Wasn't it a TAP writer who said that hoping for a McCain meltdown was a fool's hope? Simply because his temper has been common knowledge for ever but nobody has ever gotten him to display it in a public setting. While it would be fairly awesome to seem him reduced to a frothing rage because the upstart has the temerity to question the The American Hero John McCain, I kind of doubt it's going to happen. He seems to contain that irritation in really really snarky and disrespectful e-mails his campaign sends out in response to Obama.

It seems the most we can hope for is that his temper leads him to making poor tactical choices.

Don't you appreciate these symbolic gestures by a mature campaign that understands that politics cannot escape rhetoric, which, by structure and context, cannot pretend purist transparency? Rhetoric, political or not, is layered, complex, and pluralist by the mere fact that it results from a combination of diachronic and multi-spatial experiences. What is the virtue of a speech that expresses spatio-temporal onesidedness, particularly when it has become a proven fact (not just imagined or hoped) that this nation is irreducibly, irreversibly heterogeneous? A rhetoric that is aware of its intricately plural composition kindly demands (civic education often times happens upon such forms of demand) interpretive skills that grow sensitive and even appreciate of such complexity. Thus individuals (voters) become willing to read beyond and above the surface message, to either embrace or denounce it.

McCain- The prototypical 'Get Off My Lawn!' guy.

. . . forces the American people to decide whether they really want to hand the presidency to a cranky, touchy old man.

I think this sentence should've included a reference to nuclear weapons.

And while I like the aggressiveness of going to the Xcel Center, I'm a bit wary of it. The calendar gives the Republicans the structural advantage of the last laugh on this one.

Imagine if McCain had a rally at our location in Denver, there's all kinds of ways we could humorously exploit that when we got access to the facility: Have it steam cleaned . . . bring in pest control to check for lobbyists . . . make a big show of painting over a graffiti heart with the names McCain and Bush inside . . .

So, I'm wary.

One thing I've enjoyed about Obama's campaigning style is his ability to deliver a fuck-you like it's saying 'good morning'.

I don't think it's an attempt to provoke McCain. I think it's an attempt to say 'I am not afraid to go where you go. You, on the other hand, should be.'

(Speaking of which, go and say hello to Jesse at the Pandagon reunion.)

Well, southpaw, but the republicans always go for this shtick--remember the purple heart bandaids they passed out at their convention attacking kerry?--I don't think we can worry about how low they will stoop because of anything that we do as a party. They are going to limbo their way through this campaign season regardless of what we do.

I think Obama's intent is great. If they can fill that to overflowing its bound to have a visual impact because I can guarantee you that the Republicans are going to have to be bussing people in for mccain even at the convention and I'm sure they aren't going to fill that hall, or not with the kind of excitement Obama generates. And if he has the decembrists to open? the skies the limit.

Seriously, this can't hurt and it may help. I think we haven't seen anything of mcCain's famous temper so far. Its true that the press and his pals in congress have seen it but there's nothing on tape for an instant video replay. But just one dean scream style soundbite and he's toast. All those independents who haven't been paying attention will sit up and pay attention *real* fast when they see a continuous loop of mccain being the asshole he really is to some woman reporter, or some voter at a public meeting.

Nixon was called "iron butt" for his ability to apply the seat of his pants to the seat of the chair. Perlstein, in Nixonland, argues that it was this ability to play the long game that enabled him to win so sucessfully at poker and in politics. If Obama keeps at a long strategy of making mccain lose his cool he will win. It doesn't have to be after any single thing, but it will come. Because people with bad tempers can't help themselves. They always blow up, in the end. The trick is to keep piling on the little humiliations and being ready with the camera and the live feed.

aimai

I'm avoding doing stuff that needs doing but I wanted to point to this as an example of just how ugly the republican convention is going to get. Pam's House blend has the footage up of Lindsay Graham unable to get any applause for a President bush is my friend kind of throwaway line. Imagine just how bad its going to be as McCain and his handlers try to figure out how to get bush to stay in crawford cutting brush rather than be up their on the podium chewing the scenery?

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=3F738C337DC3FD66004401B027E620E9?diaryId=5618

Wasn't it a TAP writer who said that hoping for a McCain meltdown was a fool's hope? Simply because his temper has been common knowledge for ever but nobody has ever gotten him to display it in a public setting.

He hasn't? How do we know about it then? The time he called his wife a "cunt" was in a public setting, right? I mean, I assume it wasn't reported by one of the McCains, or an employee of theirs. And wasn't there an incident on the floor of the Senate, but it didn't prove really damaging because there were no cameras on at the time except maybe C-SPAN?

But then, I think you answer your own question. Hoping for him to tell a reporter to fuck off or something isn't the only way his temper could work against him.

It seems the most we can hope for is that his temper leads him to making poor tactical choices.

...or to preemptively infuse it with that Obamagic, or is it Obamojo, converting all attendees to Obamacanss. bwahahahahaha!

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks