I am rewatching the debate and what strikes me most...

[Wetzelbill]

Is McCain's unbelievable incoherence. I'm about 38 minutes in and I have yet to hear much that makes sense. Maybe because I live blogged it last night, which requires typing and analysis on the fly, I didn't catch some of his absurdity, but he looks way worse than I initially thought.

His answers are rambling, he has forgotten the name of an audience member who asked a question, and he keeps trying to prod Obama in ways that make little sense and are easily countered. Also, McCain has a disconcerting manner of telling a joke at an inopportune time. Some of his jokes fall completely flat, but even ones that get a little laugh are bizarre, like when he said he wouldn't make Brokaw his Treasury Secretary. That's funny more because it was stupid to say, not because it was funny. I laughed a little because it made me think: "WTF did he say that for?!?"

And McCain's other mannerism, and probably why he thinks he is so good at town halls, is he tries to work the room like a smooth pro, wandering around, constantly using Brokaw's first name to refer to him (when he should be talking to a wider audience) and attempting as much shallow banter as possible. But McCain comes off like a cheesy washed up nightclub act, he reminds me of Deniro's portrayal of an old Jake LaMotta in the film: "Raging Bull." He tells bad jokes and rambles while making no points of real incoherence. Like his badgering of Obama on the overhead projector. Not once, but twice. That made no sense. People are concerned about war and an economic crisis and McCain is making hair plug jokes and talking about an overhead projector.

It's worse than I thought for McCain, he clearly had a dreadful performance. I think Andrew Sullivan is right, he probably can't recover from this.

[grannie4peace]

1. i had a hard time sitting through it the first time...

you are a brave soul :):):)

[livetohike]

2. He's getting more like Sarah Palin every day

Also, he looked ill to me last night. Lots of labored breathing - he was stiff walking around the stage.

How can anyone say the Town Hall format is best for him? If this is the best he can do, he stunk.

[Wetzelbill]

10. I think he, and his campaign, have an inflated sense of his abilities

I've seen him at those town halls in clips, and he's never any better than this. He likes being in town halls, but the thing is he is used to being in front of kool-aid drinking crowds who hang on his every word and he's still made some of his biggest gaffes there. There is a big disconnect between what McCain likes to do, in this instance, and what he's actually good at. Case in point, his jokes. McCain likes to tell jokes, but he really isn't that funny. He bombs more often than he gets a laugh. That's not a good thing for him.

[patrice]

16. The asceptic social environment of his family =/= Reality = warped development.

[LiberalEsto]

3. He's been getting tutored in incoherence

by the Grand Poobah of Incoherence Himself, George W.

[Shakespeare]

4. I recognize that he's weakened, but I have NO sympathy for him.

Just as I have no sympathy for KKK murderers who are caught and prosecuted as senior citizens. Just because he was at times pathetic last night does not cancel out the fact that he's a vile, mean-spirited, short-tempered individual who has obvious contempt for our candidate.

[zulchzulu]

5. You nailed it with McCain being a "cheesy washed up nightclub act"

He walked around like a penguin and seemed to think that the audience that he has in his "successful" pre-screened, puff question-ready asshat audiences were "following right along" with him in his little act.

McCain truly was out of his league with Obama in the town-hall format, even as stupid as it was.

[patrice]

6. Maybe he was looking for an opening for the Ayers stuff and couldn't think about anything else.

And couldn't just bring it up either, so his mind was pre-occupied with that.

Buchanan built him up BIG TIME in the lead up to the debate with strong over-stated images of Crash as a heavyweight prize-fighter. Crash was anything but that. He wanted to use his Ayers upper-cut, but Barack never gave him an opening and Crash was tooooooooooo timid to step up and take the heat for getting in there and landing a hit with Ayers. Probably he was also thinking that there will ALWAYS be SP to do it for him.

So, anyway, Crash had other stuff on his mind so he absolutely was incoherent on the issues.

[medicswife]

7. I called my friend in the middle of the debate last night and my

exact words to her were, "He's incoherent!!! I'm having a really hard time figuring out what the fuck he's talking about!!!"

[ailsagirl]

8. I watched it on CNN-- whenever it was Mcpang's turn, I muted it.

But I kept an eye on the audience reaction graph that was below. Very interesting.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

9. I agree. He looked bad.

I was a little nervous going in, with McCain finally getting his supposedly preferred means of communication with voters -- but, 20 minutes in, and all I can do is wonder why in earth he thought he was any good at townhalls. :shrug: The guy was awful -- he looked like a doddering old man up there, giving confusing, repetative answers that sometimes were not related to the questions. Too many gaffes that made him look out of touch, bad jokes, the "that one" nonsense -- a real disaster.

Perhaps his townhalls work great when he is in red country with hardcore GOPers.

[bigtree]

11. I agree

That's been the case throughout his campaign, as well. He is allowed to reel off these contradictory pronouncements and speech lines without examination or accountability while others are scoured for minor gaffes.

[Wetzelbill]

15. I think his staffers have allowed him to create very bad habits

over the years. Like saying "my friends" a million times. And rambling on with no discipline. And especially the bad jokes. Those are awful. They are so bad that I sometimes feel embarrassed for him.

He's obviously intellectually lazy, more than anything that probably accounts for his incoherence. He simply doesn't know much about the issues. He lacks serious depth. I can understand if someone is more of a delegator and not a total detail person, but McCain often says things that make me wonder if he even knows anything at all about policy. No substance as far as I can tell.

[bigtree]

19. funny thing I noticed in the debate

. . .was how, like a minister signals the end of the sermon with the benediction, you knew McCain was winding down his rants when he started reeling off one of his practiced jingoistic homilies.

[Wetzelbill]

22. yes, it's like a light goes off

And he hits that one last talking point or jingoistic homily and finishes up, lol.

[uponit7771]

12. RIGHT!!! I listened to it on the radio and thought he sounded like Palin in a deep voice!!

[gkhouston]

13. He seemed lost and desperate. And, like Bush, he's out of his element

confronted with an audience not composed of sycophants.

[progressivebydesign]

14. It's glaring that McCranky uses BROKAW's first name, but not Barack's first name. n/t

[Overseas]

17. I agree. I thought McLiar incoherent too.

I think the transcript would read like a skipping record. Choppy. Pieces of ideas that fade out without wrapping up.

[hedgehog]

18. I tried to listen, but I couldn't make any sense out of it. He'd stop talking,

and I'd find myself asking "What was the question again?"

[eshfemme]

20. It was fun to watch this debate on The Young Turks

It made it easier to watch whenever McCain came on with another incoherent answer.

[Bobbie Jo]

21. His 'wandering around' creeped me out.

Not in the least bit endearing to me....:hide: