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.

McCain vs. McCain

Everyone and his second cousin is weighing in on last night's final presidential debate. Huffington Post has a wide variety of commentator reactions. Andrew Sullivan has more. Plus, scary-looking video evidence of McCain's inner struggle with his dark side.

For us, the victor was John McCain's superego. Against all odds, it managed to keep John McCain's id from jumping out of the seat and slugging Obama for everything bad that has happened to the poor man over the last gazillion years.

Debate Snap Polls

Tee Vee snap polls taken immediately after a debate usually don't mean much, not when they're close. But these? They're not close. Not even in the same solar system.

McCain's Muddled Mind

"Republicans acknowledge that McCain's efforts to connect on economic policy have been muddied by an ideological incoherence."

-- Boston Globe, Oct. 14

John McCain's inability to get in front of the economic challenges facing the nation is beyond baffling. You know the history:

• First, he says the economy is just great.
• Hours later, he says we're facing an economic crisis.
• Next, he says he's going to suspend his campaign (and offers to delay the second presidential debate) which in some way will help the economy crisis.
• Then, he doesn't.
• He says he's going to fly straight to Washington to lead Congress out of the wilderness and pass a rescue plan.
• Then, he stays in New York and, later, phones it in from Virginia.
  
• Next, he says he supports the congressional rescue plan - and even votes for it.
• Once back on the stump, he urges Bush to veto the bill because it contains "excess" spending.
• Late last week, campaign spokesmen claimed McCain would be announcing a new economic plan on Monday which would call for more cuts for the rich in their capital gains taxes.
• Then, he won't.
  

Now, McCain says he'll be coming out with new economic plan today. As Rachel Maddow says, below, don't hold your breath. If you want to hold your breath anyway, count on this: McCain will revise his revision as soon as he comes to understand it, just as he did with his mercurial housing crisis plan.

John McCain: Changes of mind you can count on.

Distaff Debate Analysis

Nora Ephron has the most entertaining thoughts on last night's debate that we have seen, appropriately titled "Life In The Shallow End":

McCain came close to making a mistake, and there will be a big deal made over his referring to Obama as "that one" because it was patronizing and revealing. But in the end that moment will seem like yet another misguided attempt at the sort of casual joke McCain fails to make work most of the time. If I were married to him, an unlikely scenario, we would probably have fought in the car on the way home tonight, because no question I tried to tell him a million times not to try to be funny, it wasn't anything he was good at.

And if I were married to Obama, another unlikely scenario but a far more attractive one, I would be driving home having a hard time not thinking about the curtains.

On the other hand, we give it to Erica Jong for the best laugh-out-loud single line. See if you can spot it here:

My admiration for Obama has grown. Not only for his lucid intelligence, his excellent preparation, his understanding that eight years of deregulatin' dudes (as Sarah Palin might put it) has accelerated this financial mess, but also his amazing ability not to grunt, sigh or punch his opponent. When McCain lies with a straight face and pretends he has never had anything to do with the GOP, I'd slug him.
* * *
McCain looks old and ill to me. He seems to have no circulation under his papery white skin. He always looks like he is suppressing a fart. He has no cool at all.

'That One'

Memorable moments in presidential debates:

Dept. of Amplification
You've seen the movie, now buy the T-shirt.

Palin Preps for Debate

Lady Hamlet made the video:

Actuarily Palin

Newsweek international affairs editor Fareed Zacharia, following up on his recent WaPo column, which also appears in the current issue of Newsweek Magazine:

"The actuarial odds of her becoming president are very high. They are actually significant. It's about a one in five chance."

The 30 Percent Solution

Historian David M. Kennedy (with an assist from graduate student Sarah Anzia) details "The Vice Presidency - By the Numbers". Below, we summarize a few of the numerical facts they unearthed:

• Number of persons who have served as vice president: 46
• Number of vice presidents who became president due to departure by death or resignation of originally elected president: 9
• Percentage of vice presidents who became president due to departure by death or resignation of originally elected president: 19.6
• Average number of months served by vice president who assumed office on death or departure of the president: 35
• Number of vice presidents who later became president: 14
• Percentage of vice presidents who later became president: 30.4
  

In Training: Palin Debate Night

We've been invited to watch tonight's vice presidential debate at the house of friends. They assure us, "All guns and sharp instruments will be checked at the door." Still, we're afraid we might involuntarily throw a shoe through their TeeVee set or jump out a window.

So, we have sought professional help. Our Personal Trainer is making us sweat through the video, seen below, ten times an hour to harden us for the coming contest:

The Incomplete Works of Sarah Palin