There seems to be something funny going on with McCain's left eye.  Since early this week, he has been photographed mainly with his his head to the right, so the difference isn't so noticeable.

Or, maybe he's a maladjusted, angry hothead frustrated with his inability to just order the uppity Obama into line.

Speaking of psychological effects, I wonder how McCain's phony smile played with viewers.  

When Obama was speaking and they had a split screen, McCain kept doing the "you're wrong smile" when he didn't like one of Obama's points.  Nothing unusual there - that sort of smile can be a very effective defensive move if done well.  I recall Reagan doing it quite effectively.  Well, he was an actor, so a good performance should be expected.

But when McCain did it, the smile looked all wrong.  It was a clearly forced smile, not a natural "you're wrong" reaction.  It was awkward.  It was creepy.

We'll see if it gets more play, but I've got to imagine that this poorly executed "disagreement smile" did not go over well at all.

(from Teenage Republican days) conducts a focus group.

I think he got rattled when the moderator told them to speak directly to each other.  Obama tried it several times. McCain had his little talking points all neatly laid out in his head and any kind of spontaneity would have completely thrown him off.  Or it could be that he is just plain rude. He barely even acknowledged Obama at the end when Obama came over to shake his hand.  As president (God Forbid!) how is he going to work with the other side when he can't even look at them???  

But when McCain mentioned supporting the "freedom fighters" in driving the Russians out of Afghanistan, both my boyfriend and I at the same time yelled: "you mean the Taliban?!"

Between them and Musharraf, I guess McCain just loves oppressive dictatorships.

http://www.johnmccain.com/invo...

From the man who voted against the Equal Pay act, an ad which blatantly lies about Obama's staff pay.

Was McCain going back in history?

Johnny, the Taliban were not around during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.  The Afghan freedom fighters against the Soviets in the late-1970's and 1980's were known as the Mujahideen.  The Taliban only started in the mid-1990's.

"The consequences of defeat [in Iraq] would have been increased Iranian influence. It would have been increase in sectarian violence."

Fact: Iran already HAS increased influence thanks to our removal of that country's main geostrategic counterbalance in the region - Iraq. I'm not saying we shouldn't have gotten rid of Saddam (I thought we should have let the Shi'ites and Kurds take him out back in 1991), but McCain's wrong in his logic and sequence of events.

As to an "increase in sectarian violence," that's exactly what we saw AFTER we occupied Iraq - Shi'a and Sunni death squads kidnapping, torturing, murdering people left and right.  I'm not sure how it could have been much worse than it was...

At Washington?  He's been there for three decades.

To my knowledge, every paycheck he's ever drawn was issued by the United States Treasury. Every meal he ate before marrying Miss Budwieser was provided by "Washington".

I'm so sick of these guys running against "Washington" when they game the system over and over again.

Arizona, show some brains and throw this guy out when he runs again.
Conn. do the same with Ole Joe.

Before you guys dig yourself too deep a hole analyzing McCain's body language for psychological meaning, you should remember that, as a result of his injuries in captivity, he has very limited mobility in his neck and shoulders.

Making eye contact would have required turning his whole body sideways to the camera.

Keep that in mind when analyzing his body language and you will avoid making fools of yourselves.  

is "rebutted" by the fact that he was a POW.  Doesn't know anything about the economy? Yeah, but he was a POW. Nasty hothead?  Yeah, but he was a POW. Sings "bomb bomb bomb Iran?"  Yeah, but he was a POW. Doesn't know the name of Pakistan's president, the difference between Shi'ites and Sunnis, and won't meet with a NATO ally? Yeah, but he was a POW. Picks an unqualified airhead extremist as his running mate? Yeah, but he was a POW. Etc, etc. Talk about "making fools of yourselves!"

I'm a Libertarian andhave no reason to make excuses for McCain, I just don't like to see campaigns go off on tangents based on foolish non-issues.

But if you guys want to climb way out on that limb and then let McCain's campaign saw it off behind you, go right ahead.

I'll just pull up a lawn chair and pop a brew and watch the show.

watching the Republicans completely self-immolate with their ticket of McCrazy and Miss South Carolina.

I believe the moderator's desire for the debators to have this face to face discussion was known in advance.  McCain must be aware of the limits of his own mobility so in order to comply with this aspect of the debate, he would have positioned himself so that it would be easier to have eye contact with Obama. I conclude this means that he was intentionally holding his body away from Obama and deliberately not looking at him. Did he not agree with the format?  Not being a psychologist or psychiatrist and not wishing to appear foolish, please explain why an adult would behave in such a manner, in front of millions of people in a debate which will help these people make one of the most important decisions in their lives.  

Having known the format, he could have asked to be on the left [our right].  

This argument is bunk.

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Go look at the video.  The podiums are angled toward one another.  Even IF he couldn't move his neck 20 degrees, he could still easily have looked at him.

You can edit or delete my post to fix this mess if you want.

Barack Obama would turn his whole body to look at John too, that is no excuse.  He NEVER looked.  That is unexcusable and made me very uncomfortable.  He pretended Obama wasn't there.  Some leader.  Obama never disrespected him.  

They made Obama promise he would bomb the world if necessary, McSame can't wait to do it.  

(1) The shots of the candidates were different.  With Obama, you couldn't see the podium.  McCain always seemed hunkered down behind it.  I couldn't tell if it was height or camera angle, but it made McCain look like he was hunkering down behind the thing and/or using it for support.

(2) Obama was much more effective in his use of hand gestures.  McCain kept grasping on to his pen which was annoying while Obama was using his hands in a very Clintonesqe manner including the classic thumb forefinger thrust that Clinton uses when making his big points.

(3) Obama needs to work on his cadence.  He pauses too much.  I noticed it at the beginning.  My brother was stuck in his car and had to listen to the debate on the radio and told me that Obama's speaking style made his comments sound too measured while McCain's seemed more comfortable.

It's interesting because people always say if you listened to Kennedy-Nixon, Nixon won, but if you watched it Kennedy won.  Notwithstanding, Obama needs to speak a little more fluidly.

(4) This debate was McCain's chance to flourish on foreign policy.  When 1/3rd of the debate was spent on the financial crisis, it took away a chance for McCain to score more points.  The next debates move on to domestic policy where Obama is (a) more comfortable and (b)where voters are already predisposed towards Democrats.  

I don't think McCain accomplished what he needed to in this debate.  Obama held him off enough.

Palin is going to look like the unprepared malfunctioning talking points machine she is next week and Obama will go for the jugular in the following two debates.

They were also using a new kind of "Virtual Set" technology to process certain camera angles.... it allows them to wash out cameras and other distractions in the back ground based on either physical distance from the front of a camera or chroma key (blue). That way they can improve the context without having to give up good shots, but there is still a very small tell-tale edge around the target.

The McCain camp was so proud of the candidate's newer, angrier, approach to politics that they've given McCain a whole new look and a new tag line:

Pure political genius.  Obama doesn't stand a chance.