He was also grinding the hell out of his back teeth. Watch his jaws,towards the back of his jawline while Obama is talking.

Great video.

Oh,and that chortlng and laughing at Obama,loud enough to be heard on mike. Man,I could never run for office,I’d end up slapping someone. Ack.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..ent-931946

Posted downstair but for those who missed it you might want to check out the new Obama ads done by veterans. It shames McCain and his chickenhawk Republicans. American’s are catching on to the Republicans.

Blinking ain’t the half of it!

TPM has been posting on McSame’s failure to make eye contact with Obama. One of their readers, TB, had this to say:

I think people really are missing the point about McCain’s failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear–look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior–low ranking monkeys don’t look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.

I really believe at some point McCain had his face shot full of Botox to appear younger. His face is relatively free of wrinkles but seems largely paralyzed. That has a lot to do with why is smile is so creepy, the sides of his mouth move slightly but the rest of his face is frozen, no laugh lines, etc.. Combined with the blinking, the overall effect is somewhat reptilian.

2. BLINKING. A person who is lying will blink a lot,as blinking seems to correlate to the amount of mental stress we are under. In a normal conversation where a person is attuned to you, he will blink at roughly the same rate as you, often at moments when you pause in your speech. Be wary of someone who is blinking frantically as they speak with you.

From Seven Signs You’re Being Lied To.

there have been several comments by supposed MD’s about John Mccain’s 4 bouts with Melanoma.

He did have several lymph nodes removed and was very cagey about his medical records, remember they were not fully released, but only a few reporters were given a short amount of time to review thousands of pages of documents.

I’m wondering if when they did his last surgery(remember the scare that went down the side of his face)that the $5,000 make up job hides from the public, if they damaged something.

Oh, he’s clearly had several rounds of botox, and probably prosthetic work on his cancerous cheek.

And here’s another note from TPM Reader TB. I guess I’m really not sure quite how to characterize it …

I think people really are missing the point about McCain’s failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear–look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior–low ranking monkeys don’t look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.

So McCain may have given away his status as a low-ranking monkey. I’d never even considered monkey rank.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

I think this fits:)

Jeeze, I didn’t even notice the blinking. Lying old coot.

To really do this “study” we also need video of him while Obama was speaking. So… what’s his blink rate when his lips are not moving?

To me it almost looked like the blinks coincided with his words or phrases… as if the same string that you pull to get words out of him also works his eyelids!

I noticed in the John Edwards interview awhile back, his gaze was steady during the credible portions… extreme regret, loves his wife, etc., then he started blinking during the parts where he was clearly hedging such as possible paternity, knowledge of payments to former mistress and such. I was surprised, I would have expected a successful trial lawyer to have a better poker face.

I have come to the following conclusion;

the world is SO ready for a democrat, they would declare obama the winner if it was close

I thought obama was terrible, the polls show he was great.

this leads me to beleive those polls that showed a close race between obama and mccain were indeed gamed.

I know the following;

when I have a bet with a friend on a boxing match and it is close, both of us are certain our boxer won the match, we see punches the other thinks were blocked, we see blocks the other thinks landed.

if the majority think obama won this debate to me that means the majority REALLY want obama our next president

for instance, I was certain leanord beat hagler, my friend was certain hagler beat leonard…leonard won

I was certain leonard beat hearns in their last fight, my friend was certain hearns beat leonard…this was a tie

if america thinks obama won that debate that means america REALLY wants this man our president

happy days ahead

I didn’t see that you had brought this up already

Agree. And the blink-rate slows as his well-worn phrases glide out. He’s working it pretty hard.

I have seen a couple of older(like, ten to twenty years ago)photographs of McCain..he’s wearing big black glasses. I think the guy is now wearing contact lenses..probably hard ones…and I remember when I wore those, I was sensitive to light, any air movement whatsoever, and if I was in a dry or hot situation, where my eyes tended to dry out a lot..I blinked like the devil. So, it just might be hard contacts.

If Jim Leher was blinking back then we can say McCain’s eye blinking was just flirtatious.

Man,I could never run for office,I’d end up slapping someone. Ack.

No to full-contact politics.

Sarah Palin would instantly become a viable candidate.

How can you tell I’m not doubting you I’m just curious.

I vote for #3. he was biting back his outrage :p. he wanted desperately to hurl himself across the stage at Obamaand rip pit his throat…. hence he was grinding his teeth, eyes blinking copiously, unable to look at the object of his wrath. in his mind’s eye he was visualizing his obstacle to supreme power, power to which he is entitled by divine right, a bloody mass of tissue, twitching on the stage at his feet.

Can’t be said too often! *g*

Just hope there are paparazzi around when they make their rendezvous.

And here’s another note from TPM Reader TB. I guess I’m really not sure quite how to characterize it …

I think people really are missing the point about McCain’s failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear–look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior–low ranking monkeys don’t look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.

So McCain may have given away his status as a low-ranking monkey. I’d never even considered monkey rank.

This made total sense when I read it. McCain’t knows deep down that he’s toast.

Botox requires boosters, repeats. His forehead is like a frozen mask, and if you watch him over time, you can see when he’s had fresh rounds because it’s even more frozen. He gets the crows feet done too.

Jane’s Hollywood eye is really good for this, if she’s around, maybe she can comment.

I think you’ve got it. He was lying his ass off – as usual – but in this case even more so as he was talking about economic help for “Main Street,” which, as a supply-sider, he doesn’t give a shit about.

McNasty blinks so much because Sarah Pallin won’t!!

It is common knowledge that he is blinking because his eyes are still adjusting to the light after his years in a dark North Vietnamese prison cell, and anyone who suggests otherwise is a traitorous bastard.

I had a different view of the lack of eye contact. To me it was disdain. It was treating Obama as if he wasn’t there at all. As if it was a pain to have to be on the stage with someone mcShame considers so beneath himself.

I had another thought about that too. mcShame will not look at Obama “without preconditions. Precondition? Obama should abase himself masochistically – then and only then, would mcShame deign to glance “down” at him.

Now, my thinking related to that last idea is this. It’s as if mcShame is replaying a kind of POW interview. He’s the interrogator. He wants his victim to squirm. He treats him like nothing. His words and his body language say that.

At the same time, we viewers are having a completely different experience. We see Obama as presidential. And mcShame as…. well, shamefully contemptuous, sneering, making nasty comments about him – which simply do not fit with the Obama we are seeing.

Thus, in my view, the viewer sees a complete disconnect between the presidential Obama that WE see – and the contemptuous, inexperienced “nothing” that mcShame is trying to portray his him as.

Bottom line: mcShame thus appears to be, as Biden put it this week, “divorced from reality.”

McCain is blinking to send out coded messages. Did you know that he was a POW?

LOL

Tweety was taking to some college kids after the debate one girl said that she thought the reason McCain did not look at Obama was because he was angry.
I think that explains why McCain was hunched over the podium was he grabbing the podium in anger perhaps?
McCain was snotty, condescending, know it all without a clue, exasperated he was a bunch of negative without a single positive emotion.

McCain doesn’t make eye contact with the help at any of his mansions or with the drivers of any of his vehicles. He knows his place and they know theirs.

As if it was a pain to have to be on the stage with someone mcShame considers so beneath himself.

IMO, McSame is a closet racist, like many of his followers, so that makes sense.

e.g. – the POW interrogator.

that does not surprise me…. yes, he was responding to Obama like “the help.”

I just thought that John was Undead.

I agree about the disdain. I’ve been in conversations with 2 men and I’ll ask a question and the answer will be directed to the other man, even though I asked it. I take that as the answerer is not giving me the respect as an equal, he can’t even acknowledge me as a person worthy of answering by looking at me.

Meanwhile, his opponent floats above it all. Presidential. Diplomatic. Open. Engaging.

The contrast could not have been more different. Between the two men. As well as between how mcShame “interacted” with a true leader – and what we saw of the true leader on stage.

McNasty wasn’t gonna let that wet behind the ears young wipper-snapper Obama get to him !

an “animated Corpse” as I call him.

I don’t think McCain’s eye blinking is terribly important. I will note this about dry eyes and blinking:

Medication. Some drugs sometimes have a side-effect of causing dry eyes, or make dry eyes worse. These include: diuretics (’water tablets’); some antidepressants; antihistamines; some treatments for anxiety and other psychological problems; the contraceptive pill; beta-blockers such as propranolol, atenolol, etc; some eye drops used to treat other eye conditions. This is not an exhaustive list. Tell you doctor if you suspect that a drug is causing your dry eyes.

http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068724/

Propranolol gained a certain reputation as a drug used for “stage fright.” As I said, I merely note this.

I think McCain was on drugs… something like speed. He rattled on like a machine gun, stumbled on words and seemed like he was trying to spew out as many “McLies” as he could before the gong. He looked frantic and certainly not in control.

Obi was much more down to earth, rational and certainly not high as a kite like McCain. McCain seemed relaxed at the beginning but as the drugs kicked in he was flying like a komikazi.

The wireless micro-speaker planted deep in his ear-canal was malfunctioning and the feedback was making him angry.

Are there drugs that McShame might be taking that could have as a side effect, dry eyes?

As one of the TPM commenters wrote, what we saw on the stage last night could be viewed as Freudian. Challenge of the King/Father by the next generation, and the fear response to that challange.

Ooops! We saw different!

But then they should blink all the time. Even when he’s not speaking.

That’s a very good question.

Perris, I believe you observation is correct. I agree, Obama was a great disappointment to me, esp the Afghanistan and Pakistan (?!!!) tough-talk, but if those other folks think he won, very good news indeed.

He is channeling Reagan.

Pach, your post is hilarious. Side effect from all the meds he’s on perhaps?

Seriously, the public needs full disclosure of his medical records, including mental and psychological records because obviously he has deficits in this area.

Just doing his part to fight liberal global warming via the power of fluttering eyelashes – Won’t you join him?

;>)

Yes, maybe McCain sees Obama as the uppity help, the usurper, and it enrages him he has to deal with him, and refused petulantly to address him directly thinking he did not want to legitimize him.

The blinking could fit that as well.

Dude thinks killing earmarks will fix Wall Street. Idiot.

Ok, I was watching the debate last night and covering it on my twitter feed, curious to see what $5000 of makeup looks like,

What do you get for $5,000 worth of Makeup? Where is Modo with the snark?
Or Peggy Noonan’s regular America can’t connect to a MAN who spends more on one trip to the make up artist than regular America spends on a used car, clothes in a year, a new computer etc.

thanks Hugh; that was my point with mentioning hard contact lenses. I don’t think the blinking thing is that important compared to his behavior, body language, interaction with Obama, refusal to look him in the eye, etc. etc. I think those things are far more important and send a far more telling picture of McCain as a person, as a candidate and as a leader than how many times he blinked under the lights.

Ok, I was watching the debate last night and covering it on my twitter feed, curious to see what $5000 of makeup looks like

I am believing that has some height prosetics involved, he looked almost as tall as obama and that is rediculous

An angry old man ,set in his ways.Thinks the job belongs to him by right.!!

Well if you kill the earmark, perhaps you kill the pig too?

But then they should blink all the time. Even when he’s not speaking.

As I listened to but did not watch the debate, I can’t help you with that.

There you go! Like ice dancing. You’ve done all your Olympics. Now the gold medal should be yours!

pure unadulterated rage, barely contained!!!

McC was all about the past and fear. Eisenhower, for heavens sakes. The young people probably don’t know who he was. McC just looked strange and never should have tried to pronounce some of those names.

No problem. It should be an easy “study” to do. All the data are on video. My hypothesis is that the blinking happens more when he speaks.

But…. the blinking can be ignored. I think the important thing is mcShame’s body language and comments vis a vis Obama. His total petulance in having to share a stage with someone he obviously deems to be a lower life form. Truly insulting – to Obama certainly – but to me and you and everyone who watched.

The man’s degree of arrogance toward Americans is simply disgraceful! We see that in his choosing of Palin. And we saw that last night in his dissing of Obama.

McCryptkeeper

Wasn’t jim Lehrer under the same lights?

I had a different view of the lack of eye contact. To me it was disdain. It was treating Obama as if he wasn’t there at all. As if it was a pain to have to be on the stage with someone mcShame considers so beneath himself.

Maybe McCain doesn’t look any servants in the eye? This is so going to piss off minority voters because they know that look.

wow! you are right!!!!

Certainly Sanjay Gupta and the other “doctor/reporters” to whom McCain’s medical records were released could look up the answer to that! Oh, wait, the records weren’t released, were they?

I could not have said it better myself ,I think you nailed it!!

wow…. I missed that line of McBush….. very dangerious….. “I have a pen, very old pen but I’m going to veto every spending bill that comes across” ….. WTF so he has declared he will shut down the whole government? EVERY spending bill?

Medicare? Social Security? Medicaid? VA benefits? WTF?

May I suggest a fun read from Gail Collins http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09…..ns.html?em

I suspect Obama encourages his advisers to offer opposing viewpoints. Like Bush, McCain surrounds himself with sycophants. The result is that when confronted with a contradictory opinion, he becomes enraged.

substitute “dick” for “pen”

Okay, I’ll say it. There was a hint of racism to me, that McCain would not look at Obama and snickered and smirked the entire time.

McCain is of a generation (remember his Drunk Twins Irish joke last week?!) where race and ethnic background are stereotypically clear, not gray. It was palpable to me and my husband.

In the book an “An Anthropologist on Mars” Oliver Sacks described a bunch of patients who laughed everytime Reagen lied during a speech that was broadcast on tv, they laughed everytime Reagen lied.
I forgot the name of their condition but is their any way FDL could show a debate to some of these people?
Knowing exactly when McCain was lying would be useful and HILARIOUS:)

OT Obama speaking in NC on MSNBC. Crowd is humongous

McNasty’s a doosh and he showed it last night!

For that answer, you have to watch all 90 minutes.

Yes, and connected with his disdain for minorities and the poor (of course, they must be minorities… unless they’re uppity, right!)… connected with that disdain for minorities is the disdain for entitlements …. for the same lower life forms…. people like us who need social security, medicare (I am counting the months here!), and so on.

Plus we could make a killing in the stockmarket and use the profits for Blue America, Arggh! I should have had this idea months ago!

Fortunately, we’ll have more debate opportunity to track McCain’s blinking.

Definitely some racism. McC thinks he is superior to almost everyone – not for any good reason, just because he IS. That’s probably why he is do disliked by his fellow Senators.

I think the blinking is due to bad plastic surgery..he probably goes to the same guy as the semi-lovely Mrs McCain

I stood about 6 feet from McCain at a conference this year. He looked really thin and positively transluscent without makeup on. I would have thought he was in his ninety’s. The blinking may be a light sensativity that is a side effect of some medication he takes.

Come on there are giggles and pee in your pants belly laughs if the patients loose it completely when McCain starts talking about the economy I’ll put everything in gold and a short fund.
But if its only a giggle I might ride it out.
Also scientific Proof McCain is lying should get the Lake huge coverage from the MSM.
We are the blogs and thinking outside the box IS OUR THING the only question is can we do it and will we?
There is no question that we are crazy enough to do it.

Here is a clip from DKos from greenrose2 which points out an obscure moment, not noticed by many, where Obama’s compassion comes thru. He is a compassionate man, not an attack dog.

Wonder if he compares notes w/ Elizabeth Dole

Re:

Botox requires boosters, repeats. His forehead is like a frozen mask, and if you watch him over time, you can see when he’s had fresh rounds because it’s even more frozen. He gets the crows feet done too.

Jane’s Hollywood eye is really good for this, if she’s around, maybe she can comment.

This is one thing I think very well could be related to his past facial surgery for cancer. If I’m getting my anatomy right, the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) supplies motor innervation to the muscles of facial expression. It exits the skull near the ear bilaterally and branches forward across the face. Trauma to this nerve during the extensive surgery he had in the parotid gland region of his cheek could have resulted in a permanent ‘botox’-like effect. You would expect the forehead to be smoother on the left than the right when he smiles, etc.

Poll results for first presidential debate (with update of independent voter poll): Obama wins

He must have had on platform shoes. His self reported height is 5′7″. Have been told by USNA classmates of his that 5′6″ is more like it.

Obama’s approximately 6′2″ — would love to get a closeup on McCain’s shoes from last night. Also, that must have been a new suit to account for the “special tailoring”.

positively transluscent

Any Doctors here who can guess what causes that?

If I was playing poker with McCain the eye blinking would-for me-be a tell that he was bluffing.

It’s akin to “gaze of dominance” in old books about canine psychology.

McCain was afraid to debate, which is why he freaked out and tried to cancel the appearance. He apparently knew he couldn’t look Obama in the eye.

Don’t forget Men lie about their height normally more than an inch. That and old people do shrink.

Yeah, indignant that events conspired to put him in that uncomfortable spot, in spite of his every effort to avoid it.

Interesting.

Here’s a DKos diary – I just like the title:

How to Remove McCain Bumper Stickers.

Ned Lamont post up

Him and loose over a million Bill Bennett can come over and play poker at my place anytime easy Marks and Pigeons both with Whale bank accounts who think they understand money should be an easy fleece.
Of course I would have to review the rules of Poker first:)

How very nice – Ned Lamont is upstairs!
Remembering Paul Newman and the Battle of Connecticut

Don’t forget Men lie about their height normally more than an inch. That and old people do shrink.

Yes, men lie about their height too.

According to Michelle Malkin’s August 20th headline: “Liars exposed by blinking.” Let’s see the Reich Wing weasel out of this: http://michellemalkin.com/2008…..-blinking/

http://www.cordingleyneurology…..spasm.html

Blepharospasm: That Blinkety-Blink Movement Disorder

Blepharospasm can occur alone or in combination with other involuntary movements. When paired with involuntary movements of the lower face — like puckering of the lips or grimacing expressions — the problem is
collectively known as Meige syndrome, named for Dr. Henri Meige who described the condition in 1904. Blepharospasm and Meige syndrome are forms of dystonia, a sub-grouping within the overall range of involuntary movement disorders. Another example of dystonia is torticollis, in which there is sustained involuntary twisting or cocking of the neck.

Here’s a .jpg image of the anatomy of the facial nerve. You can see how the parotid gland is invested with the facial nerve. Nick that with a scalpel or tear it it during radical surgery and you can see what might result.

Looking at the video again, the forehead wrinkles are slightly more prominent on his right and his facial expression is less overall on the left, imo.

Botox could still be used on the right to minimize the evidence of the trauma on the left.

I think the blinking was a distressed signal to the alien mother ship that he belongs to. Kinda like a SOS to get him off the stage since he was way out of his league.

Oops, forgot the .jpg image of the facial nerve

Observe that when he either gets to a well-worn talking point or stops talking altogether, the blink rate returns to within human range.

Hi Pach. Great post and discussion.

Some days ago, I was watching the yootoob demonstrating mcsame’s extreme temper-control problems (old footage of some hearings). I’m not sure, but I thot he had great difficulty focussing on anyone around him, especially the person he was most angry at. It might be worth a re-viewing, to see if it holds any similarities to his behavior during last night’s debate. At those hearings, he ended up storming out of the room, even though others were trying to stay calm and not aggravate him further. It seemed virtually totally self-induced.

Maybe all the blinking and jaw grinding of last night was a reaction to feeling “trapped”, since he had first refused to attend the debate, and those plans fell through and undoubtedly was there against his wishes. This seems to be a man who MUST get his own way, or else…

Please forgive me for freewheeling with the layman’s analysis gig.

In addition, I had wondered about his eyes being bothered by his contact lenses, but re-viewing doesn’t give me any feeling that it’s his eye comfort bothering him. Hence the speculation about deeper causes, personality, frustration, etc.

why, he’s making up for all those blinks sarah doesn’t need!

as for the facial nerve stuff, that’s not a viable concern in this case. if anything is neurologically wrong here, the blinking (or none) would be lateralized, and it’s not, because facial nerves are lateralized. this is how you can recognize a stroke vs. something else.

as we age, our eyes need more moisture, so the eyes may flutter more. however, i’d say the blinking has more to do with a fear response, in addition to needing to concentrate so hard to stay on the talking points. in contrast, someone who is speaking from real convictions and from a real knowledge base will not need to blink because not only are the details easily accessible, but the big picture framework is in place and at the fingertips.

mccain is operating from the position of an actor who’s only loosely familiar with his lines (and since his lines keep changing despite his ‘character’ supposedly remaining the same, this can be confusing). just a cut above palin, who knows only the details of her lines, but refuses to blink anyway. hence her lapsing into word salads (believe it or not, that’s a term of art) and her wide-eyed convictions delivered in the gross vernacular.

…”he was flying like a komikazi.” LOL!

He might be on Crank (you know, meth, speed) because amphetamines give you the ability to not be at a loss for words but side effects could be nervous tics like blinking.

It is a tic (more blinking = less certain) exacerbated by bright lights. Not a huge deal. Just another ingredient in how poorly composed he was last night. Though… given his erratic nature he kept it together better than I expected.

Blinking aside, McCain’s obstinate unwillingness to look at Obama will dominate the narrative of this debate. He cannot hide his contempt.

yes, and as many commented last night, LOTS of women, especially the famous “older women”, and minority men have that same experience, repeatedly. They recognized it; believe it!

Oh, what a dream come true! Put them in every Repubs audience!

Now that you mention the “crank” possibility this could explain McCain’s bizarre visit to the biker convention in the summer. ;~)

Blinking aside, McCain’s obstinate unwillingness to look at Obama will dominate the narrative of this debate. He cannot hide his contempt.

Well, quite simply, he was totally outmaneuvered and let himself be publically forced to do something he was adamant that he would NOT tolerate.

Remember those infamous childhood memories of his: holding his breath till he passed out? People expect him to have grown out of that lovely stage.
I’d hate to be a fly on the wall, forced to see how he acts behind stage.

We do NOT want this person’s finger on THE button. NO WAY!

I noticed the blinking but Obama was blinking a lot too. My wife thought it might have been the bright TV lights.

McCain blinks a lot because he’s a big fat liar and he also uses his eyelashes to push away from what he’s talking about.

I guess on most networks they were cutting between the candidates, primarily showing the one currently speaking. But on CSPAN they had a split screen with both candidates shown the whole time. Several times while Obama was speaking, and McCain probably assumed he was not on screen, McCain made the weirdest expressions, like he was practicing his grimace. It was pretty bizarre, really.

The split screen image is also good for seeing that moment that McCain said “Horseshit” under his breath:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rZBmk0DYU

” Why do I think McCain was blinking so much? “

Consider the old poker playing scam. Where one player has a plant or two that roam around as an observer and signal in some manner to his partner playing cards what his opposition is holding in their hands. Knowing when to hold them and when to fold them. Advantage.

Now McCain as a Navy pilot was required to learn morse code. Morse code is functional not only by radio signal. Also by light, or even visible signal methods. Morse is sequencing dits and Dahs. durations of time to distinguish them apart.

Could John McCain have been signaling (and being signaledback with info) via morse code for subject matter?

Could those eyes have been asking for information using short and long eye blinks (dits and dahs) that morse code is uses to communicate?

Was there aomeone signaling morse code to John from the crowd?

I can tell you this, McCain wasn’t signaling S-O-S with his eyes.

SOS equals … — … in morse. It wasn’t that.

#29 = best laugh!
Thanks.

LOL – so true. I remember lining up for a family portrait with my ex and brothers-in-law. Younger brothers, 6′5″ and 6′3″– elder brother claimed to be 5′8″. I’m 5′9″ — definitely looking at top of elder brother’s head. *g*.
He did not enjoy the photo experience. (also was rather grumpy and angry, at age of 29)

Blue America a couple of flights upstairs as the contest winds down

Thanks for the link. McCain DID say HORSESHIT twice at the place where Obama was saying McCain would not speak with Spain.

I am really hoping to have a new post up from Dr Kirk and hope that he sees that link.

Even at $100 lb, that is still five pounds of makeup. Probably got into his eyes.

Mental patients go into blinking overdrive when the subject under discussion causes them anxiety or tenseness.

But MayDaze post about chimp behavior is dead on the most likely answer.

The Iran talks issue especially had McCain gesticulating wildly, not unlike a lower ranking chimp throwing a tantrum when the dominant male reprimands him.

Obama out-ranked McCain as the calmer adult.

I can’t wait for Biden – he’ll let Palin play on her leash till the debates over. HA!

The more I see of McCain, the more certain that I am that the press and the American people should be pressing reallllly hard to see his medical records. I am an older person, nit as old as McCain, and I know that this race is getting to him due to his age and infirmities. The very idea that he could win and give us President Sarah Palin is horrendous. If this guy is too unhealthy to be President he should not be in the race at such crucial times for this country.

I am more concerned about his totally unpredicable behavior over the past week than about any blinking and twitching he’s been doing. Those are what have me concerned about possible neurological changes in this man’s health.

Chimpy could fill us in on this. Always ask an expert.

We never see TV ads in California because Obama is so far ahead. However, Democracy for America is the sponsor of an ad that discusses McSame’s age and health in a very cool way. It never mentions Palin, but it packs a wallop.

I’ve read that McSame is only 5′7″ which explains a lot. He’s an angry, short man.

ratfood September 27th, 2008 at 9:11 am
7

I really believe at some point McCain had his face shot full of Botox to appear younger. His face is relatively free of wrinkles but seems largely paralyzed. That has a lot to do with why is smile is so creepy, the sides of his mouth move slightly but the rest of his face is frozen, no laugh lines, etc.. Combined with the blinking, the overall effect is somewhat reptilian.

Thank you.

Maybe your last line can be slightly altered to read: “…the overall effect is somewhat Republican…”

Funny line on a different website. “McCain didn’t look over at Obama during the debate because they super-glued his left eye open and he was afraid it would come undon.”

It could just the a fair skinned, fair eyed individual who is blinded by spotlights.

I’ve been there.
In a small theater where the spots were only a few feet above the audience – I was unable to not blink and shut my eyes – the lights were blinding. Though all the cast complained about the lights being in their eyes and the leading lady almost walked of the front edge of the stage in her blindness, I was the only one who seemed unable to keep their eyes open.

I have the same problem when that bright light is used to examine my eyes when I get my vision checked.

On the other hand McCain is a braying jack ass and maybe he has trouble looking at himself, from the inside out, with out wanting to close his eyes at what he sees.

Bingo

Check out the first pic

http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.co…..lecti.html

The was also a part early in the debate where MSNBC had a split screen, and while Obama was speaking they showed some really weird grimacing and flinching by McCain…then they cut away. It was so striking I said to some other people “Is McCain having a seizure?”

But what got me was the effect of McCain’s speech pattern and tempo. It was like a “grampa scolding a bunch of naughty six year olds playing on his lawn to stop because they might hurt his prize gardenias.” He was REALLY talking down to the audience like they were not adults. Now maybe he meant to be doing that “towards” Obama…but since he wasn’t looking at it…it appeared directed at US!

I don’t think he used “Barack” once in the whole debate. He constantly referred to him in the third person….even when he was supposedly addressing Obama directly.

I will say that next time they debate, though, Obama should never say after McCain says something where they converge on a policy “I agree_. Instead he should say “I’m glad that Senator McCain agrees with the Democrats on this”, or “I’m glad that John will support my position on this when I’m President.” Don’t say “I agree”…make McCain agree with you!

And there is something pecular about McCain’s lack of movement in his upper lip when he speaks.

Not racism. McCain believes he is a self made man, so relieving God of an Almighty responsibility.

Which would explain Palin’s adoration of McCain. If she believes in witchcraft, she believes in multiple Gods.

I’ve been watching McCain’s blinking through out the campaign. It has bugged me. What I have observed is that when he talks about more mundane topics, like his ranch or grilling, he doesn’t have the blinking tic. When he begins to talk about campaign issues the blinking becomes compulsive. If he has a dry eye or contact problem they would have fixed it a long time ago with medication.
What I thinks is that he is lying. And his blinking suggests that he possibly has a conscience. His body reveals that he is uncomfortable, even if it is unconscious, with lying. Bums me out, I’ve been thinking he is an average, kind of, run of the mill sociopath. I have just about settled on that he is really just a spoiled, narcissistic, bully. He is an utterly boring, predictable asshat.
I’m also thinking he sometimes can’t help telling the truth, see statement about torture last night, and he behaves like a loose canon. What a conflicted man. I’d feel sorry for him but the danger of putting someone like him in charge of anything overrides my compassion. I feel bad for his children. There has got to be a reason they are so invisible. One should never leave someone like McCain in a room with children.

Thank you, TheraP.

Please carry the idea of McCain as the Interrogator and Obama as the POW further. This same disrespectful conduct is McCain in the 1992/1993 interviews of many of the witnesses in the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs. There he really loses control, red-faced, fumbling, up and down from chair, F-word bleeped several times, finally stomps out of room.
That witness was Ms. Dolores Alfond, Chairperson for National Alliance of families.

Is it a case of the abused becoming the abuser? That treatment is how “they” broke him, so he becomes “them” to break his opponent??

Over at TPM Cafe is a comment by a DR who states McCain should go in immediately for an MRI.

I’m 74. Yes, there should be WRINKLES and laughlines. (as well as maturity and being able to govern oneself).