I see this pic or portions of it reproduced widely on a number of blogs, some of them conservative. More examples are here. Where was the picture taken? Is there an accompanying video? Was McCain hamming it up? Was it simply a passing facial expression? Or is it a photochop? That pointing man looks a little suspicious.
That is George Bush in the foreground. From what I read, GW can make people write things as if they were making that face so I would say it is a normal McCain face and not a goof. It is from the 2000 debates, BTW.
I’ll observe that the appropriateness of McCain holding high office is grist for another forum. I just want to know about that photo: we’ll be seeing more of it I imagine.
(On edit: wisecracks, on the other hand, are always on topic. )
From the look of it, with McCain facing Bush on stage, each behind podiums, it may be from early 2000, when they were competing for the republican nomination. Didn’t they have some debates during that period, in New Hampshire and Iowa?
I’ve seen the photo before, but always assumed it was McCain making a phase for comedic affect, from maybe his SNL appearance or the Daily Show. I had always seen it cropped with just his face.
There’s a problem. The author does not give a date, but a commenter notes that the February 16, 2000 McCain/Bush/Keyes debate, hosted by Larry King, had a very heated exchange.
The NYT gives details here:
Ok. The problem is that the Grimace Photo has the back of somebody in a brown suit, pointing at John McCain. But during the Feb 16 debate, GWBush was wearing a blue suit:
Did GWBush ever debate McCain in a light brown suit? Might some doper inspect the photo for telltale photoshopping? I seem to recall seeing a webpage allegedly penned in 2000 which had the photo.
I think that was actually taken in the debate that took place in 1938. That isn’t a brown suit, it’s a brown shirt. You can tell it is 1938 because of McCain’s youthful appearance.
Wisecracks aside, and its not my OP, but I’d certainly like to know where that photo came from. I sure hope JM was sneezing or something when it was taken.
My guess re the brown suit is that the person in the foreground is a moderator at some debate.
Hey, the jokes are the only thing keeping this thread off life support.
The metadata suggests that some of the images passed through Photoshop at one time or another, though that could have merely involved cropping or touch-ups.
I speculate that Mr. Brown Suit at least was tacked on. How often do moderators actually point at their questioners? It’s considered a little rude. And it seems conveniently amusing that such finger jabbing would be combined with McCain’s comically enraged expression.
Could any photoshop experts scan the pic for artifacts and the like? Frankly, when I blow up his face, I see evidence of some re-alignment. Here’s a jpeg of the enlarged image: I added an arrow. http://wm54.inbox.com/thumbs/1_130bbd_39ec58_oJ.jpg.thumb
)
