Hopefully, we won't have to hear "My friends" uttered 40 times at the next debate.

[terrya]

If he were to say "my friends" once or twice, it might come off sounding sincere and McCain trying to connect to his audience. When he keeps repeating the "my friends" thing over and over and over, I get the sense he's trying to sell me a used car.

[babylonsister]

1. I'm really surprised his handlers didn't tell him to lose that schtick

a long time ago. It became annoying way back when.

[ingac70]

5. He has done it so much and for so long...

I don't think he can just drop it.

It makes him sound insincere, so I hope he continues it.

[shaniqua6392]

2. If we were using "my friends" as our key word in a drinking contest,

I would have slid off the couch and passed out before the debate was half over. I could not believe how many times he said that. I wish someone would count exactly how many times he said it. Is 40 the accurate count?

[terrya]

4. I didn't count it. It SEEMED like 40 times.

[EmilyAnne]

9. I'd be in the emergency room being treated for alcohol poisoning.

[MrMickeysMom]

3. No, but I'm betting in about 10 years, you'll hear it...

sputtering out of his drooling mouth mixed with oatmeal...

[EmilyAnne]

11. Sad thing, no one will respond. I don't think anyone wants to be his friend.

I swear, the CNN audience reaction meter line would dip each time he said it.

[shaniqua6392]

6. I just found the count on Huffington Post.

He said it a total of 19 times!! Good Lord.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/07/obama-and-mccain-debate-i_n_132839.html

[GumboYaYa]

7. He says it so much and then follows it with a heaping pile of BS.

I hate those dial trend lines during a debate, but last night by the end of the debate, every time McCain said "my friends", the trend line started going down even before he got to the substance of what he was going to say. People have figured out that "my friends" means he is selling you something you don't want (your used car salesperson).

The other one that gets me is "I know how to". John McCain seems to know how to fix every problem on Earth, but for some reason hasn't been willing to share those solutions while he was in Congress. Last night he extended this vast reservoir of knowledge to the storage and disposal of nuclear waste, which he apparently knows how to do safely. Who knew that in addition to being a patriot and statesman (snark, snark), he is also a nuclear physicist.

[cjsmom44]

8. MY FRIENDS

OMG My Friends is getting SO OLD! It is grating on my nerves to even hear it...if he thinks for one minute that voters give a crap about that or are somehow impressed by that, than he is even dumber than I thought...Shady Acres cannot be far away for him....give this guy a porch with a rocking chair...pleazzze...

[regnaD kciN]

10. That raises the key question:

What will be the drinking-game rules next time around? :shrug:

[lamp_shade]

12. Oh... we'll hear it pleny in his CONCESSION SPEECH. Yathink?

[Marrah_G]

13. They were making fun of him this morning on CNN

All his weird comments, and the stupid "my friends" every other sentence.

[H2O Man]

14. I hope that we do

hear it in the next debate. I think most people find it, at very least, mildly annoying.

[Vinca]

15. Wonder if the people who played a drinking game around "my friends"

will ever sober up.