I'm John McCain and I'm running against the Republican Party

What a remarkable speech by John McCain to wrap up the monocultural Republican National Convention. Claiming service over selfishness, and arguing that Washington hasn't served the people, he intends to fight against 30 years of Republican leadership. This speech was filled with contradictions. First and foremost: he's a maverick, a fighter, who will nonetheless work with others (who agree with him).  If this was an honest expression of his vision of his campaign, then why has he paired himself with someone who represents the epitome of selfishness, who insists on a moral and cultural politics that is shared by a minority of Americans?

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The difficulty McCain faces is that he's been in Washington for a very long time. While he's taken some positions that didn't please the increasingly nativist and narrowly fundamentalist base of the Republican party, he has also been very much a supporter of the Republican policies that have done little for the little people for whom he claims he will now fight. If he takes on his own party -- as he must -- in order to do what he claims he'll do, then the likely outcome is a doubling of partisan posturing, first from the hardcore resisters in his own party (its corporate and theological flanks) and then from Democrats. In the end, a McCain presidency would likely produce more of the same rather than 'change.'

getting to know Sarah Palin

Last night was Sarah Palin's second minute of fame at the Republican National Elder Hostel. I was shocked and relieved to find out that Sarah Palin is not Hillary Clinton (I imagine the remaining, disappointed Clintonistas are not so relieved). What's curious is her apparent selling point for McCainites: she's an average person with an average family. Sure, she reminds me of my (hypothetical) next door neighbor hockey mom; I'm sure my neighbor also hunts bear, can field dress a dead moose, and has found time to threaten to ban books in the local library and join a secessionist political party. Talk about Country First!

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Anyway, I'm relieved to have learned that a person I suspected to be average is, in fact, average (leaving aside the book banning part). What our intrepid media corps will reveal soon is whether this conservative Christian with an unwed, pregnant daughter (I'm suddenly longing for Dan Quayle's jeremiad against the unwed and pregnant fictional character Murphy Brown) is an average Amy Grant or an average Gretchen Wilson.