The McCain Speech

You could tell John McCain was trying to appeal to a wider range of voters than his base last night. It was kind of a revival of the old John McCain, after a month of the Sneer N’ Smear campaign that his Rovian advisors have had him running.

So it was kind of nice to see the old McCain. And it was riveting to hear him talk about his POW experience. That was by far the strongest part of what was really a pretty weak speech overall.

But the POW camp was a long time ago. And the Independent Maverick Guy seems a long time ago too. John McCain may still be the patriot with his character forged by the most unimaginable hardship. But he’s also the guy who’s been lying to us for most of this campaign, and questioning Obama’s patriotism, and putting up those despicable “celebrity” ads.

He has to own all of it. The embrace of the far right. His flip-flop on taxes. His 100 Years of Occupation in Iraq. His buy-in to Bush economic policies. His hotheaded neo-con foreign policy. The rash, rushed selection of Sarah Palin, which is a brilliant short-term move but actually is appallingly risky for the country in the long run.

Judge the man as a whole. And hope that he enjoyed the night. His nomination is a fitting end to a long and admirable career. But John McCain is all about the past, not the future.