::I agree that the photo to the right is from too far back.  Regarding the photo that's in the article right now, I don't see that it's been partially painted over by whoever changed the background.  The photo at the top of the article now is an upgrade version of an official photo from the US Government that has a blue background.  See here.  There is another version from the federal government that has a black background, but the consensus was that the blue background is better. 

 ::I don't think that the photo at the top of this article right now is a particularly good photo, but it's okay until we get a better one.  Until the election, the consensus was to use official photos at all the candidate pages.  But now the election's over.  I don't see why we should have to use a photo just because McCain's Senate office likes it; that's not how we wrote the rest of this article, after all.  Anyway, the photo presently at the top of the article is now a bit dated; it's over fuor years old.