With Apologies To…

Matisse.

I meant to post this shot the day of the previous debate.  It captures McCain working hard to manufacture some sense of momentum a couple days before the previous showdown in Tennessee.  (It particularly struck me that way after seeing a news clip revealing how McCain seemed to be skipping, running or hopping in short bursts for the media.)

Anyway, almost two weeks later, this simulation of enthusiasm and vigor — bordering on triumphalism and heightened by what also looks like a lunge for red-state red — frames the entire McCain campaign perfectly now (as it has from the beginning) as reaching.

… Within an hour after tonight’s debate at Hofstra, I’ll be constructing The BAG’s “Pics of the Night” post here in real time.

(image: Gerald Herbert.  Pueblo, Colo. Friday, Oct. 3, 2008)