McCain's Theatrical Misfire

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/09/mccains-theatrical-misfire.html

McCain's Theatrical Misfire

By Craig Crawford | September 29, 2008 12:00 AM

As the dust begins to settle on whatever Washington is doing to bail out the big finance corporations, let's look back at John McCain's weird theatrics in the days leading up to last week's debate. What was his point?

Given how the Republican presidential nominee said nothing during the debate about his threats to skip it, we can rule out any plans on his part to somehow use his brinksmanship against Democratic nominee Barack Obama during their faceoff on Friday night.

Assuming McCain had a strategy for nearly de-railing the debate -- and maybe there wasn't one -- perhaps he was just messing with Obama's head, trying to disrupt the opponent's plans for three days of preparation. If so, McCain got an assist from fellow Republican George W. Bush, who summoned both party nominees to the White House as Obama was trying to prep.

If the objective was to rattle Obama, it did not work. Although Obama is a methodical guy who does not relish chaos -- a trait that the Republicans might have been hoping to exploit -- he seemed unflappable on stage.

In retrospect, McCain's pre-debate drama was just plain silly and a pathetically hysterical attempt to dominate the campaign narrative for a couple of news cycles.

[terrya]

1. That whole drama makes McCain look bad.

I know this is the famous "roll of the dice" thing that McCain is supposed to be known for. But it's...unsettling. These kind of cheap theatrics are NOT reasssuring as a potential Commander-in-Chief.

[babylonsister]

3. He's been going for cheap theatrics with his sophomoric ads

that are full of untruths for awhile now. I'm just glad it seems Americans are no longer falling for it, if the post-debate numbers are any indication.
What's unsettling are the number of people who actually believe him.

[Olney Blue]

2. Chris Dodd needs to keep getting out the word of how harmful

McCain was to the negotiations.

[rgbecker]

4. Once again, the republicans not talking about the elephant in the room.

McCain casually coming to the debate like nothing was said otherwise and no mention to Lehrer or Obama as an excuse or an apology. Just pretend nothing happened. Just a little personal problem. Reminds me of the drunk waking up the next day after the accident completely oblivious of what happened and how it effected everyone around him.

[electron_blue]

8. great point. I also wondered all day Friday what McC was going to say

at the debates. I figured he'd at least try to pick up some points by saying sorry for the hoopla, but this is important and I made the financial crisis a bailout, etc. I'm not putting it well, but someone playing it for drama who had a week to think about it could have at least tried to say something about it. I hadn't thought about the fact that he didn't mention the whole flip flopping about the debate once he got there.

[Vinca]

5. McCain is quickly becoming just as big a laughingstock as Palin. nt

[Lerkfish]

6. Sorry to make a sexist generalization, but McCain's stunt does not play well with men

The stunt, in and of itself, was the equivalent of a crybaby chess player upsetting the board because he's losing.
It was obvious, transparent, and not the trait of a leader.
Men, at least of my generation and earlier generations (I"m almost 50), would have savagely trashed this behavior as weak and unmanly.
I"m not saying the younger generations would have the same interpretation, I don't know. And I'm not saying that "manly" measurements are always the right thing to do, but since McCain CLAIMS to be a war hero, I know this one act alone will probably make some older male republicans queasy with their candidate.

(of course, it should not play well with women, either)

[FatDave]

9. I don't like to think in terms of "manly" and "unmanly"...

...but I thought it made him look weak and frightened. Not exactly what I look for in a president.

[Skidmore]

7. It was his "Mission Accomplished" stunt.

That's all I could think of when he was standing there and blinking and hollering...he reminded me of * on that ship. All he needed was the banner.

[uponit7771]

10. McBush was desperate, looked silly