That bit was hard to miss, but I hadn’t noticed the refusal of the handshake. Ouch. [UPDATE: See some links in comments about how this wasn’t as bad as it might seem. I have looked at these and still think it would have been less awkward and more polite to shake hands there.]
{ 17 comments }
Name 10.08.08 at 10:02 pm
They had already shaken hands.
Martin 10.08.08 at 10:03 pm
If you check Talking Points Memo and other sources I believe the consensus is that there was a quick handshake after the debate that got disrupted, at least for TV viewers by Brockaws request that the candidates move because they were blocking the teleprompter for closing remarks. In the later incident, McCain was getting Obama’s attention and encouraging him to shake Cindy’s hand, though he didn’t do so super warmly.
Sebastian 10.08.08 at 10:05 pm
I really dislike McCain, buy you are in error. He shook his hand.
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/_/2008/10/liveblogging_postmortem.php
Sebastian 10.08.08 at 10:05 pm
buy=but [sigh]
Eszter Hargittai 10.08.08 at 10:36 pm
He didn’t shake his hand that time. I didn’t realize you could only shake someone’s hand once. I thought it was polite to reciprocate whenever someone extended a hand to you. But yes, I can see the gesture toward his wife, nonetheless, it looks like it would have been more polite and obvious to just shake his hand in return and then point to his wife. (I link to a TPM video in my original post.)
Harry 10.08.08 at 10:54 pm
It’s not the refusal of the handshake that is the problem; its the facial expression in the other bit of the clip. He is very, very angry with Obama, and it showed throughout the debate. The visible desperation belies his claim to want to serve.
Eszter Hargittai 10.08.08 at 10:57 pm
I actually think calling Obama “that one” with the accompanying expression was the worst part of this and speaks volumes.
tom s. 10.08.08 at 11:23 pm
Shake or not shake, they are both models of politeness compared to the present guy. See this for rudeness.
Hugh 10.08.08 at 11:45 pm
Good lord, are there no issues we could concern ourselves with?
Perhaps we can talk about how many cars they own now.
Jim Harrison 10.09.08 at 12:11 am
With any luck, all of this stuff will be historical minutia in a few weeks, but McCain’s obvious disdain for his opponent isn’t irrelevant now and one hardly has to figure out whether or not a handshake did or did not take place to understand this guy for what he is.
McCain and the Republicans constantly bleat about nonpartisanship, but they obviously don’t think anybody has any right to disagree with them and favor a one-party state dominated by red state whites. On the campaign stump, McCain cheerfully implies that people from Chicago or New York or San Francisco aren’t real Americans. On a more personal level, he thinks that he has a special right to be president, presumably because of his bloodlines, and that anybody who challenges him is beneath contempt. Screw him.
Righteous Bubba 10.09.08 at 12:24 am
Good lord, are there no issues we could concern ourselves with?
It hasn’t been an issue that Bush is an ass even apart from decision-making?
rea 10.09.08 at 2:57 am
Perhaps we can talk about how many cars they own now.
Actually, that has been discussed, at length (13 for McCain, 1 for Obama).
Steve LaBonne 10.09.08 at 12:21 pm
Gee, certainly I would have no concerns at all about a guy with an obvious anger-management problem controlling the worlds largest conventional and nuclear forces. Definitely a non-issue, you betcha.
peter 10.09.08 at 12:53 pm
In response to Hugh @ 9: Surely on a blog with so many political theorists as writers, someone can draw a close connection between McCain’s evident personal enmity to Obama and Mouffe’s theory of agonistic pluralism.
Righteous Bubba 10.09.08 at 12:53 pm
Angela Merkel should be able to expect personal space. And not being bitten.
MarkUp 10.09.08 at 1:44 pm
“Good lord, are there no issues we could concern ourselves with?”
What I really want to know, is will W’s library have real leather upholstery and recliners. Some will dismiss this being it’s only about furniture, but it will be a long wait, possibly [likely] generations to access ‘the rest of the story’ and after having invested a lot into the making of the papers we should at least be able to wait in comfort. Oh, will we still have air conditioning in the future?
Mrs Tilton 10.10.08 at 4:11 pm
Steve @13,
I would have no concerns at all about a guy with an obvious anger-management problem controlling the worlds largest conventional and nuclear forces.
And there’d be no need for concern! Why, soon enough the Lord, prompted no doubt by Imprecatory Prayer, will have called him home, that His servant Sarah might work His will upon the earth. No anger management problem there! Emm, unless mebbe you’re, say, a librarian who won’t burn books for her, or something Satanic like that.
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