Posted by Jed Lewison on Tue Aug 5, 2008 at 2:39 AM Pacific

What happened? (Full version)

I've now spoken with a neuroscientist (MD/Ph.D.) about John McCain's bizarre moment at that press conference on Friday in Panama City, Florida. He wasn't sure whether McCain had forgotten the question he had just been asked, or if McCain just hadn't understood the question in the first place. Either way, he didn't think it spoke very highly of McCain's cognitive abilities.

He thought it would be useful to see how McCain ultimately answered the question, so I've posted a new version of the video, this one with not just McCain's full answer (which has been debunked by C&L), but also the last part of his answer to the previous question.

I still am not sure exactly what happened here, but it seems to me that it's something worth exploring. I don't ever remember a major presidential candidate (including McCain) faltering like that and asking a reporter to repeat the question, and it's reasonable to look for an explanation of what happened and why.