John McCain fears Barack Obama. Not in a metaphorical sense. Not in a “this guy is going to beat me electorally” sense. No, he’s afraid.
Let the record reflect that Barack Obama made the approach to John McCain tonight.
As the two shared the Senate floor tonight for the first time since they won their party nominations, Obama stood chatting with Democrats on his side of the aisle, and McCain stood on the Republican side of the aisle.
So Obama crossed over into enemy territory.
He 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.
W.
T.
F.
Fear, or just badly-disguised hatred?
Maybe he just hadn’t set any preconditions for an actual meeting with Obama, so talking to him would have been out of the question…
McCain is emotionally disturbed when he can’t keep his deep hatred emotions about Obama in check in public.
This spoiled jerk needs to go down HARD!
McCain is just an angry Archie Bunker to Obama’s straight class.
This story needs buried on Digg. It is totally false about some leaked Dem memo from 2006. Of course Politico and Drudge are already peddling it. BURY!! The McCain trolls will be out in full force.
http://digg.com/politics/Dem_plan_to
It reads like the scene from a nursery school playground! ha.
McCain is just an angry, angry man. Bottom line. Obama consistently shows far more fortitude.
In addition to being the better choice for president, Obama is also a gentleman. McCain is just a cranky dude getting a little weirder by the day, living in 11 different mansions. He’s not like me, I know that much.
Oddly metaphorical.
Everyone’s a body language expert and a mind reader these days. When someone who has no experience in just what looks convey what and has no clue what is going through anyone’s minds, but reports on his impressions anyway, like two grades school girls gossiping about another girl being such a bitch for the way she looked them, it’s amazing how people here just assume it’s all gospel.
I read it on the internet, so it must be true.
Yes, this is the intellectual honesty Glenn Reynolds could only wish for.
Ever try to earn money as a salesman, Dennis? Ever got bad service (or good service) in a store? Ever meet someone at a party and realize they just don’t like you? (Bet THAT happens a lot!)
People CAN tell by body language, looks, etc., what someone else is thinking/feeling. No “expertise” required.
As always — you dumbass.
It’d be one thing if Obama had said it, Bruce, but he didn’t. It was just some obscure author on an unknown blog reporting about his speculations, trying to pass it off as something concrete and newsworthy, then repeated here as if it were the truth.
Again, to you, if you read it on the internet it must be true. So go right ahead and call me the dumbass.
Are you telling me that you can’t tell, in a conversation among three people, if one person doesn’t like another?
It’s not just about this one incident. No one believes everything they read on the Internet. (Well, almost no one.)You just had to watch McCain’s debate performance to see how much he hates and fears Obama.
You don’t have to be an “expert” in body language (there’s a dubious profession) to see reality, which is the point people here were making.
You dumbass.
“I read it on the internet, so it must be true”
Uh no Dennis—people didn’t just read it on the internet. They saw it at the debate. McCain wouldn’t or couldn’t meet Obama’s eye. Very disturbing, disrespectful, and quite strange. And interestingly enough was why his favorability went down with viewers who watched his troll like behavior with dismay.
But I suppose all those millions of viewers were just grade school girls who obviously thought McCain and his scary countenance was a hallucination? But I’m sure if pushed (or given a piece of gum) he would have loved to scream out that they and Obama were bitches.
Dennis, the irony of this situation is that I’m reading your dismissive comment … on the internet. “So it must be true” … bummer, huh? Give that a moment to sink in
Be honest here. You claim that it would be “one thing if Obama had said it”, but if that had happened, it’s not like you would have taken the story seriously.
Gore got hung up on body language issues too (exaggerated sighing). It happens to candidates. Face it, McCain’s dismissive body language is as plain as his blinking eyes
You just had to watch McCain’s debate performance to see how much he hates and fears Obama.
Oh puh-lease. Can we get the hyperbole meter up any higher? It’s on red alert already.
McCain has faced far worse than the likes of Barack Obama so the notion that McCain is ‘afraid’ of him is truly laughable.
So why didn’t he so much as glance at him, even when talking to him directly?
Be honest here. You claim that it would be “one thing if Obama had said it”, but if that had happened, it’s not like you would have taken the story seriously.
I am being honest here, essrog. If Obama had said it,it would’ve sounded like he was being a whiny little kid. And that’s exactly how this author sounds. My only question, nonestly, is why is this being repeated as if this guy knows what McCain was thinking at the time? Maybe he was involved in an important conversation and didn’t just automatically bow down to the Messiah like this author is obviously thinking what was deserved of him. Maybe McCain was thinking that the time for he and Obama to come together on this was a long time ago when McCain first called him to both suspend their campaigns and try to get the bill passed the first time. Their are a thousand interpretations for a glance and this author is a douchebag for passing along as news what his was. It’s just simply not intellectually honest.
For fuck’s sake, McCain is barely able to look Obama in the eye (was McCain just not raised right or is he just a dick?). He begrudgingly shook Obama’s hand after Obama LITERALLY (well, damn near literally) reached across the aisle. Wasn’t McCain talking about how awesome he was at “reaching across the aisle” just the other day? Yeah, I thought so.
Well, Obama did issue a particularly PWNing verbal beatdown on him last time they met. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
I’m surprised McCain didn’t tell him to go fuck himself. If it’s good enough for the vice president …
A.
That’s my entire point! It doesn’t matter to you what the source of the observation comes from, you just can’t accept a negative story about John McCain’s body language. So your phrase, “it would be one thing if Obama said it” is just meaningless, except to reveal your own wishful thinking
I’m amazed at McSame’s restraint, he didn’t call him a trollop and a c**t. Oh wait, that’s probably because Obama’s not his wife.
Dennis:
It’s just simply not intellectually honest.
LMAO.
Isn’t the real issue that — whatever McCain feels about Obama — he doesn’t have enough emotional wherewithal to be able to hide it in very public circumstances (like nationwide TV)?
I’m sure most of us have been in situations where we have to work with someone we don’t like, or get stuck in a corner at a party with someone we don’t like, etc., and we have to suck it in, tell a white lie through our facial expression, and function as socially-mature individuals.
McCain can’t do that.
That’s what’s scary.
It doesn’t matter to you what the source of the observation comes from, you just can’t accept a negative story about John McCain’s body language. So your phrase, “it would be one thing if Obama said it” is just meaningless, except to reveal your own wishful thinking
essrog
A reporter writes what he thinks McCain was thinking from he describes as a dismissive glance. It confirms a view that you previously held. You believe it to be an accurate story. Then you accuse me of wishful thinking.
Please tell me more.
Dennis,
Watch for yourself and then decide- quoting someone who’s quoting someone who’s quoting someone is hearsay- who ya gonna believe- them or your own lying eyes?
The fact that McCain did not address Obama face to face-both at the debates and at the vote like he was afraid of being turned to stone speaks volumes. Everyone saw that, and is a basic tactic in interpersonal non verbal communication to disparage someone who you feel is beneath you-much like a lot of internet blogarrhea.
Humans instinctively read body language it’s a carryover from our more primitve days ( ya know the ones where Jesus and the dinosaurs ate at the last supper)- your microparsing deflections notwithstanding.
Again, watch and learn, rather than sticking your finger in your ears going la-la-la-la….
When someone who has no experience in just what looks convey what and has no clue what is going through anyone’s minds, but reports on his impressions anyway, like two grades school girls gossiping about another girl being such a bitch for the way she looked them, it’s amazing how people here just assume it’s all gospel.
Dear Dennis,
The contact number for Bill O’Reilly’s show is 1-888-369-4762. I suggest you contact them ASAP and let them know they should stop wasting their time with their fatuous “body language expert” (who has an awesome degree in “general studies” and who took “a psych class in college” and read a bunch of books about it). By this standard I can declare myself a home repair contractor or history professor (I’ve read books on them, and even am starting from a more advanced graduate science degree!)
Either everyone’s view of body language is worthwhile or no one’s is. After all, what matters isn’t what some pretend bimbo expert tells me a particular expression is supposed to mean, but what feeling I get from it at the time. If I look at McCain in the debate and feel in my gut that he’s acting like a petulant condescending asshole, then he’s a petulant condescending asshole. No number of lectures by Fox News blondes is going to convince me that condescending assholery is really thoughtful patient pedagogy. And the same goes for you too – you look at Obama speaking and see an arrogant uppity elitist in every word and gesture. No amount of lectures by Oliver or even accredited psychologists assuring you this isn’t the case is going to convince you you’re wrong. So lay off the “you’re not accredited to decide what body language means” bullshit.
Wrong Dennis.
I called out your careless phrase “it would be one thing if Obama said it”, which you confirmed would not have changed your mind about the McCain’s body language problem. I said your use of the phrase was hence meaningless, *then* I accused you of wishful thinking.
Your faulty summation of my comments is further wishful thinking, but who cares? it’s just something I’m reading on the internet. If you can’t follow a simple thread like this then there’s nothing else I need to tell you
The thing that really gets me about this thing is that McCain had the ability to not only forgive Chimpy for attacking his daughter in the slimy way he did and McCain HUGGED HIM. Now in my mind that alone disqualified him for the position of POUTS I mean how could we elect a man with so little pride?
But to have to be EMBARRASSED into shaking a mans hand when all the man did was tell the truth about him?
I know McCain has said some racEist shit in his past. But that dose not mean he is a racEist just an asshole who says some racEist shit.
But this makes me think that there may be some truth in the rumors about what he feels about people that are not “His kind of folks.”
johnnymags-
I’d have a much better impression of Barack Obama if he had been just as dismissive if not more so of William Ayers early in his career.
The fact that his very close association with this man does not bother anyone here disqualifies you from casting judgment on me for sticking my fingers in my ears when a reporter tries to tell me he knows what someone is thinking at any given time from the flimsiest evidence one could imagine.
[...] The Smell Of Fear [...]
So, in other words, Dennis, you’ve lost the argument and now want to change the subject?
Goddammit, Dennis, please at least attempt to keep some semblance of dignity.
So, in other words, Dennis, you’ve lost the argument and now want to change the subject?
Rudy
No, Rude-y, I’ve got work to do and we’ve beaten this to death. And it is very bold of you to declare victory on an argument for which you have not made one single comment beforehand.
Very bold indeed.
And it isn’t a change in subject. I said before there could be a thousand different interpretations for this exchange. There are many, many things for which I have admiration for Barack Obama, and I voted for him in my state primary, but I can’t get past now his relationships with so many shady characters, but my biggest problem is with Ayers. I’m not sure I can accept the fact that McCain didn’t treat Obama with the respect everyone here feels was deserved in that situation as ‘the smell of fear’ on his part.
“A reporter writes what he thinks McCain was thinking from he describes as a dismissive glance.”
If by ‘glance’ you mean ‘90 consecutive minutes of a televised debate’.
It’s no more complicated than the fact that Obama is Alpha, a natural leader with charisma, and McCain is somewhat less than beta, he knows it, and it bugs the crap out of him.
The thing that really gets me about this thing is that McCain had the ability to not only forgive Chimpy for attacking his daughter in the slimy way he did and McCain HUGGED HIM.
That’s okay, McCain doesn’t even like her anyway. That was all the trollop’s idea.
I’d have a much better impression of Barack Obama if he had been just as dismissive if not more so of William Ayers early in his career.
Once again, shorter Dennis; LOOK OVER THERE!
“I voted for him in my state primary, but now I can’t get past his association with so many shady characters.”
Please. Now you’re just lying, in a pathetic attempt to be considered reasonable, instead of the right wing dumbass you are.
You (lying) dumbass.
McCain has faced far worse than the likes of Barack Obama so the notion that McCain is ‘afraid’ of him is truly laughable.
You’re tight Jay, he’s not afarid, he’s just pissed. Pissed that he’s going to lose this election – the more people see, the more they realize that McCain cranky freak and Palin is an empty jacket and pinskirt.
So yes, there is disdain there, but not because of fear, but because he’s been exposed.
You’re wrong Dennis. 75% of communication is non-verbal. Is this what Sen. McCain means when he says he works “…both sides of the aisle…” on issues? Just the kind of jerk who’d leave an injured wife, or curse his current one. The man is an officer, but no gentleman Dennis.
johnnymags-
…
The fact that his very close association with this man does not bother anyone here disqualifies you from casting judgment on me …
This comment was funny. I think a collective apology is called for. Why should one specific commenter be disqualified for the ignorance of all the others? Thanks for catching this one, johnnymags, maybe I’ll take my turn at having my judgment disqualified for a future thread
“Send in the clowns/those daffy, laffy clowns!/Send in those soulful and doleful, schmaltz-by-the-bowlful clowns” – Krusty version
You’re tight Jay, he’s not afarid, he’s just pissed. Pissed that he’s going to lose this election
This seems to be the problem: McCain, the original celebrity-politician of the early 21st century with the hordes of adoring fans, is facing the fact that a young upstart whom no one had ever heard of before 2004 is now on track to win the white house. It’s the anger someone feels when he sees a natural talent rocket past him when he is the one who feels he “deserves it” for all the time he put in.
[i]It’s the anger someone feels when he sees a natural talent rocket past him when he is the one who feels he “deserves it” for all the time he put in.[/i]
Talk about “Uppity”!
Please. Now you’re just lying, in a pathetic attempt to be considered reasonable, instead of the right wing dumbass you are.
Bruce Henry
I did vote for him, as did my wife and daughter. And I don’t lie. You have no basis for that accusation, just as you have no basis for McCain’s thoughts in this instance.
You also have no ability to argue a point, so you make up for that lack by calling people names.
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Not only do you shamelessly change the subject as soon as you start losing, you lie and claim you’re not changing the subject at all.
This is like Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel..
Goddammit, Dennis, please at least attempt to keep some semblance of dignity.
-Nimrod
This from the man who called me an auto-fellating coprophagist??? Mmmm-kayyy.
Everyone says John McCain’s a hero because he was imprisoned and tortured. But couldn’t that treatment also really fuck a person up mentally? I’d probably have a hard time handling my anger if I’ve been a POW who went through what McCain did.
Isn’t that why the U.S. used to not torture? Because screwing up people’s minds was worse than just shooting them?
McCain’s afraid of Obama but we’re told by the McCainstream Media he will “stand up to Putin”
It was a joke. You know, deadpan ironic wit? Quite big over here.
I did vote for him, as did my wife and daughter.
Okay, I’ll see that and raise ya.
Please tell us why you voted for him in the primary and have done nothing but bash him ever since?
You think McCain’s regretting not accepting Kerry’s offer to be Veep and effectively Co-Prez? Yeah, me too. Poor guy. I’d feel sorry for him if he weren’t such a mean-spirited, unserious tool, who’s willing to do or say anything to advance his station. Just ask the apparently good and decent Carol McCain.
Oh, how precious this is.
One of the Most Idiotic Things I Have Ever Seen
Regarding Obama’s snub of Hillary last spring.
Intellectual honesty defined.
“That being said, these stories are salacious garbage that has nothing to do with finding out which Democratic candidate will be the best president. Once again, the media is making the news instead of reporting it.
–Unenlightened Liberal
“But, seriously, why the fuck should anyone care? Far from being an example of Obama’s character this whole molehill is serving as a Rorschach test on anyone who comments on it. People are seeing what they want to see”.
–Sean D. Martin
“Jesus Christ, what is this shit? The position of two candidates for office relative to one another is not a story, unless said position is one atop the other.”
Nimrod Gently (I’m sure this was a joke, too…. deadpan ironic wit)
“Good heavens!
The future of the most powerful nation on earth seems to have fallen into the hands of a clique of “popular” middle school girls.
Tell me, who do you think Obama will invite to sit next to him at lunch tomorrow?”
–The very inimitable Quaker in a Basement
No better comedy on the internet than right here in RIver City. I’m almost looking forward to an Obama victory.
Yes, the difference is the “snub” with Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama never happened, whereas we have many who saw this exchange.
Okie-dokey, OW.
Clear as mud, but I think I get it.
Gonna answer the question, Dennis?
If one spouts right wing nonsense and bashes Obama for weeks and months, then claims one voted for Obama in the primary, that is prima facie evidence that one is a lying sack of… oh, darn, mustn’t hurt one’s feelings, so never mind what one is a lying sack of.
I apologise for calling you names. I would never do that if we met face to face. Instead, I would look you in the eye, give you a hearty handshake, smile, and just generally be polite.
You know, like McCain would have done if he wasn’t full of fear and hatred for Obama.
I would look you in the eye, give you a hearty handshake, smile, and just generally be polite.
And say. “Bless your heart.”
That’s how we do.
Sorry, Duros, I was working on the expose and I forgot about your question. Without going in to too much detail since it’s OT, and OW has asked me nicely to try to stay on topic, let me just say that my mind started to change with the Rev. Wright thing and his feeble responses to it. The one issue foremost in my mind is his relationship WIth a lot of shady characters, but no one more than William Ayers. If you want more detail, I’d give OW permission to give you my email and I’d be glad to share my concerns. But I suspect you don’t much care or believe me, and I understand that. I don’t particularly believe everyone who tells me they used to respect John McCain but no longer do. The only difference is now he’s the Republican nominee and might be President. Maybe that’s the same with me, but I gave him a better than fair look.
Intellectual honesty defined.
You can count me out, friend. There’s a good reason why I have yet to comment on this very silly topic. I’ll leave the amateur psychoanalysis to the others.
Actually, that was serious. Not my fault if you can’t tell the difference between genuine anger and deliberate absurdism.
Speaking of, if you genuinely also can’t tell the difference between a non-story blown up around a photograph of a packed room in which Obama and Clinton were present but not communicating, and McCain seeming palpably hostile during a fucking Presidential Debate, you’re either so thick that you can’t lace your shoes because you’re still struggling with the concept of trousers, or plain insane.
Either way, please shut up and never say or type anything every again as long as you live.
I would look you in the eye, give you a hearty handshake, smile, and just generally be polite.
And say. “Bless your heart.”
Doesn’t that make wingnut heads go all ’splodey?
Nimrod Gently-
I’m glad you Ted Kazinsky types now have the blog comments sections as an outlet instead doing things like William Ayers did when Obama was an 8 yr. old, but please re-read the article. The author didn’t mention the debate. Neither did Oliver.
Quaker in a Basement-
Please accept my apologies. You didn’t comment here today and I shouldn’t have included your quote. I included it because I thought you said essentially the same thing then as I was saying here today, only much more eloquently. I should have disclosed that and, like Gwen Ifill, I failed to. My bad.
No, but that is clearly what he is talking about, dumbfuck. I don’t know what it is that reminds you of the Unabomber either.
Dennis:
“… my mind started to change with the Rev. Wright thing and his feeble responses to it…”
And my mind began to shift regarding Palin when I learned she views homosexuality as a “choice” she didn’t make (as if tomorrow, her husband Todd could seem less attractive to her, by choice, than women), belongs to a church that harbors 16th century views on the evolution of the species, and has been affiliated with a group that favors secession from The Union. She’s also killed more animals than Mike Vick in his wildest dreams.
Jeremiah Wright? Please…
Dennis
Thanks for that, but you didn’t answer the question.
You’ve gone to great lengths to tell us why you won’t vote for Obama now, but you haven’t told me why you did vote for him in the primary. Yes, Reverend Wright was a distraction, and now it’s history. Ayres was history before it was history.
All of which happened after the primary (I assume, don’t know when your state primary was), so again, why did you vote for him in the primary?
A lot reasons, Duros. Mainly, I thought he was a good guy. Still do. Just don’t understand the William Ayers thing. I’m in sales and a bit of a whore at times, but I’d never get in bed with a guy who bombed buildings and didn’t care if he killed people when he did, and to this day wishes he had done more. I didn’t know that about Obama back in February.
If you meet some guy at a cocktail party or a fund raising event or if you even are on the PTA with him, do you do a background check on him before you talk to him? Do you really honestly think Obama knew about Ayers’ past when they met?
You guys paint Ayers like some sort of renegade mad bomber. He doesn’t do that shit anymore. If he did or was advocating more violence to this day, he would be in jail, right?
You guys have painted David Freddoso and Stanley Kurtz as Republican hitmen with no journalistic scruples, so you wouldn’t consider taking the time to read their work on the Obama Ayers relationship, but you sound like a curious and reasonable fellow, Duros, and you should if you are at all concerned about an answer to the question you just asked me.
Obama’s Foul Weather FriendsM
I don’t think you’ll find Obama anywhere denying he knew about Ayers and his past. His defense is that Richard Daley thought Ayers was an ok guy, so what’s wrong if I do. He knew, Duros. He had too. The party to introduce Obama’ campaign, the selection to the Woods Foundation. It would take a naivete of even bigger proportions than even what Republicans accuse Obama of having for his not knowing about Ayers past. It was all well-documented and factual and a matter of the historical record. Ayers is bad news. He still is.
It amazes me you guys overlook it. You know everything there is to know about Palin and then some, but this very significant part of Obama’s past is not worthy of your close scrutiny.
Okay, dennis, I read it. Still don’t think it’s terribly relevant.
I think that the latter is true. Obviously, ’60’s radicals have strong positions, but 30 years later, I think even they see the value of America and are working just as hard to make it a better place for all.
I don’t think the actions of a person from when I (or Obama) was 6 years old should speak ill of me (or him) today.
I still think Obama is a good guy and I trust him. Not many politicians I can say that about. He has this country’s best interest in mind.
And that does not include so-called “Hitler Youth like” devotion that I’ve been hearing you say lately.