It seems to be that he wasn’t nice enough to Obama. He was “scrunched over” on his podium, said Chris Matthews. He “seemed to lecture and be condescending” to Obama, said Gloria Borger. This is reminiscent of the line thrown out after the 2000 Senate debate between Rick Lazio and Hillary Clinton in New York, when Lazio walked over to Clinton and tried to hand her a pledge to sign. The general line was that he had somehow been aggressive, invading her space, etc. That attack against Lazio stuck, in part because he was a man and she was a woman. Is it conceivable the MSM can get away with convincing people poor little Barack was dissed by mean ol’ John?