McCain’s 'that one' takes off online

The puzzling reference to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as “that one” by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has become the most-discussed moment of a bland, forgettable presidential “debate.”

“It’s President That One to you,” a poster on Daily Kos chided McCain.


A website, http://www.thatone08.com, is selling T-shirts featuring both McCain and Obama, and has a logo with Obama’s rising-sun campaign changed to read “Thatone.” There's a “that one” Facebook page and a biography with every Obama reference changed to “that one.”

“That one” was named the winner of the dreary debate by both Arianna Huffington at The Huffington Post and John Dickerson at Slate.

Liberal critics argue that the expression was at least cranky and perhaps demeaning, as if referring to “those people.”

Some Obama supporters have joked that they thought McCain had forgotten Obama’s name, and one Democrat suggested the slogan, “That one ... that won.”

The Obama campaign immediately e-mailed reporters to call attention to McCain’s use of the phrase, when he said: “My friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth. It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one. You know who voted against it? Me.”

Maria Gavrilovic of CBS News reported from the spin room in Nashville that the Obama campaign was using the comment to argue that McCain looked “peevish, irascible, uncomfortable, odd.”

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told her it was an “odd” moment. And Obama chief strategist David Axelrod noted that last time McCain didn’t look at Obama and now he is calling him “that one.”

Fox’s Major Garrett reported to post-debate viewers: “The Obama campaign only highlighted it for this reason: They believe it was a moment of crankiness from John McCain, and that’s kind of a button they like to push on John McCain.”

Nicolle Wallace of the McCain campaign told CBS: “I’m shocked that at a moment of national crisis, where our economy is on the minds of every single person, I am shocked that they are again proving to be the fussiest campaign in American history.”

Pundits at first were skeptical about the Obama spin.

On ABC’s “Nightline,” senior Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos, who was at the debate hall, said: “That didn’t really strike me, in the moment.”

“Me neither,” anchor Terry Moran replied.

“The Obama people are pushing it pretty hard,” Stephanopoulos continued. “They’re saying it showed disdain again. What surprises me even more: In the spin room tonight, the Republican National Committee is acting like they’re going to keep saying ‘that one’ about Barack Obama. I think that’s a huge mistake.”

“I’m missing the point of that,” Moran said.

“I’m not sure I get it, either,” Stephanopoulos said.

Moran concluded: “I’m not even sure it’s that demeaning.”