( - promoted by Carnacki)
Carnaki highlighted John Cole's take on the meta narrative that seems to be taking hold after the debate - specifically within the context of McCain's actions over the previous week: "Look for the appearance of the following words in days to come: cranky, grumpy, crotchety, angry, mean, rude, sneering, snarling, contemptuous, off-putting, snide, boorish ...." I think that is exactly right, but there is more happening than just that.
McCain's body language drove a message of dismissive contempt towards an obviously competent Obama that was deeply unsettling on both an conscious and subconscious level. He was being very rude towards a man that a clear majority of the public likes, according to all the polling. His behavior was surprisingly un-presidential, and simply reinforced the unease over his erratic actions over the previous two weeks. As people absorb the totality of his recent performance, I can't help but believe that unease over this man will continue to grow. John Aravosis (of AmericaBlog) noted a few days ago that 'erratic is not a characteristic we want to see in our presidents.' Unless you are the Christianist RW base, where this kind of behavior is not seen as a bug, rather a feature - because they like surly bullies. In their Bible, Jesus apparently was all about throwing stones.
The always excellent James Fallows has had some fine analyses of the debate in historic terms:
"When the details of this encounter fade, as they soon will, I think the debate as a whole will be seen as of a piece with Kennedy-Nixon in 1960, Reagan-Carter in 1980, and Clinton-Bush in 1992." http://tiny.cc/87Ug1
. . . and in terms of what the candidate's "tactics versus strategy" approach to the debate means about how they act and how they would govern:
"For years and years, Democrats have wondered how their candidates could "win" the debates on logical points -- that is, tactics -- but lose the larger struggle because these seemed too aggressive, supercilious, cold-blooded, or whatever. To put it in tactical/strategic terms, Democrats have gotten used to winning battles and losing wars. Last night, the Democratic candidate showed a far keener grasp of this distinction than did the Republican who accused him of not understanding it."
http://tiny.cc/vQz58
Speaking of a campaign driven by short term tactical decisions, and from the "you can't make this up" department, TPM reports that:
"In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one -- the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.
Inside John McCain's campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. "It would be fantastic," said a McCain insider. "You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.""
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/a...
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