McCain - "Lower ranking monkey" in the debate last night re: not looking at Obama

[housewolf]

:rofl:


From TMP:
And here's another note from TPM Reader TB. I guess I'm really not sure quite how to characterize it ...

I think people really are missing the point about McCain's failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear--look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior--low ranking monkeys don't look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.

So McCain may have given away his status as a low-ranking monkey. I'd never even considered monkey rank.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/220226.php


I don't know about monkeys, but I do know about dogs... in a pack, the non-alpha dogs show their subservience to the leader by not looking at him directly, the alpha uses direct eye contact to re-inforce his dominance.

[grannie4peace]

1. that's true

[kirby]

2. Ughh. Obama and Monkeys in the same analysis is just so wrong... n/t

[Sodan]

5. Why?

[bitchkitty]

7. Silly - he references a behavioral study. Don't be hypersensitive. n/t

[kirby]

11. Must just be me then. I just dont remember any other candidate debate

analyzed in terms of who was the higher/lower ranking monkey.

[hobbit709]

12. Maybe the other debates weren't watched

by a primate behaviorist.

[Erin Elizabeth]

9. We're all monkeys, dude.

[Joe the Revelator]

10. Only you are taking it there.

[Erin Elizabeth]

3. Also, when they first walked out, Obama went over

far into McCain's "space" to greet him and not only shook his hand, but grabbed his arm with his other hand. He did this both before and after the debate. Obama also smiled very broadly at McCain both before and after and McCain hardly smiled at all and looked away quickly.

Obama appeared to be the more confident, assured man on that stage from both his body language and his manner of speaking.

Once it was over and their spouses came up, Obama and Michelle had a warm, quiet greeting in which she said something to him, he responded, then they turned to face the world again and looked happy.

McCain pecked Cindy on the cheek really hard and they both immediately turned to the audience and he did that jerky thing he does with two thumbs up and she looked away at other parts of the audience to do her creepy smile wave thing.

[housewolf]

6. That's so Nixonian, isn't it...

It just reminds me of Richard Nixon getting on the helicopter as he left the White House, turning around and giving that "V" sign with both arms raised. McCain's double-thumbs up gesture just seems to me to be the same thing.

[Erin Elizabeth]

8. Yes, it looks really awkward.

I think it IS hard for him to lift his arms, but as a result, he has to sort of wind himself up to do it, which makes it look even weirder. You half expect him to grunt out "HUH" as he does it because it takes so much obvious effort.

[hobbit709]

4. One of the reasons dogs and humans get along so well

We're both pack animals.

[TexasObserver]

13. McCain may gave away his status as a low-ranking monkey.

[depakid]

14. Monkey science update:

From TPM

Late Monkey Science Update: In case anyone's wondering, I looked up TPM Reader TB's page at the University he teaches at. And no doubt about it, he appears to be a genuine monkey scientist, or to be more specific a researcher on social cognition and behavior in primates. I'd link to his page. But readers remain anonymous, save for their initials, until they tell us otherwise.


:rofl:

[Cha]

15. nasty mcheinous thought he was

being such a hard ass when it only cemented what every knew..mccain is not a very nice person and has 0 social skills and that doesn't count schmoozing ass when he wants something.

[wildeyed]

16. When the Obamas walked into the McCains' space after the debate,

that was also alpha behavior.

[symbolman]

17. Theres more than that going on..

Besides the standard Repuke iconic racist codes there was this "Please don't let the 'massa' hurt me" in a very wierd jujitso flip use by Obama on a strange scale.. Okay, so call me nuts, but I was an expert in body language.. Obama was there in Mississippi, the center of racist mentality for a long time, being Abused by someone who was arrogantly displaying his delusion that he was "superior" and that this "black man" was ignorant, but while being "Kind" by only saying that the poor black man was "naive" or "ignorant".. Meanwhile Obama is functioning from a disbelief platform but smiling and gesticulating at some one functioning as the "Judge", a more intelligent man in the crowd of white property owners, big grins that just had a tinge of nervousness in them..

We've all grown beyond these vestiges of Slave/Owner states of being, but I would contend that there's a "response" that's still in us, and in some black people, and mostly it's revulsion at the mention or possibility of American blacks ever being slaves again, and shock if we see that old style "code" even being presented to us by Racists like McCain.. And NOW I have no doubts that he IS a Racist..

That's Really why McCain didn't look at Obama.. A position of "Superiority" in his fevered mind.. Remember for more than half of McCains life there were evil laws against black men, seperate drinking fountains, restaurants, and people like Obama sat at the back of the bus..

I'm even more disgusted with McCain and wondering if I've jumped the shark thinking that maybe Obama utilized a portion of his blackness for effect, or perhaps my guilt as a white man is rearing its head..

I DO know there were some primordial forces at work on that stage, I'm sure of that..