The Telltale Heart

Hours after his own campaign manager thrust the subject of race front and center into the presidential contest, John McCain said it was "legitimate" to accuse Barack Obama of playing the race card. In a stunning example of what linguists call apophasis -- the raising of an issue by denying an intention to mention it -- McCain told CNN: "There's no place for it and we shouldn't be doing it."

--Greg Sargent, TPM - McCain: Accusing Obama Of Playing Race Card Is "Legitimate"

It never ceases to amaze me how the most skillful photojournalists, in the most intuitive way, have the ability to locate, translate and elevate the dynamic essence of the political narrative just beyond language.

As Greg Sargent articulates, at the psychological core of McCain's demeaning and racist video attack on Obama unfurled Wednesday, we have McCain actively staining Obama, then fingering Obama for the blotch.

In light of this feigned innocence, I find these two images quite remarkable.  What the photographer and the photographs point to, and what McCain seems to unavoidably telegraph -- fingering the spot where he had a potentially cancerous spot removed Tuesday, just before this town hall -- is his own, outright blemish.

The poetry reads like the telltale heart.

(images: Max Whittaker/Getty.  July 29, 2008. Sparks, Nevada)

Comments

[Jason]

Don't you think Lady Macbeth's "Out damn'd spot!" makes more sense?
Either way, great stuff as always.

[weisseharre]

!

[ratfood]

"-it is necessary to whoever arranges to found a Republic and establish laws in it, to presuppose that all men are bad and that they will use their malignity of mind every time they have the opportunity"

Niccolo Machiavelli, Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio (1517)

[Karen]

Beautiful...by the way, have results from his latest excise come back? I'm guessing if they're bad or ambiguous, he'll time it to coincide with this VP pick.

[Scarabus]

Re the apophasis, a really good example is this parody on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9sVF0NDjFw

[black dog barking]

"!" Indeed!

If it weren't already "Sidney" I'd nominate "Apophasis" for the candidate's middle name. The one true thing everyone knows about this candidate is the fact of his stay in the Hanoi Hilton, dutifully reported at every stop as something he "never" or "rarely" speaks about.

The universe has punished this white guy for being white (melanin disadvantaged) and it's still a bit sore. While his campaign devotes its focus to not raising the topic of race it gets a reprieve from the issues displaced — the occupation of Iraq (a hundred years more or start coming home tomorrow), the economy (middle class distress or "mental recession").

The Obama campaign has issued no statements clarifying whether they intend to not mention this candidate's age in the coming months.

[ratfood]

Karen, his biopsy came back negative.

[Zzyzx]

Hmmmm......

Remember when Hillary answered the query of Obama's christianity with, I have no reason to believe he's not, I haven't seen any evidence.......

Where's Hillary??

[no dram]

i can't find that part about the linguist term in the TPM link. did greg amend his post?

[The BAG]

no dram, it was in a quote on the main page with the link to the story. I made a point to copy it because it wasn't in the post itself.

[cenoxo]

I find these two images quite remarkable. What the photographer and the photographs point to, and what McCain seems to unavoidably telegraph -- fingering the spot where he had a potentially cancerous spot removed Tuesday, just before this town hall -- is his own, outright blemish.

The poetry reads like the telltale heart.

Since we're uncovering guilt in pictures of pre-Presidential health (or a lack of health), what might we find in a couple of telltale x-ray images of Obama's lungs?

More than a little irony, perhaps?