In zero words, why McCain is losing:
Hard to believe this is not photoshopped. John McCain actually did this. The description from Yahoo, where it's curently the #1 most emailed photo in the world:
US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate . . .
Does he think the cameras go off when they stand up?
This isn't the only reason he's behind, of course. Eight years of Rs, a dynamic opponent, a tanking economy, etc., all helped.
But a Steady Reliable Wise Man might have actually turned the crisis into his biggest advantage. The country wants someone they trust in a crisis. Everything else is out the window.
Since a big chunk of the country was already unsure about Obama an supposedly untested and inexperienced, this could have changed everything.
From Day One of the crisis, Obama has looked and behaved the way he always had: steady as a rock. And through the same period, McCain has been himself: angry, erratic and sometimes borderline whacko.
This picture captures the difference perfectly.
It wasn't just an image from one of the debates, it was the closing image of the closing debate. This is what John McCain decided to have us remember him by.
And that's why he's in the toilet.
John also had difficulty navigating his way off the TV set in two of three debates.
Nice metaphor for how he's likely to navigate the economy.
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kfujioka
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Comments
Good work everyone who has disseminated this!
I will lay money it will be on The Daily Show and Colbert tonight. I have not seen it on CNN, but they will likely follow.
And you can help disseminate a bit more by clicking the Digg icon just above the comments. I set up an entry there, so you just have to click to vote.
(And thanks for coming, anyone who arrived from Digg. Check out the other Open Salon bloggers.)
Personally, I think he's making that face because just before the debate he'd read my post: A nimwit's guide to our trouble economy, and it made him THAT scared.
(Do I win the most shameless, brazen self-plug of the day award?)
Rated and dugg.
great analysis, dave.
(rated)
Doris Kearns Goodwin last night discussed how you could see how Barack thinks in paragraphs, and McCain tends to think in one-liners and fragments. Very solid analysis: he really comes off that way, always has. He's a fairly poor communicator, especially on complex subjects, particularly when he is under duress.
The last month of the economic crisis and all three debates have been illustrated that. He keeps thrashing about in different directions. (In the first two weeks of the crisis he declared that the fundamentals were fine, then he pronounced the solution as firing the SEC chairman, then he said it was a crisis and he was suspending his campaign and the debate, then he returned almost immediately to both . . . )
Yes, it was an unfortunate moment, but it captured the essence of what he's been displaying for weeks now. He was confused and flustered trying to get off the set for the second debate in a row, and his brian decided to do a little caricature of how he was feeling at that moment: but it was also a caricature of how he's been acting the past month.
I think his brain understood all too well.
As far as I'm concerned, all bets are off and anything that's aired on the public media is in fair play during a campaign. You can bet that the Rovians, had this happened to Obama, would have leapt on it like lions on a wounded gazelle. It's a jungle out there and in order to choose a leader to guide our country through the morass we have been lead into, complete information is needed.
But really, it does reveal that he's not on the ball here. Perhaps he was making fun of Obama or just trying to lighten the mood but ... yikes.
Little did I know....
This is the new poster for "the de-evolution" of mankind.
And I agree, Artfish--I'd laugh at myself if I saw it. I expect I'd alternating between laughing and cringing.
O'd, it DOES look like he's making a move for Obama's butt. Gawd.
That would be even better than the footage of Bush massaging Merkel's shoulders at that summit, and her visibly cringing. The Daily Show got LOTS of mileage out of that. I think they would lose their comedy licesnce if they did not.
(rated)
It looks great this way.
I saw it live last night, and was floored. Then I laughed my ass off. I've seen political flubbery before, but this was hilariously epic.
I also laughed my ass off at the beginning of the debate when McCain showed how he could lead on the "sunshine committee" and gave us his second entry, this on the health of Nancy Reagan's pelvis And you thought McCain had no feelings when it came to women's health!
(So that's what happened to Sarah Palin's.)
i'm going to wager that colbert's take on it is funnier than jon's.
Anderson Cooper on 360 used this photo for its daily caption contest. On the list of entries on their site my favorite one didn't win tonight...but here's the caption I liked.
Sarah’s potion works a little earlier than expected!
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Most-Emailed-Photos-Democratic-presidential-candidate-Republican-presidential-candidate-Hofstra-University-in-Hempstead-presidential-debate/ss/1756/im:/081016/480/1924228c0ff44e7fa21291e052c2c7ca/
what's with this guy? someone explained that he's on television, right?