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McCain’s Class in Television Appearances

May 28, 2008 by GayPatriotWest

For someone who lives in Los Angeles, I spend remarkably little time watching television. My own TV serves primarily as a screening device for the DVD movies and documentaries I own and rent.

It seems the only other times I watch TV are when I am working out at my gym and when I’m puttering around the apartment, beginning the day, doing laundry and preparing meals. So, I do miss a lot of pop culture. I had never watched American Idol for more than I few seconds until a friend (and fan of the show) had come over for dinner and insisted we watch. I found it preferable to wash the dishes.

Well, perhaps, if I watched more TV, I might have more quickly gained a more favorable impression of my party’s presumptive presidential nominee. On Sunday, while preparing dinner, I caught a bit of John McCain’s interview with Sean Hannity and was impressed with how he fielded questions about his sons, proud of their military service, but unwilling to boast about them. He believed family matters were private.

Last night, I caught a bit of Ellen’s interview with the Arizona Senator. Once again, I came away impressed.

He was graceful, if a bit awkward at times, in handling the conversation on gay marriage.  While making clear his support of the traditional definition of marriage, he wished the talk show host and her intended “every happiness” in her coming nuptials.

The common thread of these two interviews was that John McCain did not seek to politicize the personal. While he has pursued a career is politics, he recognizes that all is not political.

John McCain has shown tremendous class, humility and humor in his various TV appearances, at least those I’ve seen. And I’m wondering if he may end up playing better in that medium than does his more apparently telegenic Democratic rival.

Obama may have a more electrifying presence, but McCain has a more solid one, both self-deprecating and confident. And watching the two together over time may increase his standing with the American public at the expense of his opponent.

Or, maybe I’m basing too much on having seen only a limited number of his television appearances.

Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Politics, Movies/Film & TV

Comments

  1. Don says

    May 28, 2008 at 9:26 pm - May 28, 2008

    You are in for a nasty shock when Jonh McCain is POTUS. He is a US Senator and has honed his BS as to not adversly effect himself. Within the first year of his term, most people will be wishing G. W. Bush were still in office. Mc Cain is only the lesser of two evils. His VP will be Crist (the man that gave McCain Fla. by allowing any one to vote in the Republican primery)

  2. Peter Hughes says

    May 29, 2008 at 10:20 am - May 29, 2008

    #1 – Don, if you are so sure Crist will be the veep, please cite your sources. To my knowledge, no such decision has been made.

    And if I’m not mistaken, both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama are senators too. Doesn’t that mean your criteria in your first sentence also will apply to them?

    Checkmate.

    Regards,
    Peter H.

  3. Peter Hughes says

    May 29, 2008 at 12:22 pm - May 29, 2008

    #2 – Correction; I meant second sentence where you referenced US senators.

    Note to B. Hussein Obama – this is how you handle “corrections” and “clarifications.”

    Regards,
    Peter H.

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