# What was McCain writing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-mccain-writing/468215>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 16, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-mccain-writing/468215 "2008-10-16T16:00:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-mccain-writing/468215/21 "2008-10-17T16:28:45Z")

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This is a lawyer trick. You do it when the other side is scoring points so as not to betray your emotions. Theoretically makes you look calm under fire. Especially useful for a guy like McCain, who has an animated face.

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**Author:** ![CircleofWillis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@CircleofWillis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CircleofWillis)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-mccain-writing/468215/22 "2008-10-17T16:43:30Z")

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I believe it was a list of younger (and given McCain’s age, younger is a more flexible term) chubby chicks with an affinity for tobacco products and executive power…

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**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-mccain-writing/468215/23 "2008-10-17T18:03:48Z")

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> [@spoke-](#):
>
> This is a lawyer trick. You do it when the other side is scoring points so as not to betray your emotions. Theoretically makes you look calm under fire. Especially useful for a guy like McCain, who has an animated face.

Yeah, but he was doing it right out of the gate, before the debate had even started! (Maybe he figured he was already losing by that point…)

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**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-mccain-writing/468215/24 "2008-10-17T18:05:31Z")

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> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> I’m assuming that just before he came out he read/heard some key words/points/phrases he wanted to hit either in his opening or throughout the debate, and he wanted to jot them down as reminders before they might slip his mid during the heat of the debate. But it looked a tad odd, didn’t it?

This is pretty much my guess too. When I was in high school and had to memorize a bunch of formulas for something like a physics or math test, I’d regurgitate them up on my scrap paper as soon as I got the test booklet. Then I didn’t have to worry about remembering them anymore. So he might have been jotting down whatever stats he was going to be using.

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-mccain-writing/468215/25 "2008-10-17T18:11:34Z")

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I think he was just taking quick notes of topics Obama mentioned so he’d be better prepared to answer back to him, rather than relying on his memory, or just using canned responses, on account of those didn’t work so well for Sarah the week before.

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