McCain has spoken strongly against Russia for a while now...  Will this sway voters in his favour?

No. Cause nobody paid any attention to him saying it. To the average joe, Obama and McCain's comments will sound as if they started at the same time. Right after the invasion.

Heck a lot of people think Obama voted against the war in Iraq when the reality was he wasn't even a senator yet.

Are you sure you are from Pitcairn?

He's from Canada. Pitcairn only has 50 or so people so that would be pretty unlikely. And Kasz pretty much summed it up as always, so there's not much more that needs to be said here.

Probably not. I don't think most voters will take notice either way.

I personally think a harsh yelling at Russia without actually knowning what was going on in the beginning is a little rash and shows poor judgement.

Now, after reading a lot about the details of what happened and adding a little of my own hypothesis based on those events I think Russia was intending to start this conflict all along and thus was the aggressor and should be punished in some form. Thus, I actually agree with McCain's harsh statements, but I still wonder if he knew this type of info before he made them or if he was just using our typical dislike of Russia as a possible political move.

Even Bush started off like Obama with simpler, more even toned statements. Whereas McCain showed his possible weakness in that he quickly spoke when it might have been better to show restraint at first until all the events surfaced. Just as Obama has done.

Ah ok I knew he was lying :). Yeah Kasz is probably right.

Bush used more even toned statements because their hasn't been a bigger supporter of Putin in the free world then George W Bush.

When people were urging him to take note and do something about Russia sliding out of democracy, he did so halfheartidly and talked about what a great guy Putin was.

yeah, you're probably right. I figured he started off softer because his aides told him to as it was a better approach until the full story comes out. :)

I think it will swing votes in McCain's favor.

Yes the average American has no idea what is going on, but the average American also doesn't vote. The ones who do have an understanding of what is going on are also a large percentage of those who vote which is why this will make a difference for McCain.