Thursday, September 18, 2008
The Many Faces of John McCain
Gail Collins takes a look at the various and sundry re-imaginings of the Old Fart as reality stays one step ahead of him. The is the old guy with a sound economy and the old guy who says we are in trouble and he is the one to fix it. There is the old guy for deregulation and there is the old guy who will re-enact tough regulations and enforce them.
Folks were wildly enthusiastic as the event began. That was partly because Sarah Palin was also on the bill. (With Todd!) And when McCain took the center stage, they were itching to cheer the war hero and boo all references to pork-barrel spenders.And in the end it is just an old guy saying what he thinks you want to hear today.
Nobody had warned them that he had just morphed into a new persona — a raging populist demanding more regulation of the nation’s financial system. And since McCain’s willingness to make speeches that have nothing to do with his actual beliefs is not matched by an ability to give them, he wound up sounding like Bob Dole impersonating Huey Long.
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