Hotline After Dark -- Crisis Control

NBC's Williams sat down with John McCain and Sarah Palin in OH.

Williams: "Before we begin airing the conversation, this moment first from late in our conversation that will make news tonight about the growing requests these days for Sarah Palin to release her medical records."

Williams, to Palin: "Did I hear you just agree to release your medical records?"

Palin: "The medical records, so be it. If that will allow some curiosity seekers, perhaps, to have, oh, one more thing that they can either check the box off that they can find something to criticize, perhaps, or find something to rest them assured over, fine. I'm healthy, happy, had five kids. That's going to be in the medical records. Never been seriously ill or hurt. You'll see that in the medical records, if they're released."

Williams, to McCain: "Did this campaign get out of your control? And here's what I mean. A lot of people who know you well saw you take that microphone from that woman in [Minnesota], and for the first time in a long time they said, 'That's John McCain.'"

McCain: "They either haven't been paying attention or don't want to. In my speech at the convention, I spoke of my admiration for Senator [Barack] Obama. ... I have said continuously my respect for him. But that doesn't change my view that there are stark differences. And when I'm president there is not going to be an international crisis that Senator [Joe] Biden can guarantee."

More after the jump, including what makes McCain and Obama cry.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

Williams: "You mention Senator Biden's comment the other day about a new president and a test of the new president's mettle. ... One of your very closest friends in the Senate, Joe Lieberman said on 'Face The Nation,' quote, 'Our enemies will test the new president early.' And it has happened throughout modern history."

McCain: "Well, look, I've been tested. They know me, they know me very well. I've been tested. Senator Biden said it. What if Sarah or I had said it. Oh, my God, it would have been terrible."

Palin: "Can you imagine?"

McCain: "Can you imagine? His own running mate said it's because he is young and new and untested. ... 'Mark my words,' is what he said, 'that there's going to be an international crisis.' And then he compared it to the Cuban missile crisis. My friend, I was in the Cuban missile crisis. I was on the aircraft carrier Enterprise in the air wing. We were close to nuclear war. ... When a vice presidential candidate predicts because a young untested president is going to face an international crisis like the Cuban missile crisis, unbelievable. Americans know I've been tested."

Williams: "Governor Palin, yesterday you tied this notion of an early test to the new president with this notion of preconditions ... that you both have been hammering the Obama campaign on. First of all, what in your mind is a precondition?"

Palin: "You have to have some diplomatic strategy going into a meeting with someone like Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il, one of these dictators that would seek to destroy America or her allies."

Williams: "When he says the new president will be tested, though, I'm missing how that's different from Senator Lieberman saying, quote, 'our enemies will test the new president early.'"

McCain: "Look, I don't know when Joe Lieberman said that. But Joe Lieberman is supporting me. The main reason probably is because he thinks America is going to be safer and more secure with me as president. ... If he thought there was some kind of equivalency, he probably would have stayed in his own party as far as which nominee he supported."

Palin: "I think it's the most telling comment that has been made yet on this campaign trail in all of these months. ... For Biden, too, to have been the one to say he would be so honored to run on a McCain ticket because he knew that that way, if Senator McCain is elected president, that our country would be better off, I think there's some significance there too in the comment made."

Williams, on ex-Sec/State Colin Powell endorsing Obama: "The heart of his quote, about Governor Palin, Senator McCain, 'I don't believe she is ready to be president of the United States which is the job of vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.' ... When you heard those words from a man you've known for a long time, what was your reaction, saying basically we have little to judge these future leaders on except for the big decision of picking a running mate?"

McCain: "I know that if General Powell had wanted to meet Governor Palin, we could have arranged that easily, number one. But number two is then obviously General Powell does not know Governor Palin's record. ... All I can say is, I see all these attacks on Governor Palin. I don't live in a bubble. But those people obviously are either not paying attention to or don't care about the record of the most popular governor in the United States of America."

Palin: "And, look, let me interrupt for a second here, too. I'm not going to toot my own horn, but I do have more executive experience than Barack Obama even has. ... But let's not forget also in this context of one endorsement ... that you have received the endorsement of at least four former secretaries of state and hundreds..."

McCain: "Five secretaries..."

Palin: "And hundreds of retired top US brass and US military brass that see also in John McCain the ability to win the wars and to keep our nation safe" ("Nightly News," 10/22).

Meanwhile, CNN's Blitzer traveled to Manchester, NH, to catch up with McCain.

Blitzer: "Do you believe America's enemies, whether terrorists or hostile governments, would test you during the first six months of your presidency?"

McCain: "We've already been tested. And I'm astonished and amazed to hear ... Senator Biden predict that the untried, untested President Obama will be tested by our enemies, and we may not agree -- his own backers may not agree" ("Situation Room," 10/22).

I SECOND THAT EMOTION

And in the series "Presidential Questions," CBS' Couric asked Obama and McCain the same set of questions on last night's "Evening News."

Couric: "What do you believe is your opponent's greatest strength and weakness?"

Obama: "Oh, I think Senator McCain has a number of strengths. You know, obviously he has great inner resolve -- and determination. And you know, he himself, I think has indicated how that was forged in his experiences as a POW. And I have the utmost respect for that. You know, he served gallantly and with great distinction. And we honor that. With respect to Senator McCain's weaknesses, I would -- rather than talk about his personality, I would simply say that his policies seem to be a carbon copy of the policies we've seen over the last eight years. He hasn't paid a lot of attention to the difficulties and the hardships that ordinary Americans are feeling and the history of America shows that economic growth happens most when the pie is growing but it's growing for everybody."

McCain: "I think his greatest strength is that -- and I admire and respect Barack Obama -- is his ability to motivate Americans. He does that with eloquence. And he motivated millions of Americans and continues to do so. I think probably his greatest weakness is his lack of experience and therefore judgment. And that's just what has led him, I think to make certain judgments which I don't think are best for this country."

Couric: "When was the last time you cried and why?"

Obama: "This one is pretty easy. It was Malia, my ten year old daughter's birthday party. We were in Montana. And you know, she's a fourth of July baby. So often times, during this campaign, we'd be traveling during birthdays. And so we were in this small hotel, I think a Holiday Inn. ... We were in this nondescript conference room with Malia and Sasha, Michelle, me, my sister, my brother-in-law and my niece. And there was a cake. And there was some food which wasn't, you know, stellar. And the staff had put together an iPod of all of her favorite music. The Jonas Brothers and Beyonce. And we spent the evening just dancing. ... Malia came up and said, 'This is the best birthday I've ever had.' And she meant it. And I looked at her and I realized -- you know, that she was growing up. And that she was wise, turning out to be somebody who would say that to her dad even if she didn't mean it, just to make me feel good. And yeah, it chokes me up right now talking about it. Yeah, my kids get to me every time."

McCain: "I cry regularly. ... I'm very sentimental. When I see these young people who are serving. I met a woman at a town hall meeting the other day who had lost her son in Iraq. And, I was so touched, because she talked about how proud she was of his service. And what a fine young person he was. And whenever you have that experience, obviously you think, how could I ever cope with such a tragedy, you know? ... When I say cry, my eyes well up, as they are right now thinking about these brave Americans and their families who have sacrificed so much for their country, especially recently" (CBS, 10/22).