If you just got here from another planet, you might think John McCain is the smartest man in the world. To come to that conclusion, all you'd have to do is watch a handful of McCain's townhall appearances where he always manages to turn the tables on those who confront him with rants or weak questions.

The latest example is below, from a recent townhall in Arizona. McCain is asked "why is my money going to al Qaeda in Syria?" According the announcer, McCain said that we aren't funding al Qaeda. According to reports, McCain later "shooed" the questioner or someone else out of the townhall and he was escorted out. On another video you can see McCain putting another audience member in his place: peekURL.com/vYBCpPK

Whoever was ejected, clearly McCain won. He always wins. No matter how many angry ranters rant at him, he always manages to turn it to his advantage.

And, the angry ranters can't learn from that and adapt how they do things.

The much smarter thing to do is to find experienced questioners, such as trial lawyers. And, have them asked real questions that are designed to be difficult for McCain to turn to his advantage. Another key part is to think ahead: imagine what McCain is going to say, and then change the question to make it difficult for him to give expected responses.

In this case, it should have been obvious that McCain was going to deny that the U.S. is funding al Qaeda. What did the angry ranter think he was going to do, just silently agree? Anyone who spent even a few minutes thinking about it would realize that McCain would disagree. The goal should have been to ask a question designed to show how McCain is wrong about something, not just give him yet another opportunity to portray his opponents as wrong.

See bad questions for dozens of other examples, and see Question Authority for the much smarter alternative to videos like the one below.