One thing a lot of people will remember, as evidenced by today's comment thread on Maggie's post as well as our live blog during the debate, is that McCain simply refused to look at Obama at all during the debate last Friday, although he was explicitly asked to do so by the moderator, Jim Lehrer. As the debate wore on, Obama increasingly turned to look directly at McCain–and referred to him by his first name 23 times–perhaps to highlight how he was being ignored, to the point that McCain never once uttered his name.

This had my tongue wagging along with just about every person I know. What was up with that? Does it show a condescending attitude on the part of McCain? Or was it a sign of that famous temper he has?

Talking Points Memo suggests it may be the temper, if an account by Jonathan Weisman in the Washington Post about that high-level meeting in Washington D.C. last Thursday regarding the Wall Street bailout package is any indication:

Jonathan Weisman has a fascinating, even riveting narrative of what went down in Washington on Thursday as John McCain made his play to commandeer the high-level negotiations over the bailout bill. And TPM Reader TW called my attention to a passage that may help to explain the smoldering hostility that made it impossible for McCain even to make eye contact with Barack Obama during last night’s debate.

TPM has the relevant passage from the Washington Post story here.