McCain's Speech

What an interesting night.  

The pundits are scrambling to make sense of the Dem primaries thus far - first presenting Clinton's nomination as a foregone conclusion, then announcing her candidacy dead when Obama won Iowa by a landslide, now utterly confused as New Hampshire voters rejected their prognostications.  The pundits are, after all, simply trying to tell a story about the American public that makes sense, just like the rest of us, only they get paid to do it and aren't any better at it, it seems.

I for one am glad that Clinton won tonight, not because I favor her over Obama, but because it would have been quite sad if the pundits were right, if her candidacy were indeed already over so early into the process.

But while all this is going on, what really captured my imagination and heart tonight was McCain's victory speech. He didn't deliver it as well as he could have but it was beautifully crafted.  (And maybe the fumbling added to his charm.)  I am wondering whether he wrote it and if not, who did. It was a bit more rah, rah, go USA! for my tastes but that's understandable for for an ex-POW. 

Overall, you really get the impression that he loves this country and everything he does, whether it's popular or not, is because he believes it's right for his country. In listening to him talk, I realized that even tho I disagree with him on most issues, I still respect him more than I do some Dems. Heck, even the issues on which I disagree with him the most seem to make me respect him more.  For example, I was against the immigration bill that he supported.  But he bucked the GOP, and is paying the price.  (I was against it for different reasons than the GOP.)  And then there is the war... Whether I agree with him or not, I trust that he's telling us what he believes, rather than just what we want to hear.  And I believe he loves this country as much as I do.