Sassy Psyche Survey of John McCain

In descending order of sass:

Long-time Washington observer and columnist David Corn, describes McCain's debate persona last night with adjectives like "irritated"... "petulant"... "retro" ... and 'sarcastic'. He observes:

[V]iewers watching McCain's reaction shots during the evening could have easily wondered if the Republican presidential nominee would make it to the finish without his head exploding, for he seemed to be in the midst of an exercise in anger control.

Ari Melber for the Washington Independent sums up last night's debate:

Ultimately, McCain’s alternating anger and umbrage never delivered the clichéd “game changer” that politicos said he needed. He punched until he was punched out.

Ezra Klein:

The angry energy showed on McCain's face as clearly as in his answers. CNN, at least, had the split screen, and McCain was grimacing, twitching, blinking, sighing, smirking, eye-rolling. * * ** He looked like nothing so much as a man enduring acute gastrointestinal discomfort.

NYT analyst Patrick Healy:

Mr. McCain was more animated Wednesday night than he had been at the two other debates, though not always to his benefit in the split-screen presentation of television. His voice turned edgy at times, as when talking about Obama campaign attack advertisements, and his frozen smile and wide eyes — which blinked frequently and distractingly at times — seemed a little strange.

Jane Hamsher:

There were landmines everywhere and McCain stepped in all of them. His smirking, snarky tone was decidedly un-presidential, and his bitter, whiny complaining performance probably satisfied no one.
* * *
McCain was a nasty, vicious glass of sour milk who can barely contain his temper and can't quite fathom what is happening to him.

James Fallows:

McCain seemed to be in a 'roid rage.

Booman (Martin Longman):

John McCain lost because he acted like an asshole. Provoking him into being an asshole was the most surefire way to win this debate.

Rude Pundit (Lee Papa):

He was an angry leprechaun screaming at the man who stole his pot of gold. And, at the end of the day, John McCain seemed less like a major party candidate and more like a pissed-off Dad telling his college-aged daughter who she can and can't date, and, for no rational reason he can explain, he certainly doesn't want her fucking around with the black guy. Unfortunately for him, she's all grown up now and can make her own decisions.