In post-debate chatter, many talking heads and tapping fingers have noted that McCain didn't "take the opportunity" to attack Obama face to face over the now-prime issues of his campaign: that he sleeps with terrorists, hates America, and disrespects our troops. The righties say McPOW is too nice or he blew it, or some combination of the above; the lefties say he didn't have the guts.
I think the reason is very clear: he didn't want to give Obama an opportunity, on national television, to refute -- which McCain knows he could have done easily and eloquently -- those smears. He'd much rather be able to continue to use them.
His "failure" to raise the issues was nothing of the sort. It was part and parcel of his cynical, desperate, and extremely revealing campaign. The only amazing thing about it is that there are those, Broderites, who continue to argue that the "real" McCain, the decent hero, hates doing this, and that's why he seems so angry. Bullshit. The real McCain IS angry, all the time. The real McCain is the guy we see now, stripped of his carefully crafted and credulously continued (by the press) disguise. "Stealth candidate?" Now we know who.
Sid: did you see? I've been looking all through the paper and the online news, and the only reference I've found so far is the comments from the audience: didn't the reporters SEE? Why isn't the photo splashed all over the place?
ReplyDeleteAfter the debate, the men were working the crowd, shaking hands, chatting briefly, when they suddenly found themselves next to each other. Obama reached out with a warm smile to shake his colleague's hand. The debate had been over for several minutes, and McCain must have thought the cameras were off: he stood there stone-faced, refusing utterly. Cindy McCain finally shook Obama's hand to cover her husband's gaffe.
I would not want to have been her going home with him that night.
I saw it on MSNBC. It should be there in the video if they haven't trimmed it.
ReplyDeleteI have seen it. It's also apparently true, though, that they did shake hands immediately at the conclusion of the debate, before that incident.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0iIOqPGak
Thank you--I did see that video later in the day. That's the CNN video; I was watching the debate via MSNBC, and the camera angle they were showing just then was completely different from CNN's. You couldn't see that McCain had gestured towards Obama and his wife--I'm glad to see that he at least did that rather than holding his arm still. It wasn't quite so severely rude as it seemed earlier.
ReplyDeleteBut still, he did step back away from Obama when Obama tried to shake his hand this particular time, and gestured at Cindy to do it instead.
Want to read some revealing stuff about Mr. McCain? The latest issue of Rolling Stone has a substantial piece. If only half of it is true, and I think a good bit more than that is true, McCain should not even be running for a local school board.
ReplyDeleteHere's the URL: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain
Dr. Schwab,
ReplyDeleteSon is looking over my shoulder at the picture of Senator McCain that you posted with this post. Son exclaimed, "I'm a crazy old man, and I know where you live!"
gdad: that's one bright kid you've got there!
ReplyDeleteEverytime I think he's reached a new low and there's no way I have muster further loathing and contempt for him, he shows new ways to make me more incredulous. Why isn't the stuff Rolling Stone article in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, etc?
ReplyDeletebtw, thanks baysage for the link.