Sarcasm and Air Quotes

McCain's recent air quotes around such terms as "women's health" have been getting to me.

While commuting to an old job in Maryland, I used to drive by a man selling food out of a cart. Sounds like a good idea -- setting up shop in an office park to catch people who don't have time to scoot off to lunch during the day. Thing is, his sign read "BEEF" in quotes. Quotes are a nod to sarcasm, a level of indirection that in the food service industry is scary, leading one to move on to another vendor.

It's scary in politics too. I think it shows a real lack of seriousness with which McCain has taken to the campaign trail. I think people who are seriously watching this have noted this. I hope...

It means he's not really taking anything too seriously. Think of how often his squeaky little chuckle of a laugh surfaces in the middle of important debates. Sure, Obama has smirked a fair amount during debates, but a smirk is a way of holding back "I don't f-ing believe this" as opposed to the sarcastic "so-called" denoted by air quotes.

I still wonder what exact meat that guy was selling. Yes, I'm smirking right now. The bright side is that as of tomorrow night, we'll be able to use air quotes to refer to McCain's "run" for president.