Maybe....

I noticed in a town hall rally, they used to be called meetings, but that was back when Senator McCain would actually attempt to discuss issues. Anyway, at this town hall rally in Wisconsin, John Sydney McCain was continuing to stir the pot of hot boiling anger among his faithful with questions about Senator Obama's judgment and character, I noticed that McCain looked uncomfortable. Stumbling through a slanderous diatribe against Senator Obama, eyes twitching nervously.

I would like to think that the Senator McCain was having a battle with his conscience. Maybe thinking, while hearing his supporters yell threats and insults toward his opponent, what the hell did I get myself into? What the hell am I doing? Maybe his memories of the 2000 Republican primary started creeping in. Back when the Bush campaign slandered him. When they spread rumors that his adoptive Indonesian daughter was a black child that he had fostered out of wedlock and implied that his captivity in Vietnam had left him unstable and unfit for office.

Or maybe, just maybe, he was realizing that this was no longer his campaign but the campaign of the people around him. That he was becoming a logo, a front man for all that he has said he despises about Washington politics. It could be that he was beginning to see that the presidency was slipping away and he didn't want to go out this way. The idea of confronting Senator Obama and accusing him of this BS to his face in a debate, as he promised a supporter he would, might have brought a moment of conscience. Or maybe he was awakening to the fact that the strategies these Carl Rove disciples, like Steve Schmidt, were devising was not only politically tone deaf and dumb but also a possible threat to Senator Obama's safety and ruinous to the McCain reputation.

So at another town hall rally late Friday, where one journalist characterized the audience members as "pitch fork wavers", he found his decency. He corrected a supporter by saying that Barack Obama was not an Arab and is not someone to be feared but a decent man who could be president.

I remember the other Senator McCain who supported comprehensive immigration reform and when racist comments about Hispanics were being said, Senator McCain reminded people during the Republican debates how many Hispanic names dawn the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. That we were all God's children. The way he spoke so forcefully and sincerely against torture in response to his then rival, Mitt Romney. He was the John McCain I liked despite myself. At least among the long boring list of Republicans running at the time. I wouldn't vote for him but I respected him.

But in running for presidency he began to comprise his stated principles. First it was his change on immigration to appeal to his Republican base, then the Bush tax cuts and downhill from there. I can't believe I'm writing this, but he stopped being the so called "Maverick." He allowed himself and his campaign to be kidnapped by people that have no clear strategy on the issues, no clear or consistent message and apparently no moral compass.

At the risk of repeating myself from other blog entries, I believe that the candidates campaigns are a microcosm of how their administration would work and how they would govern. Like an administration with training wheels and John Sydney McCain just fell off his bike.