Monkey business in Presidential Debate

Like a bunch of monkeys “fkn” footballs pretty much sums up McCain’s campaign organization since he announced his selection of Palin.

Even then, I was surprised McCain would do his monkey business on stage at the debate – and equally surprised when an actual monkey scientist commented online last night.

I think people really are missing the point about McCain’s failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear–look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior–low ranking monkeys don’t look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that… (emphasis added)

So McCain may have given away his status as a low-ranking monkey. I’d never even considered monkey rank.

Late Monkey Science Update: In case anyone’s wondering, I looked up TPM Reader TB’s page at the University he teaches at. And no doubt about it, he appears to be a genuine monkey scientist, or to be more specific a researcher on social cognition and behavior in primates. I’d link to his page. But readers remain anonymous, save for their initials, until they tell us otherwise. (emphasis added)

Low ranking monkey, a reader post on TPM today, picks up from there.

One TPM reader says that John McCain’s refusal to look Obama in the eye last night is the “behavior of a low ranking monkey.” Our friend is also a real monkey scientists, so I’m ready to believe.

But, if you’re skeptical about comparing monkeys to humans (and I know most of you aren’t, but just in case) I’d say that McCain’s refusal to look Obama in the eye is quite the same as hoping that the bully who roamed the halls in your middle school couldn’t see you if you didn’t look at him. Monkey or bullied midschooler, McCain did reveal his own feelings about his chances last night…

The only thing McCain had going for him, heading into this debate, was his stature as a leader with a long record and I think that’s diminished now for anyone who watched the debate…

Comments to this post are interesting and well worth the time to read. This one, however, was particularly insightful IMO.

My gut response is that the low-ranking monkey take is spot-on…the first guesses I read–contempt, anger at even having to share a stage with this guy–don’t ring true with me. I remember that McCain has a history with Obama, has accused him, basically, of not sufficiently respecting McCain in Senate negotiations.

Is there a connection to the Bill Clinton thing–Clinton having such a hard time getting behind Obama, even mentioning his name?

There’s a new alpha-male on the block, he’s not giving respect (he’s not rolling over)–and maybe he’s actually a bigger, badder alpha than either of those guys ever was. (I.e., he’s a real leader, not just a real good pol).

It’s also worth noting how one reader’s comment can influence the discussion of an issue – and reveal more meaning in my description of McCain and his campaign organization than one would think at first glance. They are indeed a behaving like a bunch of monkeys “fkn” footballs.