A presidential debate is really another piece of theater, and so much is conveyed in the body language and tone of the participants. The first question last night came from Alan, an older white gentleman — McCain walked right up to the section, all but leaned on the railing, and talked to him, mano e mano. The second question is from Oliver, a young black man. In this case, McCain turns into story mode, a slight condescension with “you may not have heard of Fannie and Freddie.” He keeps a distance, he’s less direct.
What does that say to you?
UPDATE : I should replace “mano e mano” with “one on one.”
An Ergodic Walk 
“e” is an italian word.
“mano a mano” is spanish, but is usually only used in spanish to reference combat, either physical or verbal.
how the hell this turned into some faux-homespun way of saying “talking one on one” is beyond me– unless it’s something so obvious as “americans is stoopid”.
maybe the gringos think “mano” is spanish for “man”, much like:
“carro” [spa] / “car” [eng]
“taco” [spa] / “tac” [eng]
?
i dunno.
Now that I live so close to Mexico I really ought to de-gringify my speech…
Pingback: Apparently Oliver was offended too… « An Ergodic Walk