Gergen: McCain's Performance "An Exercise In Anger Management" (VIDEO)

David Gergen, veteran of Republican and Democratic administrations, put it succinctly just now on CNN: McCain "looked angry. It was an exercise in anger management up there."

Later, Gergen remarked on McCain's visible contempt for Obama, saying "There were times he brought back memories of Bob Dole in 1996" and "The looks and the disdain and the contempt and the anger that he felt was palpable."

Later in CNN's broadcast, after Campbell Brown ran down CNN's poll results (an overall Obama win, a win for Obama among independents, Obama wins on questions about healthcare, and even taxes), Anderson Cooper asked Gergen what he would say to McCain about what the message should be going forward, in light of these results. Gergen replied, "Beats the hell out of me," adding later, "See if you can leave this with your honor in tact."

Comments

[NTO08]

Mack is angry? I fail to see it as described by all the pundits who like to put thoughts in people's minds and color the election outcome...I think people have no real clue what anger is...

[Squirtapotamus]

Of course you fail to see it. That "people have no real clue" comment is called projection.

[missjabez]

Please. He was glowering and at times he looked like he was ready to explode.

[yorkie]

GERGAN is one of the more respected puns and public servants in past admins,,,,IN refering to comment by MC ON not being BUSH and O should have run against BUSH in '04,,,well I for once wish that it was O4 as O would have beat BUSH and much of the crisis we face would be lessened by now!!!

[iamjohnlacroix]

I posted video of John McCain's "intervention" comment (regarding JFK's assassination) over at my blog. It's a very scary Freudian slip!

http://www.medicineagency.com/blog/archives/3984

[miamia]

Thisa migt be completely wrong because I was half sleep but I thought I McCain say Palin was the "breast" candidate. Did I hear right?

[WestCoastWoman]

To the comment of Miamia.... you were not half asleep. I heard that come from McCain as well. He did try to correct himself. He's UNREAL!

[Squirtapotamus]

She sure is pretty though.

For a candidate with breasts, that is.

[Midnightrain]

Freudian slip?

[lbrillante]

I agree with Gergen. The best thing McCain can do now is try to lose with whatever he can restore of his dignity. He has destroyed any trust I ever had in him. I was so angry with him tonight when he acted so self-righteous and said that he always repudiated remarks against Senator Obama... It was sickening to me.

Obama supporters need to stay vigilant and get out every vote that we can. The republicans are going to try to purge as many voters from the rolls as possible and I am sure there will attempts at voter intimidation etc. So every vote counts. Hopefully it will be a landslide and our country will be all the more united!!

Yes, Yes,Yes We Can!!
Obama/Biden '08

[partyofone]

But it's like saying Bush should try to leave the White House with his honor and dignity intact. What? He has none, and neither does McCain.

It is enormously encouraging to see the nation finally look at the distortions and lies of candidates and REJECT them: first Hillary, now McCain. Progress

[Ligers]

WWE McKANE, Didnt Mommy ever tell you, there's no such thing as a monster!!!!

[Squirtapotamus]

What must it be like to grow up in an Admiral's house? Spoiled navy brat.

[anangryamerican]

FOLLOW THE MONEY!!

[anangryamerican]

TOM PETTTERS LARGEST FRAUD IN US HISTORY...WHO DID HE CONTRIBUTE TO??? NORM COLEMAN IS ONE

[Squirtapotamus]

Bro, chill out. Quit with the hyperbole, OK?

[anangryamerican]

REPORT, DO SOME DIGGING INTO PETTERS CASE, A HUGE DONATION TO COLEMAN, U NEED TO DIG TO FIND THE TRUTH!

[JISantiago]

The last debate and Sen McCain's last chance to redeem himself. Sadly, instead of his redemption, this debate has turned out as the last nail on his coffin.

McCain's problem is his arrogance. He appears to be a guy who thinks the presidency is his ultimate glory for his services to the nation and sees Obama as a spoiler of that dream. McCain, more often than not, looked very contemptous and incensed.

How can any sensible and responsible voter cast his vote for a man who appears to want to pull the trigger everytime he is provoked. Given McCain's temperament, it will be dangerous to put him in charge of the red button!

[Ged2012]

According to a bio of McCain on Esquire, when he was a kid, he had this fits of anger that caused fainting spells.

And dig this: His family had to plop him into a tub of ice water to wake him up.

[Squirtapotamus]

Are you kidding me? Then his pscychological problems did happen long before he was a POW. This isn't PTSD. Oh No. This is Navy Brat syndrom.

[mom2sons]

As a grad counseling student, even I could recognize that these problems started when he was a kid. Then I read the rolling stone article and BINGO. Even as a kid, they should have whooped his you know what, but they didn't and he continued on. He has never been treated for being overly agressive and having non-caring attitude. In class last night, we just talked about Erikson's psychosocial stages of development: Toddler-Preschool years: Parents fail to set appropriate boundaries, child is unable to interact with children and initiate play, child is overly competitive and aggressive and unable to share or cooperate. Remember, his father was away most of the time, so he failed to join in as a nurturer. Father was unable to maintain sense of belong to family unit. VOTE OBAMA-BIDEN 08! Michelle is here in Pittsburgh today and I can't go :(

[NTO08]

Wow...that's so insightful...I will duly use that in deciding who I vote for...

What matters is what these two men want to DO as President, and what they have done in the past...I cannot abide by some of Mack's ideas, yet I am not entirely happy with Obama's obfuscations, lawerly dodging and gamesmanship.

[JohnnyCostic]

Because he made a Faustian bargain with the conservative wing of the Republican party, first by putting a strict fundamentalist on the ticket, however unqualified, and then by using Rove/Atwater fear tactics in his smear campain against Obama, McCain really doesn't know who he is. He seems uncomfortable about Pailn, given his tepid endorsement about her ability to lead this nation (talk about damning with faint praise), and his decision to keep her out of the loop when they decided to abandon Michigan.

He has angrily reacted without deliberation (fire Christopher Cox) and has demonstrated fits of befuddlement and rage. We don't need someone so capricious in the White House.

[Squirtapotamus]

Best question asked in the Presidential debate.

Why do you think your Vice President is better than your opponents?

McCain wasn't expecting it.

[NTO08]

It was an assinine question...we care about what the President will do...
Kind of question Mary Hart would ask on Entertainment Tonight.

[One Two Three]

http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=107&ArticleName=Final+Debate%3a+Live+Analysis

[Nonamnesiac]

The only people who consider McCain to have any honor left besides the rabid right wing crazy warmongerers are the media, who simply refuse to see this despicable low-life McCain for what he is. The media created this stupid, erratic, unstable guy who has a horrible record as some kind of beyond politics non-sectarian and refuse to cover him with the kind of scrutiny they give Obama. That's why his connections to radical, his warmongering nature, his voting against MLK Day as a national holiday, his exhorting crowds to violence of and hatred towards Obama, is simply overlooked and ascribed to others in his campaign and Crazy Sarah. The media's even been too lazy to fully cover Crazy Sarah's close relationship with the terroistic, anti-American Alaskan separatists.

Go Gergen is wrong. McCain can't leave with honor. He is not honorable.

[NTO08]

What scrutiny has Obama gotten, pray tell?
MSNBC dismisses his Ayers connections without a shred of evidence to prove that is the case.

MSNBC tries to pass off ACORN scandal as a non-issue as indictments are handed up, people are getting hauled into court, and nearly 200K voter registrations could be tossed out...

Do not hand us this pile that the media have been in the tank for Mack...

They WERE...but not now.

[1mic1voice]

Do you realize that ACORN provided the fraudulent forms to election officials? Do you also realize that voter registration fraud and voter fraud are two separate concepts. It would be kind of hard for Fred Flintstone or Mickey Mouse to vote unless they have identification. Besides, the fake registrations ACORN pulls pales in comparison to the tried and true pattern of Republican election commissioners removing tens of thousands of legal (and most likely Democratic) voters from the rolls.

[Nonamnesiac]

That's because despite all efforts by Republicans and the media to find close ties between Obama and Ayers there are none. Ayers is manufactured to try to create a dishonest impression that Obama has terrorist connections.

As for ACORN, that's just a joke. An insignificant percentage of ACORN employees who were trying to get paid for doing nothing submitted phony names who would never be able to vote because they had no ID. ACORN turned them in, as this happens regularly with all groups involved in voter registration. ACORN has a lower percentage of phonies than nearly all other groups. Another dishonest diversion.

Face it, Obama is the cleanest candidate in history. McCain has ties to Nazis and right wing terrorists in the 80s and Palin has current ties to Alaskan Separatist terrorists both of which are much closer than Obama's ties to Ayers or ACORN's alleged transgressions.

[MarcoEsquandolas]

great moment when talking about school vouchers...mccain rattles off some story and says 'i'm frankly surprised you didn't pay more attention to that example.'
barack immediately responds wish his mouth in an 'ooh' - either, ok, i heard that and won't even dignify and/or i'm going to stand up and knock you out right now.