As a veteran myself, I have supported McCain for the last eight years as you have. Believe it or not, I was also overjoyed that Obama and McCain ended up to be the two candidates.

I think your post is interesting – you start off assuming you won’t like McCain anymore, because he’s changed into a creature of the right. Then he actually talks, and he seems to be the guy you remembered. The Economist cover was correct: We want McCain back.

McCain is at his best when he’s the old McCain. He makes these detours sometimes (Confederate Flag in SC), but he fesses up, and finds his way again.

I support the Palin pick not because I think she’s the best vp candidate ever, but because (besides undermining the Obama-history-making argument)she brings out the old McCain. Not that she agrees on policy, but that she brings out the fighter, the maverick, the guy who can go to a Republican convention and tell them they’ve f&$(*d up for 8 years.

So the question is, when McCain-Palin is elected, who runs the show? Do right-wing crazy’s run the White House, or McCain? And if its the old McCain, do you still support him now? For you, the answer is obviously no – for me, its yes.

And to bring up Obama again, is McCain accepting a right-wing platform any different than Obama accepting the teacher’s union’s plank on Ed, or the steel worker’s union’s plank on trade? Old union positions are not Change. Why would you expect Obama to be more independent of his party than McCain?