From what I've seen of McCain/Palin's NBC Nightly News interview, it may be the final blow

[bigtree]

. . . to their pathetic campaign.

McCain looks sad and resigned to losing. When he laughs, weakly, at his own old joke about "got 'em right where we want 'em," you can see his heart rise to his throat and fall on the floor at the foot of Palin's stylish new pumps.

I think it's painfully transparent how much he physically can't stand to be near or listen to Palin. You can just hear him cursing to himself when she calls Colin Powell, 'senator' and flubs the number of former SoS's who've endorsed him.

I hope they play long excerpts of the interview, over and over.

[bridgit]

1. empty suit/empty skirt

[ProfessorGAC]

And, Alas, Empty Heads

The Professor

[gratuitous]

2. Saw a clip at Daily Kos

McCain does indeed look like he'd like to bolt from the room while Mrs. Palin is stumbling through her answer about what a "precondition" is. Sarah looks like she's waiting for a pat on the head and a cracker when she fumble-mouths out the name Ahmadinejad twice in 20 seconds.

[bigtree]

3. he has to hate listening to her as much as everyone else does

. . . no matter what he's counting on her to sell

[Raschel]

9. She looks really proud of herself when she says Ahmadinejad. I think

she believes it really makes her sound "in the know"...

[Saphire]

17. LOL.. thats what I thought, too. She must have studied for days to

be able to say it, now she just cant stop.

[Raschel]

20. One thing that stood out was when her bracelets (something on her wrist)

jingled and made some noise. Boy did McCain shoot her a look. I believe that guy really has a hairtrigger temper and is intolerant.

[bigtree]

21. I imagine Palin is getting away with more than he allows his own wife

Speaking to him without being spoken to first and touching him . . .

[blue cat]

4. I agree

Must be why I'm so excited about the next two weeks.

[Olney Blue]

5. His jaw looks very swollen and he just looks unhealthy all around.

[bigtree]

6. he did look unhealthy

But, what struck me most was how defeated he looked and sounded. Even his defiant tone on some answers looked more defensive than combative. He was a sad bitter man.

[MrModerate]

7. "Senator" Powell? I know what I want to call Palin . . .

But I can't use such language in mixed company. "Abhorrent" is probably the best term, given the constraints of civility.

[Raschel]

8. She tried to correct herself when she called Powell "Senator" but you could tell

that she doesn't know what his title is.

But she used her two new words again, "top brass". I would imagine the boys taught her that one.

"Yeah, when you go out there, just tell 'em all kinds of 'top brass' endorsed Senator McCain"....

They probably knew she couldn't keep military titles and names straight.

And I firmly believe what I just wrote.

[bigtree]

11. you're right

I think McCain was slowly dying inside listening to her stumble over the lines they've had her rehearsing for months.

[goforit]

10. OMG!!! Forget Palin....McCain has no ability to reason through his own thinking.

[bigtree]

12. he does have an extremely limited set of answers that he rotates badly

He throws out part of a line that his writer, Salter, created for him and always ends his statement with some jingoism or some tired homily. Thicker than Bush?

[lonestarnot]

19. or bumble through his own tax cunt policy.

[FM Arouet666]

13. LOL I was thinking the same thing about his body language toward Palin

As she was talking about McStain I could see a few veins pop out on his head. Bet he was thinking to himself.....

"Self....I am a decorated war veteran and respected member of congress, why the hell do I have this loony inexperienced Governor sitting here defending me. God, what a loser I am....."

To which I can only hope Self responded. "Your right Johnny, concede the election now and let that nice young Mr Obama become president." Please listen to your inner voice John Boy. ;)

[ErinBerin84]

14. so sick of them.

And I got pissed off when Palin said "I don't want to toot my own horn, but I DEFINITELY have more executive experience than Senator Obama!" Whatever you say...

did you see Chuck Todd talk about this interview on Hardball? He seemed really disturbed...wonder if other Katie Couric-esque goodies are on the way. He said that their body language was so awkward, they have zero chemistry, and seem tense...like they blame each other for being behind. After a different topic was discussed, Chuck moved back to it and say that he couldn't stress enough how tense it was.

[bigtree]

15. saw that

stunning. I expect we'll hear more from those two about the behind the scenes.

[bigtree]

24. Todd dialed that back a nudge today, but here's his original remark

Chuck Todd, NBC’s political director, caused a bit of a stir yesterday when he commented on the air after an MSNBC interview with Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin that the two seemed to have little chemistry. He wondered aloud whether what he perceived as testiness between the two signaled Mr. McCain’s discontent with the troubled Republican ticket.

But today, Mr. Todd and others who compile MSNBC’s First-Read’s early morning news summary, seemed to back-pedal on that analysis, saying voicing those impressions demonstrated how dangerous over-analysis can be.

Following Brian Williams’ interview yesterday, Mr. Todd first told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews about the joint session with Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin in Ohio: “There was a tenseness. I couldn’t see chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin. I felt as if we grabbed two people and said ‘here, sit next to each other, we are going to conduct an interview.’ They are not comfortable with each other yet.”

He continued: “When you see the two of them together, the chemistry is just not there. You do wonder, is John McCain starting to blame her for things? Blaming himself? Is she blaming him? And maybe they don’t feel they can win right now, so they are missing that intensity. That was the thing that struck me more than anything. You almost wonder why they wanted the two of them sitting next to each other.”

read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/the-perils-of-instant-analysis/

[MadinMo]

28. I couldn't see the tenseness that Olbermann (and Todd) mentioned.

But maybe I should have been watching McCain's reactions to Palin.

Or maybe it was something that didn't come across on video, but had to be experienced in the same room. Or was it in a different segment of video than the one I saw (the Colin Powell discussion)?

What did I miss?

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. OMG... I bailed before Palin's gaffes. Going back to watch.

[Lex]

18. She called Colin Powell 'Senator'?

Oh my.

[bigtree]

23. 'tooting her horn'

PALIN: And, look, let me interrupt for a second here too. I’m not going to toot my own horn. But I do I have more executive experience than Barack Obama even has, dealing with multibillion- dollar budgets and thousands of employees in positions as mayor, as manager, as a regulator of oil and gas, and then as governor.

But let’s not forget also, in this context of one endorsement, Senator -- or Colin Powell’s, that you have received the endorsement of at least four former secretaries of state and hundreds...

MCCAIN: Five secretaries...

PALIN: Five.

MCCAIN: ... former secretaries of state.


http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002978308

[kentuck]

22. But he's stuck with her..

He can't drop her now. Otherwise, the base of his Party would drop him like a hot potato. He's doomed once more by his recklessness.

[serrano2008]

25. It's this kind of thinking, on their part, that got them in this predicament to begin with.

The "Base" is always going to vote Republican. By not being able to think on their own, they always convince themselves to support the Republican no matter who it is.

I think even up to a month ago, if they had dropped her for for an old "Repub" favorite that talks well on the TV, that they coudl be ahead now. This is just based on the fact that their entire campaign is a NIGHTMARE for them. There are enough stupid people out there that if they are only 5-10 points behind with Palin and with them both screwing up most of the time, if they had someone even semi-competent in there it would pull more middle people and they would really be contenders.

[tjwash]

26. Your underestimating the stupidity of the American voter again.

Don't ever do that...

[bigtree]

27. There's plenty of evidence that most voters already have these impressions of Palin and McCain

These images just reinforce those.