Can You see the real me? Can you? Can You?

Johhny Mac's new theme song. Ought to play it at every rally

How can we be sure that his demeanor is simply an expression of his maverickyness? Must be trying to maintain his Mr. Un-Congeniality image.
The man is a LOSER. He should at least have enough political sense to not mistreat his future Commander in Chief.

"McCain's emotions are getting the better of him, and revealing a pungent personality. Concerns about McCain's fragile temperament are obviously justified."

This is the real John McCain stripped of all the "dime novel" embelleshments that have surrounded and shielded him for years. This is the John McCain we've only heard of in hushed tones. He's a jerk, plain and simple. I highly doubt that he will take the critisizm of his debate performance seriously. I almost expect him to be even more petulant next week.

If Sarah Palin's performance tonight is largely savage attack as some have suggested it will just compound McCain's image problem. His entire campaign reeks of negativiity and rancor. By the time election day rolls around the John McCain "legend" will be erased.

I'll wager McCain's social skills are no more deficient than a majority of the population.
On a separate note, someone please ask both McCain and Palin specifically what foreign policy issues Palin offered McCain advice for, the nature of the advice and how McCain intends to incorporate it in a possible new administration. The NPR interview exposes McCain for the serial liar he is, yet it will get little notice. The public cares little for the truth. More of them know Warren Sapp is still on Dancing with the Stars than we have a fundamentalist ex-beauty queen airing her 2 cents to a possible new president regarding the handling of Vladimir Putin. The next time you marvel over some idiotic political event occurring in a backwater banana republic remind yourself the depths we've descended to right here at home.

Look, McCain chose Palin, decided that pragmatic lies trump honor, and agreed to adopt the entire Republican worldview. Now the house of cards is collapsing. McCain has lived with the consequences before and he will again. But no one should ever expect him to be elected Mr. Congeniality.

Stress is a terrible thing. When you become something even you yourself despise, eventually you crack.

I recall at the end of the first debate that Barack and Michelle Obama walked across the distance of the stage to John and Cindy McCain, and that McCain showed no interest in walking halfway across the stage to meet the Obamas. It came across petulant and infantile.

Do we really need a President who puts his personal gudges first?

Hey! Where are those network news body language experts now that we need them?

The man is not only small and petty - he is a LOSER. McShamelss does not even have the political
sense to treat his future President with respect and decency. That's one bridge I wouldn't want to burn under normal circumstances. Good thing for him that Obama lacks the mean sprit and vindictive nature that might want to repay his utterly immature and disrespectful behavior here at what is clearly the end stage of Neo-John's relevant political career.

Nobody that knows him of followed his career is surprised by this petty prick. Remember what an azzhole he was to Barack Obama right after Obama came into the Senate?

When reporters first started questioning him about his ties to Keating early in his career, his first reaction was to be pissed off and walk out of the press conference. I guess his campaign manager back then must have chastised him good, because he adopted a humble and accommodating posture from then on and thus minimized the damage when the Old Boys Club did its usual dance of protecting their own.

But, in light of this, the fact that he never learned a thing about how ill temper plays from this, although he does mostly bite his tongue (even when his instinct and his inclination is to smash someone from the Des Moines Register in the face) - should show anyone the danger attached to giving this guy a nuclear button to push.

Cue David Broder's analysis that this proves Obama is deferring to the "alpha" in 5...4...3...

Friends, John McCain was a POW. He's honorable. So we should elect him. Why oh why don't you get it?

A "pungent personality," Mr. Benen? No---I think the term "repugnant" would fit quite better, as McCain begins to demonstrate the "you-took-away-my-victory" attitude that comes only from two sources: Irreversibly-spoiled children-----and those petty little individuals who neither have earned nor deserve the silver spoon that's clenched in their hammy little fist.

John McCain is America's version of a Somali warlord.

McCain shook it, but with a "go away" look that no one could miss.

Running a dingbat for VP and arguing that her empty noodle is a feature is a tough sell.
Making a sore-loser spectacle out of yourself inflates the cost of doing business...
Taken together these two form a lethal one-two punch to the psyche of the American spirit.

Are you paying attention Ohio?

If John McCain really was a purveyor of "Straight Talk", he would walk out onto a stage today and say, "My friends, I am just not up to this whole 'president' thing anymore. Maybe eight years ago. Maybe not. But there's no way in hell that I could assume the presidency given the dismal failure I've made of this campaign and the childish mockery I've made of your trust. Don't vote at all in November, my friends. Or vote for the other guy. He seems to know what he's doing. But -- and I want to be as clear as I can be about this -- I'm out of the race. I can't stand you ass-faced monkeys anymore. I'm going home to throw some shit around. That's some straight talk right there."

Any man who'd call his wife a c*nt in public is more of an arse than a gentleman. Mr. Un-Congeniality is just that and more. He thinks the country owes him this job because he got shot down after dropping napalm onto civilians and soldiers alike. Karma is not such a strange thing. He's paid for his depravity killing via torture and ,now, two (hopefully) loosing attempts to run a country farther into the tank.

Next time Obama offers his hand to this dork it should include one of those comic buzzer deals that sends a shock up the arm. Maybe it'll jolt that knuckle-head back to reality. I have an erie
feeling that McAce's handlers are treating him like Bushit's and are keeping him in a bubble and away from the news that he's considered a grumpy old guy by a lot of people. What fun...

Stood 4.5 hours in the cold yesterday to see Obama in La Crosse. Saw & heard him up close. Best speech I've ever heard in person(not willing to say it was the greatest speech of all time). What a contrast with McLoser.

Bad Bad John McCain
Meanest man on the whole damn plain
Meaner than ol' king kong
Meaner than a junkyard dog.

Now John he a gambler
And he like his fancy clothes
And he like to wave his trophy wife
In front of everybodys nose
He got a custom house in sonoma
One in eldorado too
He got a ICBM in his pocket for fun
He got a razor in his shoe

he couldn't be bothered to treat his rival with modicum of respect, even after Obama graciously made the first move.

It's (unfortunately) human nature - when you hate someone and you're nasty and petty about them and to them, and they're polite, decent, and respectful to you, making you realize how small, nasty, petty, and hateful you are being, there is a tendency for you to be nastier, pettier, and more hateful.

Especially when this happens in front of people, and especially in front of your friends. Not only do you realize that you're being an asshole; not only do you realize that this person makes you act like an asshole; not only do you realize that this person makes you look like an asshole; not only do you realize that this person makes you look like an asshole to your friends: You realize that this person makes you look like an asshole to your friends when he is polite, decent, and respectful.

Yeah, maybe it doesn't make logical sense, but a lot of people in that situation will feel nothing but more resentment towards the other person.

What a contrast with McLoser.

I saw a McCain speech on TV a couple days ago. At points you could hear the crowds cheer wildly (I suspect they had cue cards). But standing behind McCain was the most bored group of people I had ever seen.

Maybe he can't pivot. Someone better check with Jonah and Howard Kurtz, they'll know.

This inability to look at Obama might have dire consequences for McCain: see the comic at:
http://macleodcartoons.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-worry-for-mccain-in-next-debate.html

I'm NOT NOT NOT defending him, but consider this scenario.

McCain, a POW, with years of governance is defeated in 2000 by an idiotic, dirty-trickster draft dodger with family connections that hearken back to "The Reagan."

Everyone knows he played McCain dirty, so Dubya essentially promises the nomination for '08, assuring him that the GOP has locked up the country for generations.

Meanwhile, McCain is stewing while America slides into turmoil, the GOP brand is tarnished and his prospects worsen.

Then, just as he gains the prize he's been waiting for, he's upstaged by ANOTHER upstart youngster "who hasn't SACRIFICED." McCain's a douchebag for sure, but... criminy, that's gotta smart.

And Obama's the elitist? The fact is that McInsane is a spoiled Navy brat who never had to want for anything in his life. Whether it was sponging off of his father and grandfather, or his millionaire wife, he knows nothing of the suffering of the common folk.

That, in and of itself, is no big deal. Many politicians have been able to acknowledge his or her position of fortune and work for the betterment of all Americans. mcInsane's just not one of them.

I don't know if I'll EVER stop being outraged at the legions of pundits and reporters who've been ramming this bogus "McCain/Man of Honor/POW/Straight Talk/Maverick" persona down the public's throat long since a time when it may have been true. (Was it ever?) Building up this hollow, craven, small man, giving him every benefit of the doubt, and assuming he deserved it (based on his POW experience, I suppose), has hurt the nation more than I can say.

If indeed there's a President Obama (which I fervently hope) I'm praying also for massive media reform via the FCC to disincentivize the airing of blathering, inflammatory pundits in favor of ACTUAL straight talk...(I think they used to call it 'journalism, didn't they?)

It staggers me that so many voters think they know who McCain is, when what they really know is the pundits' projections of McCain based on the pundits' own need to have a hero to worship, and their proclivity to invent one if necessary (viz. G. Bush prancing in flight suit).

This is a guy who was tortured, made a big deal about how he was tortured so he was definitely against torture and it was un-American to even suggest Americans should torture and his mavericky maverickness would stop the President from allowing torture.

Then he decided torture was OK for political gain and because a guy who smeared the Hell out of him and his family wanted it to be OK.

By show of hands: Who is really that surprised by any of the blatant assholery he's exhibited?

I. See. No. Hands.

McCain's harsh, petty slights of Obama--revealing the weaknesses of his own character--will not probably change the minds of any voters.

However, revealing McCain's unattractive personality will inevitably supppress the enthusiasm of some Republican voters while raising it for Democrats. That widening enthusiasm gap is what will help Obama's campaign and carry him to victory in a month. :-)

McCain is a silver spoon daddy's boy who has never had to answer to anyone for his behavior. I firmly believe that it is not only the fact that he knows this election is slipping away, but also he knows he has sacrificed his reputation and credibility in a losing cause, and it's tearing him up. Look for more of this.

I keep getting this mental image of Nixon aggressively shoving his press secretary, Ron Ziegler (I think I got that name right, but correct me if I am wrong), away from himself and toward the press.

McCain may be a Maverick, but not in the 'Cool Hand Luke' kind of way.

Character and ability do not go hand in hand, and the number of cases of talent being bigger than the man are legion. When you're looking for a cancer specialist, you don't much care how they behave to their spouse.

But McCain's callous treatment of his first wife was so beyond his "my fault" excuse that to this day Nancy Reagan clearly despises him, as did her husband. While they are not my moral exemplars, they are the gold standard for the GOP and a lot of Reagan Republicans will not mind so much when he loses the election.

I just wish Paul Newman was still around to do the movie, his Sidney J. Mussberger was a clear study for Little Big Man.

He should at least have enough political sense to not mistreat his future Commander in Chief. --rick

The president is the commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, not all US citizens. To those not in the US military, he is the president of the USA. This is a ridiculous right-wing meme that gained traction via Faux News. Never repeat it again. The president serves the people of the United States, not vice versa.

If McCain wants to treat the future POTUS with disrespect, let him. He's got that self-important air that highlights his lack of character. If anything, this election shows McCain and his GOP comrades are bad for this country.

Both McCain and Michelle Obama were in my neighborhood yesterday. He offended even the local republicans by coming to the Truman Library. (I found it especially galling, but then, I am a Jackson County Democrat and damned proud of it.) About a hundred ticketed people listened to fifteen minutes of boilerplate.

Then in the late afternoon, Michelle Obama was in town and led a street rally at 18th and Vine - Ida McBeth sang the national anthem and for an opening act, we got Emanuel Cleaver. It was a sea of people, the street was filled side to side for three blocks. (Pictures here)

McCain shook it, but with a "go away" look that no one could miss. He tried his best not to even look at Obama.

W.T.F.?

I don't care how much he personally despises the man, didn't McCain listen to any of the post debate analysis at all? The polling? The focus groups? Didn't he notice that the disrespect and cold shoulder attitude - while playing GREAT with the "angry right" - doesn't impress the mass of undecided voters that he needs to court at all. And in fact they were annoyed by it?

I don't expect him to like Obama, but he should be a good enough actor to fracking fake it. At least he's promised never to meet with our enemies if he becomes President - if he can't handle a smile to an opponent in a Presidential race, how the hell is he going to handle meetings with people who actually hate him?

As I may have mentioned, this is a man to whom "bipartisanship" is just a buzzword to open the floodgates of favourable media coverage. There will be bipartisanship under McCain only so far as the Democrats support his initiatives - there's no room for disagreement.

McCain seems to have misjudged what the people want, and decided what they're looking for is even more of a hardass than Bush; more secretive, more contemptuous of everyone who isn't like him. Of course, he's right for the twenty-something percent who would vote for a tree or a microwave oven, as long as it had a Republican sticker on it. Ditto for another small percent who would vote for a tree or a microwave as long as it was white. But I can't believe there's any real popular - as opposed to strategic strategic - support for a McCain presidency.

And yet, the polls remain close. It staggers the imagination.

John's a cranky, 72 yr old vet being trashed in public and getting bad news by the minute. He's fighting for the world's most prestigious job (better than Pope? better than Superbowl MVP?) with the type of young whipper-snapper he can't stand. Put me there in 25 years and I'll probably be just as big a dick. This is everyday McCain - hardly headline material.

Obama new it would be a great photo op to walk over, interrupt McCain for a hand shake, and thereby push his 'cranky' button. I would have done the same. It's campaign theater, not much more.

McCain's McMansion is for sale. I especially like McCain's office that sure looks awfully similar to the Oval Office. Seriously, what kind of man designs his office to look like the Oval Office?

The mansion includes:

10 fireplaces (in the desert, mind you)
13 bedrooms
14.5 bathrooms
13,000 square feet
a wine tasting room
an air conditioned playhouse for the kids
6 car garage
an extra second garage
surrounding the poll 3 ramadas with full size bars
22 flat screen tvs

And don't forget, this is only one of McCain's 12 homes.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccains-mcmansion-is-for-sale.html

I keep getting this mental image of Nixon aggressively shoving his press secretary, Ron Ziegler (I think I got that name right, but correct me if I am wrong), away from himself and toward the press.

You got it. And I probably don't need to remind any other Nixon geeks that one of McCain's would-be sarcastic comments to the Des Moines Register editorial board, "Georgetown cocktail party," was a Nixon standard. 30-odd freaking years and these morons haven't gotten any new material.

The difference is that Nixon didn't actually go to those cocktail parties he railed against. McCain does.

Buh Buh Bad to the bone...

I still can't get over that exchange between McCain and the Des Moines Register Editorial Board on Sept. 30. I hope Obama uses this in his ads.

Not only was his claim patently absurd, but his face--his mouth and jaw were so rigid and his glare was so over the top hostile -- as if to say "I would kill you right now if I could somehow get away with it".

Oh sorry--that chilling exchange apparently happened yesterday, Oct. 1--not Sept. 29.

Anyone gonna be McCain for Halloween?

Just in.

McCain suspends his campaign to start a new movement to bring civility to political discourse in this country. He says that he will put country first and that he will request that the next Presidential debate be postponed unless politicians start being nice to each other.

He also decreed Obama's angry opposition to his noble efforts.

Which guy acted like a relaxed and confident person who's winning the election, and which one acted like a bitter, defeated loser?

One of my worst failings, one I try hard to change, is pettiness with an inability to mask my emotions. When very involved in civic organizations in a small city a number of years ago, I was offered the presidency of a fairly prestigious group. Much as it pained me, I turned it down because I knew I couldn't be the adult diplomat necessary in the job. To see McCain displaying the character faults that make me feel so small, writ large no less, is a jarring experience. It reinforces that I made the right decision then--if only he'd done the same.

In the opening minute of the video of McCain's interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board, speaking of the failure of the Bailout in the House:

It's so symptomatic of why we're so gridlocked in Washington. People can't reach across the aisle and we give poiseon speeches..."

This is the McSiah: a man so honorable that he never needs to tell the truth. Whatever he says becomes the truth.

McCain is acting like a sore loser and he hasn't even lost yet.

I'm surprised that all the coverage focuses only on how angry and messed up McBlame is.

My reaction was that this was a great example of Obama's cool confidence, how by going into the lion's den he was proving how brave and fearless he is. And also as an added bonus, it shows McCain that his petulance and disdain don't phase Obama in the least. Which can only serve to further unsettle McBlame.

Here's The McSiah on gridlock:

http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-desmoines-150-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=johnmccain08&maven_referralObject=873470075

O, what I would give to learn that the exchange was recorded by our friends at C-Span!

This isn't the first time some foreign looking guy has beaten the crap out of McCain, and he is probably flashing back to those days of horror. I'd feel sorry for him if he wasn't a compulsive liar and had more houses and cars than I have digits.

I think Obama is making a point of tweaking McCain by these gestures. During the debate he made of point of calling Senator McCain by his first name. That may seem normal in these relaxed times but I'm sure McCain took umbrage that this whippersnapper was being so informal with one of the world's most distinqushed statesmen (that's the deluded way he sees himself).

McCain is an easy man to manipulate if you just want to get him mad. Obama is shrewd enough to know how to do this while, all the while, appearing to be the victim.

I have no problem with this. It demonstrates to me that Obama will make a much better president. One of the primary jobs of a president is to represent America in negotiations with other shrewd leaders. Being an effective negotiator requires the ability to read and manipulate the emotions of your opposers. Obama has that. McCain does not. Putin would run roughshod of this Irish sod.

donuts with sprinkles on them anyone ?

It was probably confusing to McCain that he and Obama were both going to vote for the same bill. After all, how could he look all mavericky if he's doing the same as 73 other Senators?

Of course, it's also possible McCain is just a self-righteous prick.

America can't afford John McCain.

Being small and petty is the McCain legacy.

So we've been hearing so much about McCain's temper for the last year from every liberal blogger in America, and now a report from someone who claims to have read John McCain's mind by a glance and a supposed 'go away look' has finally provided the smoking gun.

I'm so glad grade school type gossip about interpretations of glances is worthy of bloggers time now.

Obama is McNoshame's Mr. Woodcock.

It's really not that hard to figure out John McCain. Essentially, he's just like George W. Bush: a failed son trying to prove himself to a father and grandfather who achieved much. It's the old story of "the first generation makes it, the second generation saves it, and the third generation loses it."

Consider: grandpop was one of "Bull" Halsey's fighting Admirals who defeated the Japanese Navy; this is the American equivalent of having been one of "Nelson's Captains" at Trafalgar. Dad became an Admiral with an outstanding career. Taken together, the Admirals McCain are the only father-and-son Admirals in US Navy History.

Poor Johnny graduated 5 from the bottom at the family school (Annapolis), while both fathers were in the top 10 of their classes and obvisouly destined for high rank from the outset. Johnny only got into Naval Aviation - which usually only takes graduates from the top ten percent at Annapolis right out of school without a few years in the fleet to prove themselves for those who don't make that cut - and then barely graduated from Pensacola. He crashed five airplanes, and in at least four of those the investigators wanted to list it as "pilot error" - a career-killer in anybody's air force or airline - but the Navy gave the son and grandson of the two great Admirals a pass. Finally, come August 1967, push came to shove and the Navy couldn't bring itself to promote Johnny from Lieutenant Commander to Commander on his third shot. This means that McCain had no chance of promotion to higher rank and his career was essentially over. Top Naval officers I have spoken to about this tell me the most common reason an officer fails at this point in their career is lack of maturity and demonstrated incompetence. (Sound familiar, looking at the current campaign?)

Johnny getting shot down changed his career. He was in the "POW Fast Track" for promotion, which meant he got that promotion to Commander in November that would otherwise not have happened, then got promoted to Captain in 1972. When he came out of prison, the Navy gave him a "Captain level" command, and he blew it. The Navy told him there would definitely not be a third Admiral McCain and he went on to use his fame to run the Navy's Congressional whore house (where they kept the Congress critters liquored up and supplied with women in exchange for favorable votes on Big Boy's Toys), where he moved on to politics.

Both dad and granddad died before Johnny made it in politics, so he never got an "attaboy" from either man - who are known to have considered him a failure - and now he's trying to top them both by becoming President, and he's about to loose it to.... Obama????? A "ni-i-i-i-i-i........."?????

No wonder he's about to blow like a pressure cooker with the cap kept on too long.

Okay, I'm sorry, Steve, but I think this is getting silly. How is this different from the "body language experts" you complained about (I think that was you)? Why are we wasting time analyzing Mccain's mannerisms? I was irritated when the bogus story arose that Obama refused to face Hillary Clinton ("snubgate,"I think it was called), so I don't think it would be fair for me to pile on now. This sort of nitpicking is just silly- there's so many more substantive issues.

This is the guy some people want to meet with foreign leaders? I can just see it if he gets testy with someone at one of these international economic conferences. Or cuts them dead like this. Can you say international incident?

I can't help but see a racial component in McCain's unwillngness to look at Obama during the debate or shake his hand in the Senate. Undoubtedly he's an asshole, but he seems to have charmed many men across the political spectrum for many years (men like Biden and Kennedy). So, why not Obama? Well, yes, he's an opponent, and McCain doesn't like being opposed. But he's also a black man, and McCain is a 72-year old white man who came of age in a very racist Navy environment. That's what I saw during the first debate: someone who still believes deeply that Obama is not his equal. I see something similar in his despicable treatment of the women in his life. In Palin he found a woman who makes him comfortable: physically attractive, intellectually void and unthreatening to his power.

McCain's personality is...pungent? Like dog poop?

I think it's legitimate to point this out because it highlights a flaw in McCain that is widely recognized.

His actions in this case suggest he knows he isn't doing well, or indeed, is going down.