As I was watching the debate evolve or in McCaskill's case devolve I found it extremely frustrating with her lack of ability to be assertive and allow Sen.Talent to gain control of the debate, as the subject changed from the" Foley Case" to the war in Iraq, there opened a golden opportunity for her, as I will quote from the MTP transcripts here

MR. RUSSERT: But there’s 145,000. If we withdraw the American troops within two years and full-blown civil war erupts in Iraq, full-blown civil war, creating a haven similar to Afghanistan of the 90s, what do you do then?

MS. McCASKILL: Well, I think then that military leaders need to advise us. These decisions are now being made. You know, steadfastness has turned into stubbornness. And this is about politics instead of sound foreign policy. You know, I don’t support the release of classified information. Anybody who releases classified information should be held accountable. But we shouldn’t start blaming the journalists. That’s what they’re doing in Iraq right now. They’re putting journalists in prison that disagree with this government. This is not an American democracy.

Russert then proceeded to say the following: MR. RUSSERT: The president says he’s listening to the advice of the military commanders... Now that line  opened a golden opportunity for her to respond with something powerful, instead, she replied with some psychobabble about respecting the troops...wrong wrong wrong. Had it been me, I would have came back with....Tim thats a baldfaced lie, neither Bush nor Rumsfeld listen to their Generals nor do they follow their advice, and Tim you know full well we have Maj. General Batiste's testimony before a congressional committee stating as much. Now thats what I would have said boldly powerful and to the point. Of course i'm Irish and on the debate team when I attended college so perhaps its an unfair comparison. There were many other mistakes she made while debating Sen. Talent but that was the most obvious and important one. I learned long ago when you debate be prepared, know all your facts and make no mistakes there is no room for error in a debate just one mistake can make you look foolish and doom you for life.

In any event to emphasize my point I posted a video of General Batiste's testimony before congress recently so when Bush and his neocon nazi trolls lie and say they listen to the Generals you can see here that Bush is a liar, neither Bush nor Rumsfeld follow their generals advice furthermore listen carefully you will hear Gen. Batiste say he's a "lifetime republican" that shows you just how out of touch Bush is on this war. The video runs about ten minutes approximately, I know your time is valuable but I believe this video is important and well worth the time, especially if you plan, [and I sincerely hope you do] to vote in November.I humbly and respectfully thank you for your time