[Obama] walked over to where McCain was chatting with Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida and Independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut. And he stretched out his arm and offered his hand to McCain. McCain shook it, but with a "go away" look that no one could miss. He tried his best not to even look at Obama.Finally, with a tight smile, McCain managed a greeting: "Good to see you."
Obama got the message. He shook hands with Martinez and Lieberman -- both of whom greeted him more warmly -- and quickly beat a retreat back to the Democratic side.
This was yesterday on the Senate floor. Pretty incredible when paired with McCain's inability to look at Obama during the debate. The only thing worse than a sore loser, is a person who's sore even before they lose. I have no idea what's going on in McCain's head. But one has to wonder what sort of unhappiness, what manner of poison brings you to this. Does he even really wants to win? Or is he simply animated by the sense that he was robbed in 2000? I hope there is a reporter working on a piece about the internals of this campaign. Again, I have no idea what's rattling around in my man's head, but boy, he really seems in pain.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
What did you expect? I'm sorry, I just don't get this post.
As usual, you grasp the underlying reality here. If you take that ungracious moment on the Senate floor in tandem with McCain's unbelievably angry, nasty performance and body language with the people from the DesMoines Register, this is someone who is deeply unhappy with himself and in my opinion verging on (if not fully) psychologically unhinged. Scary stuff. Seeing the look on his face makes me scared I will have nightmares about meeting him in a back alley somewhere. . .
John McCain lacks god judgment, grace and basic social skills.
In a funny way, many social conservatives will have a harder time forgiving that lack of manners than his inconsistencies in voting record and ideology.
Obama's just fucking with him.
Susan: does that just mean McCain's a sore loser?
T-Harris: WHAT? Conservatives care about McCain's manners?
On what side of bizarro world did I wake up this morning?
Russell Simmons rang the bell on wall street this morning. WTF!
He really has become an angry little troll.
A few months ago all the "Get off my lawn!" jokes were funny. Now they're way too close to reality.
Seriously, what's John McCain's problem?
a. He wasn't raised right.
b. He's a dick.
c. Both a and b.
By the way, wasn't the McCain/Palin campaign yakking at length about how much better they are/would be at "reaching across the aisle"? Mm-hm. I thought so.
By the way, Bush is the same way. Go back and review his presidential debates if you need to. Bush is a combination lf McCain's well-heeled douchiness and Palin's stunning ignorance and was as unqualified for higher office. The only difference is that McCain actually showed up for duty and actually did do time in "the box."
Yo T,
I know you are a serious Bal-more head and I wanted to post this on your previous Sarah Palin post but didn't know if you would see it. I just came across a video by Rev. Jamal Bryant of Empowerment A.M.E. Church of Baltimore, MD. Pastor Bryant reads (in the Black meaning of the word) Sarah Palin and John McCain like I've never seen anyone do in this entire election cycle. There are a few factual errors in his talk, but the gist is strong. I saw the video because a Black British friend of mine in London sent it to me. Its got over a million views on youtube so something is definitely happening. Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al_y3g77ZsA
What can you tell me about this brother? I'm intrigued. It might also be good for some of your White readers to learn about cats like him who really represent how real middle-class African-Americans feel about the issues of the day.
Thanks. McCain is a rude SOB loser and the Cowboys will choke again this year.
A Patriots fan in Boston.
I read a quote that was attributed to Joy Behar, where she stated that McCain doesn't seem to understand the difference between an enemy and an adversary. It seems that if you oppose him in anything, you are an enemy.
I was a fan of McCain for many years. I think what we are seeing now is the real McCain, without a besotted press corps running interference for him.
Don't you mean he ROCKED the bell?
I'm sorry...
I remember a Chris Rock story where he wrote about coming back to Brooklyn and the guy who picked him up in the limo was someone from his school days who used to pick on him mercilessly. Long story short, Rock remembered that when Bugs Bunny really wanted to piss off Elmer Fudd he wouldn't drop an anvil on him, he would reach over and kiss him on the mouth. So Rock tipped the guy extra heavy. Because, you know, he could afford to. I always thought that was cold & beautiful revenge.
I think that is Obama's game here. He knows McCain is a seething hot head and he is getting under his skin. To paraphrase Anna Marie Cox: Obama is playing chess, McCain is playing checkers.
"Or is he simply animated by the sense that he was robbed in 2000?"
He is animated by the sense that he is in the process of being robbed in 2008.
Please. If Obama did the same thing, you'd probably be fawning over how he has ice water in his veins and his attitude was reminiscent of some great traditionally black attribute -- like Tyson's old pre-fight stare-downs, maybe, or Michael Jordan's intensity on the basketball court.
McCain's angry is on some patriarchial ish. Back in the Senate they had a letter dialogue where McCain was basically pissed that obama didn't do what he said in terms of ethics reform. (google it)
Fast forward to his "If Sen. Obama would've gone to the town meetings, i wouldn't air these ludicrous ads."
Also his "Obama will not listen to the men on the ground" talk
All this adds up to both an age and race concoction of talking to Obama like a child. Claiming that the child wont do what the grown ups tell him to do or he follows the wrong crowd. A child controlled by the chicago machine or crazy radicals. Its the age old infantilization that both liberals and racists toss on black people like they are lost children who need direction.
In this case McCain feels like this child has no business being on stage with him, he may even believe his qualified to be Senator, but similar to HRC thinks this "child" is beneath him. I'm not saying "he's racist", i'm saying he doesn't respect the guy and being young and black is a part of that--somehow.
Sidebar: If he calls him a young punk---election over.
It's got to be self-loathing manifesting itself by McCain lashing out. He's got to know he's running a dishonorable campaign, and doing the sort of thing that Bush did to him in 2000.
Maybe he'd made peace with dishonoring himself to win the presidency, and as it looks he's dishonored himself and not even done that. For someone who seems to define himself by his honor, that's got to be pretty galling, and displacing that self-loathing is a pretty human response.
It doesn't speak well of him, but it's not that surprising.
Obama is playing chess, McCain is playing checkers.
McCain is playing mumblepeg.
I'm now more interested in the tell-all memoirs from inside the McCain campaign than the Clinton campaign.
New data point: After aides must have told him (right?) that his failure to look at Obama in the debate was getting play and contributed to the loss of undecideds in said debate, surely he should have been prepared to counter that with a nice "ah Senator Obama, yes, I can look at you" moment.
Old data points: Why was he in Iowa yesterday? Picking Palin. Going to war with the media 2 months before the election rather than 2 weeks before.
I'm genuinely curious what people there are thinking.
He was a POW? Seriously, though, not only is five years of intense physical & psychological trauma not a qualification to be president, it probably buried all kinds of weirdness beneath his dome.
I've said this before, I just think that he is ashamed and frustrated at what he has become. From someone who by most measure seemed to be principled to a person who lies for a living must be a soul draining feeling. I think any direct contact with Obama just intensifies the pathetic truth of what McCain has become.
McCain is playing mumblepeg.
I hope so. Back in my youth on Staten Island I got stabbed in the foot pretty bad playing mumblepeg.
That's it...McCain doesn't know the difference between an enemy and an adversary. Anyone who threatens what he perceives as his rightful destiny is an enemy. It obviously makes him seethe.
Obama's just fucking with him.
I prefer to call it "Killing him with kindness"
btw, I can't freaking stand Mel Martinez or Joe Lieberman. Total hacks
On manners:
I'm serious!
Especially in the Midwest and the South, social conventions are ironclad. The (IMO) meaningless customs called good manners are DEFINING, and if you don't adhere to them you will be judged- harshly.
McCain lacks the ability to even mimic those manners completely- and to his detriment with those voters. They won't vote Obama, but they may stay home.
The man just has no game. If Hillary Clinton can walk into the senate and make nice with all those asses who worked to destroy her husband's presidency and tear down her life; McCain can't man up and look at his opponent?
If Hillary and Bill Clinton can campaign for Obama, McCain can't man up and look at his opponent?
Half of politics is going down with grace; you come up faster that way. John McCain hasn't realized that since he's been blessed in not facing any real challenges the 26 years he's been in political life other than Bush. And he learned the wrong lessons from Bush.
All those years in Hanoi; not looking at his captors, holding his head up, keeping his dignity in the face of inhumanity. . .he's responding more and more based on that time.
My step father, who spent horrific time in a POW camp in WWII did the same thing -- turned to the camp survival behavior -- at about the same age as McCain.
It's like a bullied kid pretending the bully didn't exist, and you've got the response.
My take is that McCain's personal success formula is winning through intimidation. Snarl and glower to get your way. It works pretty well one-on-one, it just doesn't work so well on-camera. So when somebody challenges him, on the facts of something, or when somebody runs against him, out comes the posturing.
I'm not convinced that Obama's blackness has a big role, so much as Obama is younger, less experienced, not military, and a kumbayah singer. Throw in a little resentment of the Harvard guy. "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy".
OK, we're talkin' about this? Deconstructing Jonny Mac?
OK, then we should talk about his relationship with his father: an Admiral. He has a ton of shame from his Vietnam years: Crashing jets, getting tortured, making a tape for the Viet Cong selling himself out.
Look, I would have buckled way before he did. But my point is, that tape was a big failure for him in relationship with this dad.
That hurt, that pain, that lack of relationship with his father... manifests in anger. HOLLA BACK
I won't make some amateurish attempt to psychoanalyze McCain. Let's face it - he is simply an asshole. Pure and simple, he is a small-minded, self-centered vindictive asshole.
There is a great article in Rolling Stone this month about McBush and his sense of entitlement, and his smoldering anger. It makes for a very interesting read.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain
Anyone seriously considering putting this pair (McCain/Palin) of nutcases in charge of thousands of nukes is in serious need of help.
McCain thinks America owes him the presidency.
Ever since 2000 he's been angling for this moment. Now, none of it is working. His opponent isn't who he thought it would be (Hillary), he was cornered by the people he hates most in his party to make a doomed VP pick, and the economy he doesn't understand has imploded. The script he's been working on for years is suddenly irrelevant and he's doomed. I'm convinced that his worst outbursts are yet to come. Halloween will be really scary this year.
Oh, I get the feelings behind it. It's hard to *not* demonize your opponent in a long, drawn out fight like this. What's troubling about it is McCain's inability to conceal his emotions. It shows immaturiy and instability, not two qualities we want in a president. And it's in sharp contrast to Obama's calm, self-possessed demeanor.
Long story short, Rock remembered that when Bugs Bunny really wanted to piss off Elmer Fudd he wouldn't drop an anvil on him, he would reach over and kiss him on the mouth.
Great comment for the whover added that thought. Yeah, if I were Obama I would be looking for any excuse I could to stand next to McCain, he is just the bigger man literally and figuratively. I just wish that Obama had taken McCain up for the invitation for all those town halls together. Could you imagine what this would look if it were happening every week for about three months straight?
Call me naive, but I had expected better of John McCain.
What a petty person. I expect grownups to act like grownups, you know? I don't think that's so much to ask. Whatever your personal hangups are, don't bring them to work with you.
I have to echo Andrew Sullivan here too: Obama has dealt with far worse in nasty attack ads and smears and lies, and no matter what he remains (mostly) gracious.
Get the fuck over it John.
Have you read this set of letters Obama and McCain exchanged in 2006, when they disagreed over an ethics bill? McCain's fury and disdain are shocking even then. Nothing in his attitude has changed; he's clearly hated Obama for years.
As a Republican who is voting for Obama (I guess I'm an "Obamacon"), this is one of the things I like most about him. Even though I disagree with him politically, he has proven himself not only a man of character, depth, and intelligence, but also of graciousness. I'm not naive, but when Obama speaks of endeavoring to transcend the typical ugliness of contemporary politics, I think he means it. And he clearly does what he can to show respect for his opponents.
Meanwhile, McCain seems to get angrier and angrier, and can't even show basic human decency. A moment like this (on the Senate floor) was very telling, because there was no time for him to pretend anything. A reasonable and virtuous man would at least have shown common courtesy in such a situation. But McCain could not. Even Martinez and Lieberman treated Obama warmly.
McCain is a bitter, cranky man, and is an embarrassment to the Republican party. (As if Bush wasn't embarrassment enough.) While Obama makes me proud to be an American.
If it matters to anyone, I'm a white, evangelical, conservative Ohioan, and this will be my first time voting for a Democrat in a national election. I'm not the only one. So be of good cheer.
McCain is a warrior, a leader, a real man.
Obama is a lawyer, a smooth talking lawyer who will gladly take either or both sides of an issue just to get you. Just like a con man. The last lawyer in the White House is a smooth talking lawyer too, a liar and a sex pervert. Like Obama, his wife is a lawyer too but cannot tell the difference between the oval office and oral orifice. All four are Ivy league craps.
The issue in this election is raw personal values.
Fred's got a point. I mean, Obama didn't act like McCain did, but if he did, people might react completely differently. If he did. He didn't, of course. But if he did- well that would've been something. That's for sure. If he did. But, you know, he didn't.
Hey Indie_voter- your attacks on Obama make no sense, and your attacks on Michelle are obscene. Get some manners or go the f*ck away.
For McCain, this presidential election is literally the last tango in Paris. If he loses the election, his senate re-election comes up again in 2010 and his opponent will be Arizona governor Janet Napolitano. If Obama appoints Napolitano to a position in his administration, then McCain will be alright in 2010. If Napolitano runs against him, then he may as well retire and not run.
McCain knows this, and he probably doesn't like his prospects.
McCain is 72 years old and he imagined his political career to be far greater than it has been. If he loses, it's over for him and all he has are two more years to yell at people in senate committee hearings. If he's spared a run against Napolitano, then he might get to yell at people in senate committee hearings until he's 90, but who really cares?
This is clearly the result of Obama being uppity.
Indie voter,
Raw personal values may very well be a reason to not vote for McCain. Maybe you should at least look at Wikipedia and check out the Keating scandal.
And maybe you could also check out what McCain did to his first wife. Years of adultery until he finally settled on the blonde heiress whose wealthy father had the political connections to jumpstart McCain's political career. Then, you should check out what he did to his first wife, a woman who stood by him and was his advocate while he was a POW. A woman who McCain couldn't be faithful to because she was disfigured and crippled from a car accident.
Personal values you say? Maybe you better get some facts. Facts are stubborn things, you know, they have a way of just kind of being there when people like you make statements that are so easily refuted.
Like I say, you could at least start with Wikipedia. Any moron could do that much.
Indie_Voter I agree that McCain seems to be the man for you.
Stay just as classy as you are.
hey T-CN:
i think you might need to look into banning Indie_voter.
pick on Obama? fine. making crude sex jokes about Michelle? VERY different.
stay classy, "Indie"_voter!
I think this confirms my position from a few days ago- McCain, it seems to me, looks at everything and everyone from the perspective, "does he/she/it help me or hinder me in my quest for the Presidency". Obama, on the other hand, seems well aware that achieving the office is only step one- step two is actually governing once he gets there (as it seems more and more likely that he will). McCain, if this is so, would obviously see Obama as the greatest obstacle in his path- never mind that, if he (McCain) wins he will have to deal with Senator Obama and a Democratic congress. Damn sure won't be any "political capital" to spend, a la Bush 43. Conversely, Obama, aside from his tendency to treat people with respect, knows he's going to need some help from republican senators if he wants to get anything done.
1.
McCain has to demonize his opponent in order to motivate himself. All the lies he's been telling everyone else he also tells himself and believes them.
2.
He's envious. I think that's part of Bill Clinton's and other black politicians problem. This young guy comes out of NOWHERE - without a bridge - and is wiping the floor with them. People all over the world love him: the object of every politicians desire. As my dad used to say, I bet "it just burns him up". :)
i noticed that you pointed out an important underlying truth in the strange, angry behavior of John McCain: this is a person in pain, which really, is the underlying roots of why most people dispaly strange, weird hostility like he does.
Now, I'm not voting for him and I don't support him, but I certainly have empathy for him. I just think he needs to deal with his own issues on his own time, and not play out his psycho-dramas in the White House amongst other things.
it's the pain...
clearly!
he sold his soul and when you do that, the only possible way to rationalize such a move is if you're ultimately successful.
and right now, it's looking as though he sold his soul to the devil and got....?
i mean, think about it...
after what bush did to him and his family in 2000, he's had to kiss bush's ass for years now, just to put himself in this position.
after what rove's operatives did to him in 2000, he's actually had to hire those same guys and depend on them to drag him to the presidency.
after probably not going to church or giving a hoot about religion, he has to pretend that he's a man of faith and lie about having a relationship with god.
after expressing his true feelings about slime like falwell and robertson, he's had to cozy up to them and beg for their help.
and on and on and on...
and now, he sees it slipping away from him.
talk about psychic and emotional pain.
lots of other posters have talked about specific issues, and deep*3000 hits a lot of them right on the head, but he has got to be dying inside.
when you look at him, he often looks like he is on the verge of a stroke. his face twitches, his eyes blink maniacally, and his left eye is almost completely shut.
i would not be surprised if he had a medical incident between now and november. the only question is going to be whether it happens on camera or off-camera. and if it's off-camera i'll be interested to see what kind of cover story they concoct.
aw, c'mon tnc. why bait your readers?
i, and many others, wrote on this very blog what the deal on mccain is. and you know it. he's a certified wacko.
as i wrote awhile ago. he'll be hospitalized in 2 weeks or so for "exhaustion" and the rest of the campaign will be 30 seconds tv spots done by 527's, the rnc, and whatever the ad doods can whip up and throw against the wall.
the guys got nothing going for him. he's fragmenting in real time.
Obama is a lawyer, a smooth talking lawyer who will gladly take either or both sides of an issue just to get you....[The last lawyer in the White House is a smooth talking lawyer too, a liar and a sex pervert.]
McCain has taken both sides of many issues during his campaign. Bush Tax Cuts. Immigration. Social Security privatization. Ethanol. Estate Tax. The Confederate Flag. And the list goes on.
Oh, and by the way, 26 of our Presidents have been lawyers, including Jefferson, both Adamses, Monroe, Lincoln, McKinley, Taft, Wilson, FDR, and Nixon.
So he's had this terrible pain since 2006? Because that letter was fucking batshit.
While Obama makes me proud to be an American.
Seriously. This, as much as anything else, is why I'm voting for someone who's policies are substantially farther to the left than I would like. I just really want a President I can be proud of--before the campaign really started, I thought it could be either Obama or McCain, though I disliked McCain for other reasons, but he has just covered himself in shame.
My husband, who has not voted for a Democrat since LBJ ran against Goldwater, is voting for Obama. He says that McCain's temper scares him to death and he doesn't want McCain's or Sarah Palin's finger anywhere near the button.
If McCain cannot control his temper and be civil to Obama, how well do you think he would do in negotiations with Putin or any other "evildoer"?
I was going to suggest banning Fred. But banning indie_voter is clearly a higher priority.
The letter was crazy. McCain is clearly unhinged. I used to think I would pray for his health if he is elected to save us from Sarah Palin, but the more I think about it I might prefer someone of limited intelligence over someone who is mentally unbalanced.
but boy, he really seems in pain.
You know, it occurs to me that maybe we're missing the obvious: I wonder if he knows something about his heath that we don't?
No way to know for sure, of course. Yet. But maybe that's part of what's eating him. I wonder.
I'm still disappointed with McCain, as I was at the debate, on this handshake thing.
He's 72, white, and from the Navy.
He knows that when a black guy offers to shake with a white guy, the white guy can act like a jerk or like a real American. He can live up to the current standards Annapolis sets for officers and gentlemen, or he can do less.
I don't care what he thinks he's doing. Maybe there's nothing consciously about race. Maybe there isn't even anything below the conscious level. Maybe it's really about demonizing all opponents equally, or feeling bad about the sleaze, or thinking Obama's not in his league, or being sicker than he wants to admit.
That doesn't matter.
It's his duty to shut the race thing down. He does it by doing the handshake right. Full eye contact, full grip, full greeting. Every single time.
It's about serving a cause greater than self.
And he blew it again.