OK, let me start by saying that I'm not exactly an expert on picking up subtleties of human interaction. In fact, some might say I'm downright thickheaded and unaware. But last night at the end of the Republican convention, my almost non-existant interpersonal relationship radar went off bigtime.
Did you notice how Palin and McCain interacted? To begin with, when McCain walked out (surprise!), he and Palin had an embrace of sorts, with Palin diving out of the hug with her upper body and turning her head so forcefully it looked like she was hugging the class nerd at the homecoming dance. The two then immediately separated, with Palin moving several feet away from the Presum-Nom.
No eye contact from that point on. No mutual embrace and wave to the crowd. In fact, McCain only talked to Hannah Montana's dad, saying "Great Speach" to him on three occassions (why not say that to her?). The two candidates then circled around the stage, with Palin keeping both her distance and her back to McCain for most of the circuit. One shoulder pat from Palin to Old Guy, then diving away again and a head off to the exit.
Palin walked out first, and never looked back. McCain hobbled out some 10 feet behind her.
Compare and contrast this to the way Obama and Biden almost got down on the ground and humped each other at the Dem Convention. Their mutual admiration was clearly demonstrated, so much so that they even walked off arm-in-arm, and turned back to wave to the crowd as they departed.
Not so with Palin - McCain. It looked forced. It look cold. It look downright awkward.
Could the last couple of days resulted in some strained feeling between the two? Did McCain lose his famous temper with the Alaskan governor over the steady drip-drip of unvetted revelations?
HHHmmmmm...