushing some untruths about Romney's position on Iraq. He seemed vague and unfocused on the economy. He was also more aggressive in swiping at Romney who was more civil and more engaging than I have seen so far. No, I still favor McCain on the issues - and on character. But either his relief at having this almost in the bag affected him, or he is showing his age."