Every republican smiles around Scarborough! He's one of them til death, no matter what. No tough questions from Ole Joe.

Speaking of death, did anyone ever figure out how Scarborough's secretary died in his office?

Sean Quinn at 538.com has an amusing comment on John McCain's "tell" - the "tongue jut." (http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/tongue-jut.html)

Poker players (I'm not one, I just hear them talk) say that a person's "tell" can let an opponent know when they're bluffing. In the video posted here, it is funny to see how active McCain's tongue gets after two comments he makes: 1) when he declares that his campaign has positive proof that Obama really did try to sell sex ed to kindergartners (slurp, slurp); and 2) when he pretends not to be part of the Georgetown cocktail circuit (slurp).

It will be fun to watch the next two McCain-Obama debates with a focus on his reptilian appendage, and try to discern what it means.

McCain's smiles aren't real, they're fake. Watch his eyes when he smiles--they stay angry. The man's been given to rage since elementary school--by his own account. So when he smiles, it doesn't comes across as real, it comes across as disturbing, a grimace, the sign of a zombie ready to bite. Don't think voters will be unswayed by body language--they've already registered a lot of annoyance at his refusal to look at Obama. each time he smiles, more voters will be turned off. the legendary McCain charm is rooted in contempt and sarcasm, which probably did do well at cocktail parties where people experienced him while slightly buzzed.

One day, he looks like he's just barely maintaining his cool, and the next day he looks like he thinks he's on top of the world.

Is he on drugs? What kind, I wonder?

It's the onset of rictus

... McCain has had lots of smiley interviews in the past few weeks interspersed with his grumpy ones. So, unless we see him stick to the smilely stuff over the next several days we can't conclude that this is a new campaign strategy.

I do notice, however, that he is appearing on TV almost nonstop these days, far more than any candidate I've ever noticed before. Obama's team doesn't seem worried about all this exposure he's getting, and it doesn't seem to be helping McCain in the polls, but it's clearly something McCain's team is focused on.

I'm reminded of Donald Rumsfeld.

Manny vs. the Red Sox? Yipes. That won't be pretty.

His Brain is shrinking

You're absolutely correct about McSame and his phony smile.

Did anyone notice how he SMILED THROUGH THE ENTIRE DEBATE? I mean, his face muscles must have been killing him by the end of the evening.

And I don't think I've ever seen a phonier smile on anyone. Yes, rictus is the correct word.

This video is supposed to show "bluster" and "grumpy-old-man" 'tude?

I think McCain sold out long ago (KEATING FIVE!!!) but I find him far more likable when he behaves the way we saw on this tape, and far less likable--hell, far less human--when he "smiles" his way through, as he did in the debate.

I've been a Red Sox fan longer than McCain has been in the Senate, and he's no Red Sox fan. And isn't it amusing that he picked two teams from states he has no chance of winning? And I just had a weird talk with my supervisor who does not believe that McPalin is a creationist who once proposed a fee-for-service for rape kits. Anybody got any good links to sites that establish these two facts?

McCain smiling ought to be the new hot-selling Halloween mask!

The fee for rape kits item has been debunked. She is a creationist, but recent interviews suggest that she doesn't believe that creationism is appropriate for science class.

I would shy away from using this kind of material as regards her candidacy. Her actual policies and competence in her mayoral and gubernatorial stints is enough to move those that can be moved.

She has saddled Wasilla with a huge debt to build a hockey rink that loses money every year, and she's abused her authority as governor to even personal scores. That should be enough for anyone who votes rationally.

Otherwise, give it up and don't throw pearls before swine (whether it is lipsticked or not).

"Eh?

"This video is supposed to show "bluster" and "grumpy-old-man" 'tude?"

Uh...no Doctor, this video shows him being ALL SMILES.

Please to read the post, eh?

" according to his blustery response during this segment of his interview this week -- discussed in detail Wednesday, along with the full video, by our own Vincent Rossmeier -- with the Des Moines Register:"

Then follows the clip.

It seems to me that the "blustery response" refers to what we're seeing in the clip--this is clearly the Des Moines Register clip, not the smiling stuff.

I just don't see a lot of bluster here. As the post suggests.

Please to read the post carefully, bd.

Sorry, I couldn't watch the video. There's something about watching McCain that makes me want to take a bath.

Yeah, if you want to take Schaller to task on careless writing, I agree.

But they don't grade on effective communication on these blogs. The astute reader has to fill in the blanks and recognize the errors where they occur.