Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

You are here: Home / Senator McCain is Apparently Senile

Senator McCain is Apparently Senile

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Despite the fact that he is an evil, angry man, it was pretty sad watching McCain, because he has clearly lost his mind.

I haven’t felt this way watching a politician since this guy:

He appeared to be under the impression that the election was still ongoing, called Comey President, and then couldn’t understand why Clinton was not prosecuted for helping the Russians elect Trump.

Reader Interactions

144Comments

  4. 4.

    different-church-lady

    WHAT WAS THE THING? WEREN’T YOU CURIOUS ABOUT THE THING? I’M CURIOUS ABOUT THE THING!!

  6. 6.

    Trentrunner

    Agree 100% about McCain. He was seriously confused.

    (Always bothered me that people seem not to understand that Stockdale was NOT actually confusedly saying “Why am I here?” Because Perot had nominated this political unknown to be his VEEP, Stockdale was saying, “People all over America are saying “Who am I [Stockdale]? Why am I here?”)

  7. 7.

    scav

    Maybe if he flailed enough, with a stunning and media-seducing éclat, he could personally dominate the entire news cycle, brilliantly defecting the spotlight from everything else that had occurred before. Taking one for the team, one more time.

  8. 8.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @dr. bloor:

    That was pretty bad. I’d take a prop bet at any odds in Vegas against his finishing out his term.

    Doddering, ambulatory, zombie Senators is an old Senate tradition. Strom Thurmond comes to mind. Short of dying, McCain won’t leave office.

  11. 11.

    Oatler.

    Ping-pong match! it was a…
    I only hope McCain can clear a minute or two from his schedule to appear on a Sunday talk show and enlighten us!

  12. 12.

    chopper

    at least walnuts didn’t start talking about “back when nickels had pictures of bees on em”.

  14. 14.

    different-church-lady

    @Oatler.:

    I only hope McCain can clear a minute or two from his schedule to appear on a Sunday talk show the cobwebs from his head before he wanders into traffic.

  16. 16.

    hovercraft

    The entire world just watched him talk nonsense and conflate E-MAILS with TRussia, and yet you know that every producer out there will want him on, not to explain his nonsense, but as a senior statesman to discuss the ongoing persecution of Agent Orange.

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    and then couldn’t understand why Clinton was not prosecuted for helping the Russians elect Trump.

    Please tell me this is a joke.

    Someone.

    Anyone?

  18. 18.

    Fester Addams

    He’s practicing for the defense Jacques Chirac used (“je suis toc-toc“) when they wanted to bring him up on corruption charges.

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    @chopper:

    at least walnuts didn’t start talking about “back when nickels had pictures of bees on em”.

    They used nickels during the Triassic period?

  21. 21.

    hovercraft

    @TenguPhule:
    No.
    He wanted to know how it was that Comey “cleared” Hillary last July, and closed the E-MAIL investigation. How can that be when the TRussia issue was very serious, a big deal, and still ongoing, how can one candidate be cleared and not the other? They were both candidates.

    ETA: none of what I just typed makes sense, but neither did he, you’re welcome.

  22. 22.

    Corner Stone

    @Jon H:

    He looked relieved when his time was up.

    No he didn’t. He looked surprised. Like, “Really? Don’t think so, but ok.”

  23. 23.

    J R in WV

    It was sad. Emails!!

    That investigation was about stuff that happened 5 years ago.

    This investigation is about stuff that just happened and is still going on, and the Sen. was unaware of that. Also didn’t get who was testifying vrs who is President. Sad, but there it is.

  26. 26.

    GregB

    Sen. McCain sounded like he was auditioning for the Brad Pitt role in the film Snatch.

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    @hovercraft:

    none of what I just typed makes sense, but neither did he, you’re welcome.

    Guess I know what my nightmares are going to be tonight.

  30. 30.

    ruckus

    Why is this news to anyone?
    McCain has been a few bricks short of a load for a number of years. OK he’s now short the entire load.

  33. 33.

    amk

    If I didn’t know any better, I would think all the rethugs in that ‘panel’ wantonly kneecapped the twitler.

  35. 35.

    ruckus

    @Groucho48:
    It is easier to keep the story straight when you tell the truth. When you lie you have to remember the lies, the timeline, who was involved…….

  36. 36.

    Mike G

    Trump’s “biggest arms deal in history” is about as real as a credential from Trump University —

    There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday. So far nothing has been notified to the Senate for review. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them “intended sales.” None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.

    https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/06/05/the-110-billion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/

  37. 37.

    Hungry Joe

    I kept shaking my head violently, trying to make things rattle around in my brain until they fell into a pattern that could make sense of what he was saying. Finally decided that it was a Groucho moment — as a doctor, taking someone’s pulse: “Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.” Either McCain is addled beyond repair or I am.

  38. 38.

    hellslittlestangel

    The Orange Better One listened to McCain’s doddering and thought: There’s my new Director of the FBI!

  39. 39.

    Barbara

    Speaking of senility, it appears that Trump might not have known that U.S. troops were stationed in Qatar. I am not actually surprised but Jimminy Christmas, I would have thought that the very first point made by SOS to Trump on “situation” would be to emphasize number of American soldiers there and strategic significance to U.S. Of course, it’s possible Tillerson also didn’t know.

  40. 40.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    The young woman behind him, presumably one of his staffers, looked horrified. Her eyes kept widening and darting back and forth.

  41. 41.

    eemom

    McCain absolutely is losing it. Don’t think he’ll live much longer. It’d be sad if he weren’t so despicable.

  43. 43.

    AnotherBruce

    God, that was hideous. That was, for lack of a better word, demented. How many years does McCain get to serve before the next election? The entire state of Arizona should have its voting rights taken away. This amounts to election fraud.

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    @Barbara:
    Functional knowledge of the world makes Reagan seem geeeenious by comparison, remembering that Reagan thought ICBMs could be recalled after launch. I’m curious how things went the moment Trump learned the navy has boats that drive underwater?

  46. 46.

    TenguPhule

    @AnotherBruce:

    The entire state of Arizona should have its voting rights taken away. This amounts to election fraud.

    Common clay of the land.

  48. 48.

    MJS

    @Trentrunner: The picture of Stockdale as clueless and befuddled became solidified after an SNL sketch. At that time, more people would have watched any given airing of SNL than a VP debate.

  50. 50.

    JGabriel

    @GregB:

    Sen. McCain sounded like he was auditioning for the Brad Pitt role in the film Snatch.

    Lol’d. So true, so sad.

  51. 51.

    Paula

    @Trentrunner: @AnotherBruce: Re: Stockdale, “who am I? Why am I here?” I always thought he got a bumb rap on that one. He meant, as you note, that he was not someone people were familiar with. It’s kind of like Howard Dean’s scream — kind of.

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    I said it was gonna turn into an investigation of Hillary Clinton eventually. Wait.

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eemom:

    Surely it can’t be news to her.

    No, but it might have been more blatant than usual today, or the fact that the setting was so public and closely-watched. The majority of hearings don’t attract this level of anticipation, coverage, and parsing.

  57. 57.

    TenguPhule

    @trollhattan:

    I’m curious how things went the moment Trump learned the navy has boats that drive underwater?

    Trump: “What do they do with all the sea men?”

  58. 58.

    JGabriel

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The young woman behind him, presumably one of his staffers, looked horrified. Her eyes kept widening and darting back and forth.

    Damn, now I’m going to have to watch it again to look for that. It was cringe-and-rage-inducing the first time. Maybe if I mute the volume …

  61. 61.

    JGabriel

    @TenguPhule:

    The entire state of Arizona should have its voting rights taken away.

    At the very least, McCain’s future opponent should use video of that as a campaign ad.

  62. 62.

    different-church-lady

    @Paula: “Who am I? Why am I here?” got knowing laughter and applause befitting the self-depreciating joke it was. His reputation for senility didn’t come from that line. It came from his fumbling and rambling later in the debate.

  63. 63.

    Pittsburgh Mike

    McCain was more pathetic than Stockwell. But not by much.

    How did his staff let him out? He’s clearly a goner.

  64. 64.

    hovercraft

    @Mike G:
    This is his MO, he bragged about it in the greatest book ever written, The Art of The Deal. He told the anecdote about bringing financiers down to Atlantic City to one of his Cas!nos and hiring a bunch of equipment and workers for the day to dig holes and move shit around so that it looked to the money guys that there was work going on, and they ponied up. He’s a con man, that’s why he doesn’t apologize, for him it’s about getting that first headline, what happens after that is irrelevant, he got the quick hit and he’ll keep going back to the headline and ignore the rest. That’s why he can give a presser in front of fictitious Twitler brand products that don’t exist. He got the pop he wanted, he knows the correction never gets as much publicity as the first story. At least that’s how it worked in he private sector, he’s learning that as president, not so much. The media will hound you about that type of shit.

  65. 65.

    AnotherBruce

    @Knight of Nothing: Wonderful, let’s enjoy the next 5-1/2 years of McCain’s mental degradation. I’m not mocking people with dementia. I experienced it first hand, but the person I experienced it with was not in the United States Senate. Or in any responsible position. I don’t wish this on anyone. But damn the voters responsible for this.

  67. 67.

    hovercraft

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I said it was gonna turn into an investigation of Hillary Clinton eventually. Wait.

    That only works if the media plays along, and they’ve already gotten all the fun they want out of that story, and it helped defeat her, score! Now they have shiny new toys to play with and except hen she has the audacity to speak publicly, they don’t care about her anymore. The base may love it, but news producers tonight will focus on all the Twitler stuff, with a tiny sprinkling of the GOP talking points.

  69. 69.

    Gin & Tonic

    I read on the Twitter that McCain spent his 70th birthday with Paul Manafort on Oleg Deripaska’s yacht.

  70. 70.

    AnotherBruce

    @TenguPhule: Actually, I mentioned in a previous post that Arizona should have it’s voting rights taken away. I didn’t mention any other state. So we’re good.

  71. 71.

    Immanentize

    @Paula:

    Re: Stockdale, “who am I? Why am I here?”

    When Stockdale started the debate like that, it was endearing and he was expressing exactly what were in fact the questions on everyone’s mind. It was a strong start. The sad part was that the rest of the debate was a horror show for him. He knew almost nothing, didn’t engage much and if I recall, kinda just gave up in the middle. So the good and folksy beginning became the emblem of his actual performance. They just aligned.

  73. 73.

    JGabriel

    @Mike in DC:

    When does Christopher Steele get called to testify?

    If I recall correctly, Steele went into hiding with his family under a new identity after his name became public and the death threats started pouring in. So, Steele won’t be testifying. I don’t think anyone would even know to which country the subpoena should be sent – and being a British citizen, he wouldn’t be bound by it anyway.

    (I assume you’re joking, but answered semi-seriously for the sake of anyone not already aware of Steele’s situation.)

  74. 74.

    trollhattan

    @JGabriel:
    Listened on the radio and was spared the visuals, don’t know that I can manage them now. I noted to the spouse with the first “tock-tock” the chair was trying to gavel him off. It eventually became “BAM-BAM” and yet he persisted. I suggest they replace gavel with play him off keyboard cat.

  75. 75.

    piratedan

    @AnotherBruce: there were quite a few of us that voted for his opponent, trust me… and its one of the sad fallout items from the events in Tucson from years past, someone like Giffords would have rated a better chance of taking him out, but we all know how that worked out.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    Per BBC

    Marc Kasowitz, the lawyer Donald Trump has appointed to represent him in the Russia inquiry, is about to make a statement.

    Sharpie note on palm: “It’s going great, just great.”
    Other palm: “Testimony completely exonerates president.”

  77. 77.

    Calouste

    So my mom has dementia and one of the things that happened was that she started using “this” and “that” and “him” and “her” etc. instead of more specific terms because she simply can’t make all the connections anymore.

  78. 78.

    Immanentize

    @hovercraft: This reminds me of that mothereffin’ District Attorney in Dallas County, Texas — Henry Wade. He was the elected DA there for something like 40+ years, from the early fifties until the late 80’s or early 90’s. He was notorious for cheating. He didn’t give a shit if innocent people went to prison — or death row. The film, “Thin Blue Line” is about one of his prosecutions. Anyway, he (in)famously said something like —
    “Who cares if we get overturned? Convictions go on Page One, reversal are on page 17.”

  79. 79.

    PaulWartenberg

    I feel really bad about McCain. And part of me wonders if, seriously, our elected officials need to retire out for their own good if they get over the age limit. I mean, McCain’s older than my dad and my dad’s retired.

  80. 80.

    Immanentize

    @JGabriel: I heard that Steele will not be testifying publicly, but he has been/was/will(?) be cooperating with the investigation

  84. 84.

    JPL

    Watching it the second time, makes me think that he needs medical care. I can’t fathom what it’s like with closed captions.

  85. 85.

    TriassicSands

    @PaulWartenberg:

    The problem with a mandatory retirement age is it would have eliminated towering senators like Strom Thurmond, who was every bit as sharp on his 100th birthday as he was the day before he was born.

  86. 86.

    trollhattan

    @PaulWartenberg:
    Ironically, commercial pilot mandatory retirement is 65, raised from 60 a decade ago. McCain should have honored that cutoff to everyone’s benefit (okay, not if it had meant Senator Arpaio or Brewer, but you get my point).

  87. 87.

    Beachdune

    McCain referred to Trump as Comey I believe three times. At one point Comey corrected him seemingly as McCain caught himself confusing the names. Comey briefly had up his hands – as in- ok hold on, let’s all get on the same page here. Trump is president. It’s not President Comey. His line of questioning about why Comey cleared Clinton but not Trump came off as the musings of a confused old man. Jeebus old man the investigation is just starting on Trump. Clinton investigated ad naseum. The gavel is being banged gently but persistently for last 2 minutes, letting McCain know time is up. He asks about Trump or associates being at risk of blackmail by Russia, does Comey know of any material. I can not discuss that in open session is Comey’s reply. More gaveling. Senators time is up Burr says. McCain looks up, ignores, probably loses his place, and then reads the EXACT question again. Comey repeats answer and that’s how it bizarrely ended.

  89. 89.

    zhena gogolia

    Just watched the clip on WaPo. I’m with the camp that thinks this was entirely deliberate obfuscation. “It’s a double standard.” That’s the soundbite for Fox News. He knew exactly what he was doing.

  90. 90.

    zhena gogolia

    @Immanentize:

    Yes, that’s my recollection too.

    But this McCain thing is deliberate, I’m sorry. Blow smoke in everybody’s eyes.

  92. 92.

    sukabi

    @Bill E Pilgrim: good grief, grampy has totally lost the plot. It’s not that hard to figure out …2 completely separate investigations, into 2 separate individuals, with NO OVERLAP.

    Am looking forward to his responses to the inevitable questions: “Senator McCain, what year is this? How many fingers am I holding up? WTF is wrong with you?”

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia: Agreed. I think McCain clearly decided to obfuscate; make the case that there’s a second standard of behavior WRT Trump and GOP but then …

    he had a senior moment on top of it. And does not seem to have realized he was making no sense. It was hilarious watching the young woman aide behind him (and hope she does not get in trouble for looking so alarmed in places…)

    So, an own goal, worth double points, by John McCain.

    (Did you notice when the camera panned long, it looked like DiFi was watching from the other side of the table with great concern; possibly Burr too. Who knows what they’ve been seeing behind closed doors from McCain …)

  97. 97.

    Just One More Canuck

    From the Arizona Republic (EJ Montini) – wouldn’t let me link for some reason

    This is embarrassing.
    At least it should be embarrassing. To Sen. John McCain, anyway.
    McCain seemed to be completely confused and befuddled in his questioning of former FBI Director James Comey Thursday.
    He seemed unable to differentiate between the FBI’s investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
    MONTINI: If this isn’t obstruction, what is?
    Comey tried to explain it a couple of times but McCain just didn’t seem to get it.
    His comments verged on the incoherent. 
    A writer for Mother Jones blogged during the hearing, “Does McCain have a cold and is loopy from a little much Nyquil? Or what?”
    If you watch McCain’s questioning of Comey you won’t find that comment disrespectful or sarcastic.
    You’d find it logical.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    John McCain getting progressively more frustrated as he tries to make an ATM deposit at a Dairy Queen drive-thru.

    Some wag named David Roth.

  99. 99.

    moops

    I’m sure the notes in his hands was a clever obfuscation of Clinton investigation and Trump investigation from some GOP talking points memo. The delivery was a train wreck. His aides will leak the correct notes to the press and they will use the notes instead of the transcript when they write their stories. The Media is McCain’s constituency. They have voted for him so many times they will not report on his mental decline and embarrassment.

  100. 100.

    trollhattan

    BBC live blogging Trump’s lawyer (who I hope received cash up front)

    Mr Kasowitz suggests that Mr Comey could be investigated for leaking “privileged communications with the media”.

    He’s the leakiest leaker in all of Leaksville!

  101. 101.

    sukabi

    @Knight of Nothing: it is bad. here’s a question for all the ” he’s throwing up a cloud” people…if McCain’s bit today was meant to cloud the discuSsion, why on earth would a sitting senator want the official senate record to show the “distinguished” senator so completely confused, ill-prepared, and sounding like he’s a walk away from an Alzheimer’s unit at the local nursing home?

    That shit is just plain embarrassing.

  102. 102.

    kindness

    While you no doubt are correct John, McCain is certainly showing his age. Hell I am and I’m 20 years younger than McCain. Honestly though I think the Republican strategy here is to throw as much obfuscating shit against the wall and try to confuse the media, the public (especially their base) and the Democrats that they survive this so they can go on and shovel all our tax monies up to the 1% as that is Republicans only real job at this point.

    The key thing to watch is which of the MSM takes that bait (Fox doesn’t count).

  104. 104.

    chopper

    @sukabi:

    if walnuts is trying to cloud the discussion, convincing everyone that he’s had a stroke is a really dumb way to do it.

  106. 106.

    moops

    @trollhattan: well, Comey should be investigated. In good time. An investigation into his misconduct is hopefully making steady progress in Session’s DOJ. Part of the witness discrediting the evil elf will undertake to please his feckless master. Comey’s misconduct has already gotten him fired though. Fired is not bad enough for someone that was instrumental in throwing an election and raising that man-child to POTUS. I hope Comey is reminded again and again that Trump is HIS fault. Being all boohoo scared of mean Republicans got him to disrupt our elections.

  107. 107.

    trollhattan

    @sukabi:
    If three Luntz-tested commands were issued from the Republikan Direktorat are
    -Deflect from Russians to other topics
    -Undermine Comey’s reputation and standing
    -Hillary, Hillary, Hillary
    then McCain had the playing pieces but shoved them up his nose instead of using them meaningfully.

  109. 109.

    The Moar You Know

    Mr Kasowitz suggests that Mr Comey could be investigated for leaking “privileged communications with the media”.

    @trollhattan: Jesus, hope Trump did not pay this imbecile up front. No such thing as “privileged communications with the media”.

  113. 113.

    eric

    I think you publicly make fun of McCain for his drunken performance. Let HIM say that we are morally deficient because he suffers from dementia, while also not resigning! fuck him. let his people do the honorable thing and make him resign.

  114. 114.

    Peale

    @hovercraft: I guess the new “explanation for why we chose Trump” by the GOP is that Hillary colluded with the Russians to help Trump win the nomination because the DNC e-mails indicated that they thought he would be the easiest candidate to beat. Basically, she and Obama had the motive to bring in Putin, or at least not do anything about it. I think that line is the one that McCain was supposed to promote. Trump in this story is actually still Hillary’s fault.

  116. 116.

    Mnemosyne

    @chopper:

    What trollhattan said above: McCain was given talking points that were designed to cloud the issue, but he fucked them up.

  117. 117.

    eemom

    Holy Occams Razor, people. McCain is just a sick old man who also happens to still be an evil republican scumbag.

  118. 118.

    Mnemosyne

    @Quinerly:

    In other words, McCain was trying to trap Comey by using Comey’s Hillary-bashing press conference against him, even though it was clearly done to benefit the Republicans.

    This is why you never try to make a deal with Republicans, Mr. Comey. They will screw you, every time.

  119. 119.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: Diamondbacks Night Games.

    Uh huh.

    Speed with which that statement was issued says they know McCain screwed the pooch, hard.

  121. 121.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    “privileged communications with the media”.

    I see, that line must be Trump after understanding all of the law and stuff like that, after reading about it for an hour and half.

    I am thinking, is McCain Trump’s dementia surrogate?

  123. 123.

    eemom

    @Quinerly:

    ok, that’s at least sort of intelligible, but it’s still fucked up apples and oranges bullshit. As Comey kept saying, the investigation of Clinton was DONE, and he concluded that there was NO evidence on which any responsible prosecutor would bring a CASE. It’s not the prosecutor’s job to determine whether the defendant is guilty or not, you stupid old fart.

    And you know what else? If McCain HAD asked the question he says he was trying to ask and framed it intelligibly, and kept persisting after Comey kept saying the Trump investigation is ongoing — i.e., if he badgered Comey enough to give his honest opinion on the question of whether there’s enough evidence of obstruction of justice by Trump for a prosecutor to bring a case, I’m pretty sure Comey would have said yes. Certainly enough evidence to bring a case, regardless of whether Trump is eventually found guilty or not.

    Not that any of that’s gonna happen anyway.

  125. 125.

    MCA1

    I mean, it’s a good thing no one let Grampa Walnuts get behind the wheel on his way in this morning, or he might have ended up like Tiger Woods.

  128. 128.

    Buttermilk Sky

    How many Arizona voters are senile? It’s second only to Florida as “god’s waiting room.” Apparently they want to be represented by one of their own.

  129. 129.

    Bobby Thomson

    (Always bothered me that people seem not to understand that Stockdale was NOT actually confusedly saying “Why am I here?” Because Perot had nominated this political unknown to be his VEEP, Stockdale was saying, “People all over America are saying “Who am I [Stockdale]? Why am I here?”)

    Very disappointed in Cole for jumping on this Al-Gore-invented-the-internet myth/bandwagon.

    For his part, Stockdale intended to return home with his honor intact. One afternoon, he was given a razor and led to the bathroom — a sure sign that he was being readied for a propaganda film. Instead of shaving, Stockdale gave himself a reverse Mohawk, tearing up his scalp in the process. More determined than ever now, his captors locked him in the interrogation room for a few minutes while they fetched a hat for him. Stockdale glanced around, looking for an appropriate weapon. He considered a rusty bucket and a windowpane before settling on a 50-pound stool, and proceeded to beat himself about the face. Then, realizing that his eyes were not yet swollen shut, he beat himself some more. By the time the guards had returned, blood was running down the front of his shirt. For the next several weeks, Stockdale kept himself unpresentable by surreptitiously bashing his face with his fists. The North Vietnamese never did manage to film him.

    He gets a shit ton of slack.

  131. 131.

    Morzer

    John McCain has gone full Bunning, but without the latter’s service to America.

  132. 132.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Hungry Joe:

    Finally decided that it was a Groucho moment — as a doctor, taking someone’s pulse: “Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.”

    That happened to me a few months ago when the optometrist was doing the routine glaucoma check. “Well, Mr Clyde, the pressure in your eyeballs is reassuringly low. In fact it’s zero. The tonometer wasn’t working.”
    “Or I’m dead.”
    “Yes, that’s also a possibility.”

  133. 133.

    nightranger

    I still remember then wheeling in a barely alive Byrd for that vote in 2009. It was kind of disturbing.

  134. 134.

    Wyatt Derp

    @MJS:

    Maybe, but when you sign on to be the VP for a bat shit insane presidential candidate, you’ve participated in your own humiliation.

    Sad that Palin is now the more coherent of the two.

  138. 138.

    evodevo

    @Groucho48: Yes. This. He was fed a lot of them and can’t keep them straight. Wonder if he’ll do any better on Sunday … or if anyone would notice lol

  141. 141.

    Ella in New Mexico

    He has sounded off, subdued and not himself the past few months. Today, he sounded like someone who is having TIA’s or had a mild stroke and is trying to compensate for it. Confused about topics, names, fundamental processes. Having word search difficulties

    In alll seriousness, I think he needs a neurovascular workup ASAP. This was not lack of sleep, as whoever tried to cover for him after said it was. Something is seriously, medically wrong with John McCain.

  142. 142.

    Emily68

    @Trentrunner: I didn’t watch the debate with Stockdale on TV, but I did listen to it on the radio. He seemed perfectly normal to me. He didn’t talk near as much as the other two, but he was hitting on all 8 cylinders, and that was something McCain was not doing yesterday.

  143. 143.

    Sondra

    I was glued to CSPAN for the whole thing and I could not understand why the commenters failed to pick up on how demented McCain sounded. He seemed to conflate the HRC probe with the #45 Russian interference probe because “she was running too” . “Why was one probe concluded when the other wasn’t?” and then he asked Comey about the investigation of Comey as if he was in a different committee hearing speaking to a different person.

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