McCain delivered a speech in the best traditions of Old America. Nonpartisan, practical, altruistic. . . he reached out to the Democrats, praised his opponent, affirmed his respect for all Americans. . .

And the crowd was as still as stone. They neededmalice, and the joy of malice. . . the partisan red meat that the GOP thrives on. There was no connection at all between McCain and his audience.

McCain's Republican Party died the day he nominated Sarah Palin; and McCain's America, the Old America, is dying right now.

Listen with me, as the last proud voice of Old America, cracking on an old man's throat, echoes for the last time in history from the dias of an American political convention. Listen with me now, as it fades away.

why the loudest chants of USA! occurred whenever one of the "ground noise and static" Iraq vets, women for choice, gay rights advocates, and other unconventional Americans were dragged out of the audience.

Still, McCain's vision was lovely. To paraphrase another old man, isn't it pretty to think it's so.

. . .but the faces in front of him told the tale. This is no longer a country that will listen.

Thrasy:

Old soldiers, and not so old soldiers as myself, should slowly fade away and not let our prejudices dictate to a country and a world our fears. This is a tired theme that McCain brings to the populace of past glory and sacrifice. Its relevance has little bearing on the course of country and the world today. McCain echoes the lost glory of his youth.

"The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.

But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.

Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.

Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps.

I bid you farewell."

"Duty, Honor, Country," General Douglas MacArthur, May 12, 1962

McCain made the speech for one more moment to bask in the sun. One more moment before the shadows over take him. It is time to put him away with the other relics and chart a new path. Vietnam is irrelevant to today's economic issues. Obama is closer to the truth of the matter than eith McCain or Palin. He practices what he preaches and what neither of them have attempted to do. It is time to move on . . .

I'm curious why you would consider that the GOP uniquely thrives on red meat. Kerry, Gore and Obama were pretty heavy on that stuff. Sure, the crowd was a trifle listless during the dry policy exposition, but they got fired up toward the end with a respectable amount of soaring rhetoric.

I'm utterly baffled why you would consider Sarah Palin the death-knell of the GOP. I celebrate a contrarian streak, but wow.

Oh. c'mon... you can do better than this guys....you're smart...I know becuase I read you most every day.

McSame advanced increased tax deductions for children (I like), McSame advanced more drilling and nucular (immediate gratification, me like more). McSame will achioeve an effective resolution in Iraq (oh...that sounds so effin' good).

Obama has got him on these issues, right? (I think so). Tell us how, Dems...tell us how...

pink:

To create a post that explains the economics of social security, Obamas and McCain's takes research. Obama's tax policies are far more friendly to those making <$118,000/year than McCains policies which favor those making >$1,000,000/year.

McCain needs war to enact a tax policy. Obama does not. Sorry dude, when my post is ready; it is ready and not sooner.

I wouldn't say it quite that way but your basic conclusion is about right.

The speech reminded me of another point I have made several times. Replacing Bush with McCain would be like replacing a stubborn idiot with a stubborn old fool.

Palin is a dynamic personality but also a potential loose cannon with baggage to boot (troopergate). Unless they let Sarah be Sarah she will lose a great deal of her potential effectiveness.

Sarah Palin isn't the death knell of the GOP, but she's the death knell of the GOP that John McCain had a place in.

As for the GOP's appetite for red meat, I'm not saying the Democrats don't enjoy it in small helpings, but they do their best to keep it to a minimum while the networks are watching; and the pure blood-sausage Oktoberfest that the GOP served up last night with Palin and Giuliani is much too rich for the Democratic palette.

Also, the Democrats enjoy things besides red meat. Soaring visions of hope, for instance . . .Obama's applause lines in his acceptance speech were about all sorts of things, and the Dems jumped at all of them. McCain only got a warm response for partisan attacks. . . of which there were so few that he'd have gotten a better response, all things considered, if he'd delivered his speech last week in Denver.

The Republican Party is no longer the party of McCain. He'll be lucky to keep control of his own Presidential campaign.

that Dems mainly enjoyed sob stories. About a poor kid born with two heads, and no health insurance, forced to take a second job as a bowling ball. Or a single mom suffering from clinical depression whose feet are exploding.

The Dems are always like that. Every election. The country sucks, consisting mainly of soup lines and the terminally ill, guilty and disliked and needing to be apologized for.. Oh, and now the sky's about to fall. Or the seas are gonna rise. Something like that. Positive stuff, to be sure. Can't imagine why Dems seem to lose an awful lot of elections.

Dear Lord, you didn't think the Kerry, Gore, Biden and Obama speeches were red meat? Get real.

The media reaction to Palin was nauseating. She had every right to slam back hard. And the public were on her side. Heard someone say that she was put on earth for two reasons: to shoot caribou and kick ass. And she's all out of caribou.

I see McCain redefining and revitalizing the old Republican Party with the choice of Palin. I also noticed he didn't mention George Bush once, as well. Wise decision.

He should have been nominated in 2000. . . it's frustrating to think of how much different, and better the last 8 years might have been, and how many wounds we could have been spared as a people. But that ship has sailed. 2008 is too late.

that Dems mainly enjoyed sob stories. About a poor kid born with two heads, and no health insurance, forced to take a second job as a bowling ball. Or a single mom suffering from clinical depression whose feet are exploding.

First, if you're going to crib notes from Peggy Noonan, you should try not to mess up her delivery.

And second, that's a stereotype. It's as if I were to say that:

Republicans mostly like to scare each other with fake ghost stories about bizarre threats posed by things like rival superpowers, terrorist superpowers, nuclear superpowers, nuclear terrorists, Islamic terrorists, vampire terrorists, vampire terrorists with scurvy, and shit-flinging Hobbits from Mars.

Wait. . . that's actually true. Or at least it was until this year. These days, they mostly tell ghost stories about Democrats and how we want to destroy the Union. Speaking of which. . . what's the deal with Palin's connection to the Alaska Independence Party? Did she really publish a newsletter for them?

I digress. But anyway, no. Biden was a creampuff compared to Palin, and Obama. . . well, Obama was actually a lot meaner and more partisan than McCain, but how was anyone to know that McCain was going to run as an independent?

Does anyone hate John McCain?

Who could?

That could be a serious problem for the left.