Debate video: It’s ‘Minnesota Nice’ as McCain’s ‘my friend’ tic fails to mask animosity
Wednesday, October 08, 2008 at 9:29 am
- 1 Comment
Last night’s presidential debate went handily to Barack Obama, according to a variety of sources: CBS’ poll of undecided voters found that 40 percent thought the Illinois senator won, compared to 26 who sided with McCain; and CNN’s flash poll was higher for Obama, 54 to 30 percent. But perhaps the biggest topic of conversation this morning is… how much the candidates seem to despise each other. Here’s a video rundown of a few key points, starting with McCain’s “Minnesota Nice” utterance — “my friends,” which he said 21 times — followed by the post-debate handshake that wasn’t and the instance when McCain, in a moment his campaign says was supposed to be funny, couldn’t say Obama’s name, but called him “that one.”
“My friends”…21 times:
Referring to an energy bill, McCain jabbed his finger at Obama, saying, “You know who voted for it? That one.” Which didn’t sit well with one undecided voter, cited by the AP. “I didn’t feel that was very professional,” said Tim Groeger, a 28-year-old accountant from New Jersey. “I felt McCain was very aggressive. Obama seemed to stay cool and collected.”
The handshake that wasn’t (note how McCain taps Obama’s shoulder, then directs the senator to shake Cindy McCain’s hand instead):
1 Comment
Comment posted October 8, 2008 @ 11:35 am
I thought the “handshake that wasn’t” was just McCain introducing Obama to his wife, for presumably the first time. Barack didn’t then introduce Michelle, and I was assuming that the wives had already met.
What happened at the end, when Tom Brokaw made them move from in front of his teleprompter? On C-Span, it looked like they half-hugged each other, and were standing there shoulder to shoulder. I assumed that hug was the “handshake.” What did it look like from the front?
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