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May 15, 2006

McCain Watch: Fall Well, Fall Often

By Michael Shaw

Mccainlibertyuniversity

Documenting his brown-nosing trip down to Liberty U., the shot that got the most play this weekend was this one, with Johnny Mac turning deferentially to the aging, but still central Falwell.

For all McCain’s trouble, he didn’t seem to come away with much — not visually, at least.  If anything, he looked pasty and self-conscious, as if all too mindful of this hollow gesture.  (And the images look weaker still in comparison to this dramatic shot of Rudi during his Southern fundie serenade in Memphis last March.  At least, Mr. Mayor looked like he was having fun.)

It’s not often The BAG laughs out loud at a newswire shot.  Certainly photographer Don Petersen had to have been imbued with the irony of this.  I mean, it’s all there, right?  We see little Johnny — so much smaller for having come.  Then, there is the light from above.  Obviously, there is a reference to the Almightly.  Who knows why there are two beams, though — maybe one to cover each half of the flip-flop?  Those flower arrangements look absolutely funereal, indicative of the passing of the Straight Talk Express.  … And then, the hood and gown make McCain look like the choir boy he still fancies himself to be.

(caption: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., delivers the commencement address to the graduating class of Liberty University. image: Don Petersen/A.P.  Lynchburg, Va., Saturday, May 13, 2006. Via YahooNews)

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  • itwasnt me

    McC looks very tiny. It does look funerial. He’s overwhelmed by surrounding curtains & pillars, the lights are blinding if we look any higher. He seems to be out of reach to us, and ascending further away from us. Your link pic of McC and Falwell – they look very old and out of touch. This is not their fault, but I’d like leaner, quicker people who are suitable to the upcoming fight. No new ideas here folks, move along…
    I also thought I’d never see another Viet Nam/Watergate convergence, but here we are.

  • mugatea

    Soon little Johnny will, again, have to say bad things about little Georgie to get votes… when inaugurated, he’ll open mouth kiss Georgie on stage … and the McCain political cycle makes yet another full revolution.
    As for the photo, it symbolizes his potential impact. He’s a tiny man with small ideas and we’ll all be forced to look up to him over the next two years as the media presents us our next “leader” …

  • readytoblowagasket

    Talk about cluelessly alienating your base: People who want McCain to be the man who saves this country are not looking for someone to save *them.* They are people who are already quite certain they are going to heaven, and they are also certain Falwell played no part in it. That’s why they like the idea of registering as “Independent.” That McCain doesn’t know this about his base will cost him dearly. And he deserves it. But it’s nice he has this image for when he gives the eulogy at the funeral of his failed 2008 presidential bid.
    If any clueless Dems “reach out” to him after this point, I’m going to spit nails.

  • http://www.jaxxattaxx.com/ black dog barking

    A mother lode of ironies. “Liberty” “University”, a funereal commencement, protestant minister’s robes for the man who would be the next head of state.
    The faux classic backdrop recalls the plaster of paris Parthenon in Nashville the the movie. Henry Gibson could reprise his Haven Hamilton character for the lead role in Phoenix, From the Ashes of 2000™.

  • Tony

    It is funerial, because the photographer knows that McCain is a man whose time has passed. Probably the only one who doesn’t realize this is McCain. The light from above makes me think of the song Twilight Time: “Heavenly shades of night are falling/It’s twilight time…“

  • Marysz

    McCain literally fades in to the woodwork in an auditorium that looks like it was designed by Hitler’s favorite architect, Albert Speer. This photo shows McCain as the intellectual and moral midget he unfortunately is. The Orwellian use of both the words “Liberty” and “University” by an institution whose real intent is to undermine both democratic and intellectual values completes the picture. What a pathetic sellout McCain is. All the suffering he endured as a POW during the war–is this what it all comes down to?

  • http://blog.thought-mesh.net Annoying Old Guy

    Who is McCain’s base? I hang out mostly in the Right Wing Death Beast side of the blogosphere and nobody likes him there, either. This is the guy who said he was fine with shutting down political speech he didn’t like, that the First Amendment should be discarded as an impediment to clean government.

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/vicfitz82 Victor F

    A friend of mine showed me a picture he took with a brilliant sunburst lens flare shining down from the very top of his picture. I explained to him that having a hot highlight at the edge of a picture takes a viewer’s eyes away from the subject of the photo. I said it wasn’t always something to avoid but that he might want to try “moving the sun” around when he’s framing a photo.
    Then I look at this picture, and it too has light beaming down from the top edge of the frame. My eyes look at McCain’s tiny head situated atop the lectern, and then they roll up to the top of the frame to look at the pretty lights, and pretty soon I’m not looking at McCain at all. Indeed, we roll our eyes away when politicians shamelessly whore themselves for votes.

  • edgeotheworld

    For the great unwashed out there, McCain is the ideal candidate. He asks nothing of them, even thinking. Nothing to disturb their empty little heads. He looks nice. He talks nice. They vaguely remember that he was a POW in Vietnam. But there’s just no ‘there’ there. They think they might even vote for him, if they don’t go to the mall that day.
    The media’s wet dream is a McCain-Hillary shootout. It will sell papers. Everybody hates Hillary. Everybody loves McCain. It’ll be a smack-down inside the beltway. You can only see it here, folks.
    The massive structures in the photo, and the massive floral arrangements, all make McCain appear to be the shrunken man he has become. Any day now we will see a photo of him down on all fours licking the floor after W has walked away. The only charitable way to see this is that maybe all the torture he endured has left him brain damaged.
    WHY is he wearing clerical robes? Was he given a honorary ministerial degree? Or is he still trying to make himself all things to all men? Will someone stop him before he hurts himself?

  • nywvblue

    It looks like the room is putting up a fight and is winning: the massive podium, the leaning teleprompters, even the overhead stage lights seem more like searchlights. I find it fascinating that of all of the choices the photographer could have made, the most obvious being to zoom in and crop closely on the bust of McCain with the podium and its respective emblem, that this image was even taken, let alone published. Wouldn’t this ordinarily be considered an amateurish composition? Or is it true that the space was more important than the only man in it…
    More alarming still is the passionate and joyous heft shown in the Guiliani photo. When the Dems can produce a comparable photo, then they may have a chance. Until then, are we looking at the next Mr. President?

  • Quentin

    Give me President Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran anyday.

  • http://www.thoughttheater.com Daniel DiRito

    Read an analysis on what appears to be Republican infighting but is more likely part of a Karl Rove campaign strategy…including how John McCain’s recent shift fits into the strategy…here:
    http://www.thoughttheater.com

  • kvenlander

    I find it amusing that the photographer has makes sure we notice that the heavenly light from above is man-made.

  • Cactus

    Poor McCain looks dwarfed even by the floral arrangements; which are red and white. The drapery is probably for baffling, but it’s certainly imposing. And what are the two bird-like posts sticking up on each side? At first I thought they were mics, but they’re too far away. Could they be music stands? Everything seems to detract from the speaker. If he weren’t wearing the black robe he would just fade into the background.
    One wonders why the media keep pushing him as the candidate in ‘08……until one considers the other options (Frist? Juiliani? Jeb?). Ugh!

  • laughingman

    Cactus, those are the teleprompters. The angle of the shot makes them look distorted, but that’s what they are.

  • floopmeister

    Damn, you mean Colbert was right?

  • Cactus

    Thanks, laughingman, that didn’t even occur to me. Duh!

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