That One?!
They say that Senator McCain's strong suit is the town hall debate. If this was, in fact, Senator McCain's strength, he might as well go home. Sorry... homes. — While not as smirky as the first debate, Senator McCain was jittery, reptilian (the darting tongue), scattered and overall just plain creepy.
Context & Ripple Effects
The morning after the second Obama–McCain meeting — the full transcript of which was already circulating — the instant-reaction cycle turned harsh. This piece lands alongside broader post-debate verdicts like Washington Monthly's debate reaction roundup, and it compounds a story that had been building for days: Politico reported advisers privately worrying about a 'grumpy McCain' even before he took the stage.
First-order effects
- The piece attacks McCain's single strongest remaining asset — his reputation as a town-hall-format debater — arguing that if this jittery, scattered performance was his best case, the format advantage is effectively gone heading into the final stretch of the 2008 race.
- It adds to a same-day pile-on of negative performance coverage, reinforcing the narrative already surfacing in adviser leaks about candidate temperament.
Second-order effects
- If the town-hall-brand damage sticks, the campaign's strategic calculus shifts: fewer incentives to push for additional unscripted formats, more reliance on scripted rallies and surrogate messaging to control the candidate's presentation.
- Adversaries and commentators gain a ready-made clip-and-quote vocabulary ('jittery,' 'creepy') that can be recycled in ads, opposition research, and follow-up coverage — turning one night's body language into a durable attack surface.
Third-order effects
- The episode illustrates how presidential debates are now judged as much on televised demeanor and viral moments as on substance — a dynamic visible earlier in how YouTube clips gave politicians a new political edge, where a single awkward frame can outlive the policy discussion.
- If the pattern holds, campaigns will increasingly pre-negotiate formats and coach for camera-level affect, treating debate preparation as media training rather than policy rehearsal — though whether one shaky night genuinely erases a format reputation remains an open question.
The trend: Political debate coverage is shifting from substance-first scoring toward real-time, video-amplified judgment of candidate demeanor, where body language and viral framing can outweigh the arguments themselves.