McCain: Having someone hand him a salt shaker is BAD luck. Carries 31 cents in change for GOOD luck.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Superstition ain’t the way
By: Steve Benen on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 10:00 AM - PDT

I’ve heard a lot about how superstitious John McCain is, but I’m a little surprised that he’d tell the building that houses his campaign offices to redo their elevator labels like this. (via Mark Kleiman)

For the lowdown on McCain’s economic plan, we turn to Doug Holtz-Eakin, the bearded, balding former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, now McCain’s chief economic advisor. We meet at campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., in a conference room on the M floor — M for McCain. (M is one above 12. The whole floor was renamed and relabeled by the campaign, right down to the buttons on the elevators. McCain is superstitious, his spokeswoman explained; it’s a fighter-pilot thing. But isn’t M the 13th letter in the … ? Never mind.)

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/27/superstition-aint-the-way-2/

I’m not sure if it’s a “fighter-pilot thing,” so much as it’s a bizarre thing.

Consider what we’ve learned about McCain’s superstitions:

* McCain believes it’s bad luck for someone to hand him a salt shaker.

* McCain believes it’s bad luck to throw a hat onto a bed.

* McCain regularly carries 31 cents in lucky change in his pocket.

* McCain carries a lucky feather, a lucky compass, a lucky penny, a lucky nickel, a lucky quarter, and a laminated four-leaf clover.

* McCain believes it’s bad luck to pick up a coin if it isn’t heads up.

* McCain’s been known to have an aide carry his lucky pen at all times.

And now he’s having the elevator labels changed in his campaign’s building. I have no idea how the typical person responds to this, but I find it kind of odd.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

1. I don't know if I'm typical, but

McInsane is a whack job.

[madokie]

2. Having had no superstitions ever I find it odd someone who does

pResident superstitious mcCain

[Crooked Moon]

4. sen obama does as well...

[wuushew]

8. like what?

Supposedly Obama has been known to carry a bracelet belonging to an American solider in Iraq. Whether superstitious or not(more likely) such a custom has obvious PR value.


How is that similar to what McCain does? Is McCain carrying around pennies to court the copper/zinc industries or undecided swing voters in Illinois? :shrug:

McCain is simply batshit insane.

[Crooked Moon]

12. here:

"Amongst the things that Barack Obama carries for good luck are a bracelet belonging to a soldier deployed in Iraq, a gambler’s lucky chit, a tiny monkey god and a tiny Madonna and child."



http://www.time.com/time/politics/whitehouse/photos/0,27424,1811278,00.html

[XemaSab]

9. Yeah, Obama's big superstition is to always play basketball the morning of an election

:crazy:

[tanyev]

3. Gosh, what would happen if someone snuck up behind him and yelled "BOO" really loud?

[anigbrowl]

5. Sounds like borderline OCD

Not someone I want with their finger on the button. I think this is fair game to exploit. Most people have some sort of good luck charm even if it's just something that makes them feel comfortable for no special reason - I have a marble in my coat pocket that I just picked up once at random and I've just gotten used to fiddling with it when I'm out for a walk. But Mccain's little habits seem half-way pathological.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. I was thinking the same thing.

I haven't been superstitious all my life, though when I was a kid I played at it because it was silly. But when I was in a hugely stressful state some years ago, with financial problems, divorce, relocations, and potential legal problems, I kind of went over the edge and found myself counting steps and obsessive about not stepping on cracks - I think it was that my life was out of control and a degree of OCD created the semblance of control. I knew I was very unstable then.

Dependence on superstition to provide control in your life is a really bad sign of instability.

[Schema Thing]

6. If he gets elected, I'm moving

The country (and probably the earth) cannot survive two mystical thinkers at the helm in a row.

[KamaAina]

10. Hey, John! Catch!

[SoCalDem]

11. Sheez.. How embarrassing to admit all that ..

But it explains his flipflops.. He must use this for his decisions on policies..

[papapi]

13. McCain - has a brain but never learned how to use it.

[jakem]

14. 31 CENTS! CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN!!!