"forced cordiality" - that's the phrase I was looking for. If you saw a character in a film acting like McCain did in that debate, you'd know he was meant to be a phony and not to be trusted.

I was reminded of the old joke about the actor saying the mist important thing in acting was sincerity - if you could do sincerity you could do anything. And it struck me that McCain couldn't do sincerity. That's not necessarily to say he'd not sincere, just that his attempts to out that across didn't ring true, a matter of technique.

But then maybe that's not how it came across to Americans. After all, it seemed to have been generally agreed, even by his opponents, that Bush was the kind of bloke people would be glad to have a beer with or have at a barbecue. I never could understand that - he'd a perfect example of the kind of bloke who'd make me wish I'd stayed home.

And why doesn't McCain do something about that bizarre comb-over hairstyle that seems designed to make people focus on his baldness. Reminds me of "The Baldy Man".