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Smilegate: McCain grin more devil than devilish?

I've been a John McCain fan since the 1980s. But, I've never been a fan of his smile. Watching his speeches, I've gotten the impression that maybe Cindy, trying to be supportive, told him that he has a charming devilish grin and he believed her. With the political stakes so high and tension at a fever pitch, it's a relief for me to be able to say that the candidate I so deeply admire has a smile problem and I'm not alone in noting it. If you don't feel like smiling, my policy is, you shouldn't. Thank God for the fab satire of The Onion. Here's an excerpt from a piece in a recent edition about the McCain leer that is hysterical: "According to campaign sources, Joseph Chappel, a 38-year-old speechwriter for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), has spent the last two weeks attempting to combine words and phrases in such a way as to not provoke a tight-jawed, dead-eyed smile from the presidential hopeful. Dreading a repeat of last month's speech to a group of businesswomen in Ohio, during which McCain followed a mention of his wife with an awkward and eerie smirk, Chappel has avoided personal anecdotes for the new speech, omitted any mention of "God" or "this great nation," and cut several phrases that had the potential to draw the 72-year-old candidate's mouth open in a horrifying display of teeth and gums."
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/mccain_speechwriter_trying

by Stephanie Ramage | Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 11:53 AM in Opinion | Comments (1) | Permalink

COMMENTS

Commentby Harris | Friday, September 12, 2008, 9:02 AM

McCain's "smile" has more in common with a "tell" in a poker player, or with Tourette's, than it does any genuine human warmth.

This is his problem: Each time he tags a line in a speech that he knows will have his followers cheering, he stops speaking, waits for the applause, then grins compulsively like the Cheshire Cat, or the Joker - pick the analogy you like best - but don't tell me the smile is anything more than a man rejoicing that he is finally, after all these years and failed attempts...successfully manipulating people.

After all, since you've been a "fan" of his since the '80s you surely know - he is this time around spouting rhetoric diametrically opposed to who he is and what he has stood for in all previous decades.

Roe V. Wade - stood for it in 2000, stands for overturning it for this Election:

Bush Economics - stood against it, stands for it in this Election:

The list of his sell-outs is too comprehensive for a Blog like this one, but suffice it to say that when John McCain "smiles", it is the smile of a man who campaigned his whole life on the issues, but has finally realized that Elections in today's America are all about delivering the Punch Line, whether you believe it or not.

As such, the McCain "smile" is not so much a "smile", as it is a cynical grimace or laugh at a private joke he is telling himself inside that CroMagnon skull of his - a joke he finds hilarious, and which is being told at all of our expense.

P.S. And that ain't "hysterical analysis", it's the truth. Which is something John McCain is no longer interested in discussing, since he finally decided he's "in it to win it" at any cost. Even of his own credibility. After all, Bush won twice and credibility, or his complete lack thereof, had nothing to do with it.  

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