# "Say it to my face." Obama baiting McCain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 9, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195 "2008-10-09T17:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/61 "2008-10-10T00:37:06Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There’s nothing cool, or logical or statesmanlike about any of the allegations, and there’s nothing that takes more than 4 or 5 seconds to refute. Who could argue? In my post I added “from his point of view” - which biting my tongue, I didn’t say (but I hope inferred) is fucking insane. And it’s a hell of a lot easier to make charges in a debate, it’s something else to refute them in real time. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/62 "2008-10-10T00:39:18Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Actually, it’s still in McCain’s. That was NOT to his face. Hell, he wasn’t even in the same state. Or, as we say here on the Dope-“CITE?” McCain makes the claim-it’s up to HIM to back it up, and provide a cite for it. 😃 I don’t think he’ll blow up-but I don’t think he’ll own up to it. He’ll probably end up choking. > [@Steve\_MB](#): > > He’s hosed no matter what he does, and it’s entirely his own fault. Did it never occur to him to wonder why Bush and Cheney had the sense not to get any of the Swiftboat slime directly onto their own hands? That’s a damned good point. I’m starting to think he’s showing early signs of senility-he’s older than Reagan was when the latter took office. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/63 "2008-10-10T02:13:16Z")
Look, I want nothing more than McCain to fall on his face, but this is an Obama circle-jerk. Association doesn’t require photographic irrefutable proof, it only requires insinuation, it’s the 21st century Red Scare. I don’t see a _See It Now_ moment with Murrow coming anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/64 "2008-10-10T02:39:06Z")
> [@](#): > > In his strongest criticism of his presidential rival, McCain told a Wisconsin town-hall crowd: “We need to know the full extent of the relationship.” “Full extent of the relationship”? WTF? Does he want Obama to admit they dated for a few months or what? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/65 "2008-10-10T03:43:06Z")
Obama gave one of the [lengthier explanations](http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/) regarding Ayers I’ve heard recently. I typed out a transcript of Obama’s explanation from the audio but it occurs to me that it may violate SDMB policy to post it. The article gives a pretty good condensed version if you can’t listen to the audio for whatever reason. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/66 "2008-10-10T04:04:55Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Does he want Obama to admit they dated for a few months or what? Just a booty call. Not really dating. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/67 "2008-10-10T05:26:33Z")
Yeah. They both agreed that since neither of them was with someone, and you know, they were both cool, they could be cool with it. And if either of them found something serious, the other one would bow out, like, no questions asked. And together they would destroy America, you know, unless things got weird. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/68 "2008-10-10T05:36:10Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > And if he tries to pursue the Way of the Guttersnipe and feign dignity on the debate floor, he’ll look like a wimp to the red-meat-eating base that he’s been firing up with this crap. > > He’s hosed no matter what he does, and it’s entirely his own fault. Did it never occur to him to wonder why Bush and Cheney had the sense not to get any of the Swiftboat slime directly onto their own hands? This of course is the point. It looks bad if he doesn’t say it to his face and it looks bad if he does. If he does then Obama can calmly call him out on the low road the McCain campaign has travelled and it would be hard for McCain to not get at least “testy” responding to that. Plays into the “erratic and angry” McCain storyline that Team Obama is promoting (with some justification). The format at the town hall protected McCain from his temper some; perhaps the next debate won’t be so kind. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/69 "2008-10-10T05:53:16Z")
I thought one of Obama’s best moments in the primaries was when Clinton took up Ayers and the Weather Underground and just ran with it… long after people were interested- and what a disgrace Ayers/Weather Underground were to society. Obama responded by pointing out that her husband had pardoned or commuted the sentence of Weather Underground members, thus her own association might need some vetting. Major applause. I think he may have something like that about McCain. I’m really amazed by how little’s been made about the Keating Five concerning current banking scandal headlines (and the fact McCain was “older and more experienced” then than Obama is now). ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/70 "2008-10-10T17:46:25Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Heh. Before the second debate, an audience member at one of McCain’s rallies implored him, “When will you take off the gloves and go after Obama?” To which the Hero replied, “How about next Tuesday? Hnyeh hnyeh hnyeh…” > > We all know how that one went. John Stewart said it best. “Looks like beneath Mccain’s gloves… were softer gloves!” ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/71 "2008-10-10T18:29:36Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Just like at his [interview with the Desmoine Register?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHcPXfgD4jM) That’d destroy him. Interviewer: “…have you always been covered in your adult life by a taxpayer financed health care plan?” McCain: “blah, blah… astronaut… blah, blah…” 😕 Sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/72 "2008-10-10T19:04:21Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I love this. I will have to look back over the last few weeks and try to pinpoint the moment when the campaign transmogrified from Regular Old Politics to Epic Opera. If I had to pick one, it was the day McCain announced he was suspending his campaign to save the economy. He’s been bouncing from one odd decision to the next ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/73 "2008-10-10T19:14:33Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > If I had to pick one, it was the day McCain announced he was suspending his campaign to save the economy. He’s been bouncing from one odd decision to the next ever since. It was when he picked Palin for his running mate. The early adulation, the sudden realization, the sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach, the dread of impending catastrophe, the manic denials. Marvelous stuff. I think I should compose an opera about all this. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/74 "2008-10-10T20:32:56Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > I think I should compose an opera about all this. GOPerdammerung? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/75 "2008-10-10T20:46:55Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > GOPerdammerung? For McCain? _Il Sciocco_ ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/76 "2008-10-10T23:23:26Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > GOPerdammerung? Posts like this are why I was happy to pay the $15. And jayjay’s, immediately after it. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/77 "2008-10-10T23:48:28Z")
_POWgliacci_ ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/78 "2008-10-11T00:30:43Z")
I’ve never seen an opera, so I don’t get these jokes. Dammit, I should have known this was some kind of _elitist_ messageboard. Where do the regular joe sixpacks hang out? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/79 "2008-10-11T00:35:38Z")
They already wrote an opera about it. La Traviata is about a dying whore. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195/80 "2008-10-11T00:47:18Z")
> [@Slacker](#): > > I’ve never seen an opera, so I don’t get these jokes. Dammit, I should have known this was some kind of _elitist_ messageboard. Where do the regular joe sixpacks hang out? ☹ Powlgliacci = Pagliacci = opera about Johnnio a fucking clown [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-it-to-my-face-obama-baiting-mccain/467195.md?page=5)