Every time the camera focused on John McCain, he looked like he was pretending to be having a better time than he really was.

Doesn't he kinda always look like that?

yeah, this. He has a really unappealing smile anyway...looking serious would be fine with most of the viewing public.

I'm not sure Rahm is the best person to be cut loose in this situation. One factor in the response needs to be "We are better than that." When he wants to, Obama is a master at that style. Rahm, not so much.

So more like pitbull-on-massive-chain snarling and slavering while the Bam uses big words and shakes his head sadly?

Also, dig the screencap she has in that entry. That is a beautiful thing.

LOVE. IT.

I kind of think Biden is going, "Who is that? Damn, I wish I had my glasses on."

Heh.

That screencap is awesome.

Oh, that's classic Good Cop/Bad Cop "I am a reasonable person, but my partner? He's been doing politics a long time so he gets...impatient. But I just know you and I can work something out and you can keep that one testicle...he did that over the phone? Wow, fiber-optics sure are impressive these days."

Personally, I sort of liked Rep Joe Wilson’s idea of introducing British-style heckling to the halls of congress; totally disrespectful and out of step with American tradition, true, but their tradition is better. Unfortunately, Wilson was also lying about the point at issue and will thereby set back the cause of heckling by decades.

I am so with him on this.

At least according someone in Salon Letters (I know, I know, I'm an addict...) calling someone a LIAR is one thing you can't do in Parlaiment -- and if you don't apologize you get escorted from the room.

Animal rescue group pledges 5 bags of dog food to a DC animal shelter for each time Michael Vick is tackled during the game against the Redskins. [link]

In British Parliament, you can heckle your opponents, but calling someone a liar is still specifically prohibited:

[link]

Unparliamentary language

Language and expressions used in the Chamber must conform to a number of rules. Erskine May states "good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language". Objection has been taken both to individual words and to sentences and constructions ‐ in the case of the former, to insulting, coarse, or abusive language (particularly as applied to other Members); and of the latter, to charges of lying or being drunk and misrepresentation of the words of another. Among the words to which Speakers have objected over the years have been blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, rat, swine, stoolpigeon and traitor. The context in which a word is used is, of course, very important.

The Speaker will direct a Member who has used an unparliamentary word or phrase to withdraw it. Members sometimes use considerable ingenuity to circumvent these rules (as when, for instance, Winston Churchill substituted the phrase "terminological inexactitude" for "lie") but they must be careful to obey the Speaker's directions, as a Member who refuses to retract an offending expression may be named (see below) or required to withdraw from the Chamber.