And it wasn't just because Barack gave a great speech, or even because the media seems to be, on the whole, recognizing it as such. It was because, as pessimistic as I've been this last week about our chances in November after all the Democratic bloodletting, I just realized once again what a spectacularly bad candidate John McCain is.
I'll admit it. I've been feeling down. I'm a native born Chicagoan and a huge Barack booster, but I've been worried, after the constant barrage on the Wright story, the flight of urban whites from his campaign, and the danger in such a full-throated expression of progressive thinking (BO would be the most unabashedly progressive nominee since maybe Mondale)as the Obama campaign being our horse in the general, if we could win. And the thought of Hilary being the nominee was even more depressing, knowing that the young and African American would show up in anemic numbers, feeling betrayed, and the vast fury would turn the current malaise on the right into a massive call to action. It seemed like either way, we might be doomed.
And then, there he was. Looking old. Looking addled. With little Joe Leiberman by his side like some sort of evil troll from Irish legend whispering facts in his ear that he should know by God if he's gonna send American boys to war. And then I thought of how his base doesn't even really like him that much, and how the Christian fundamentalist GOTV soldiers just won't be able to get too enthused about fliering for a guy who won't even commit to banning gay marriage everywhere under the sun for eternity as a badge of honor.
And, you know what, I don't hate McCain. I'm disappointed in him. I'm totally baffled by his betrayal of his own principles, especially on torture, but even on his sudden embrace of the very extremists he once disdained. But I'm sentimental enough of a patriot that anyone who went through what he went through for this country will earn my undying admiration and respect. And I genuinely like his wit and manner.
But even so, what an astonishingly bad candidate for president he is. He is so old-looking and old-acting. He appears like the mean guy yelling at the kids to get off his lawn. His constant companion Joementum only serves to bother Democrats, not to warm the hearts of conservatives who are wary of a traitor to any cause and at any rate have no special love for this guy. Hagee? Parsley? He's only palling around with these B-Listers becuase the big dogs on the God-Right won't touch him. The real story is not how wacky they are but how low on the fundy food chain the main man has had to go to fill out his dance card.
And as the economony circles the toilet bowl, the ones on whose watch the Recession has landed have a candidate with shockingly little in the way of economic credentials. I'll bet their crying over their Romney bumper stickers now that they spurned him for a guy who will end up saying "Iraq" to more questions than Rudolph said "9/11"
And his stiff, bizarre speaking voice! Oh, how many rightists will have trouble sitting through the whole broadcast on that hot August night where he tries to bring them all together. They'll eat their nachos and wish something else was on, the way fans of the recipient of a Super Bowl shit kicking avert their eyes from the third quarter.
And then, they'll be out there in November, wondering if it's worth it to go out in the rain just to vote against our candidate, who will have tons more cash. Oh yeah, Grover and company may mildly praise him now, but they're not going to the bank more than once to help Old Man McCain. Not unless they extract so many promises from him that he ends up trying to run in a recession year on Hoover's platform.
Fellow donkeys, at this stage in the game, there are real hardships for Obama or Hillary to overcome in any general election scenario. But you can take to heart one bit of great news. John S. McCain has more.