Tuesday, July 08, 2008

They're real

Stumbling home after a long day slogging through another edition of The Outpost, I flipped on C-SPAN and saw John McCain holding a town hall meeting. He was good, full of energy (almost a bit manic), occasionally funny, generally open and accessible. And I agreed with most of what he had to say.

This should be no surprise. I have followed McCain in small bits for a number of years and have always liked most of what he has to say. But American politics have become so poisonous that even after just a few weeks of following the campaigns mostly on blogs and talk radio, it's a bit shocking to see the actual candidate and realize that he isn't frothing at the mouth, calling for jihad or punching out dissenters.

Just a reminder, folks: The atmosphere is toxic out there. Try to remember that these are two quite decent, capable candidates, not traitors or space aliens. It feels stupid to have to say this, but even smart people can get lulled into idiocy by listening too much to the partisan crowd.

SIDEBAR: Here's my one gripe about McCain's presentation. Someone asked him how he could have voted for impeachment of Bill Clinton but not vote for impeachment of George Bush for far worse deeds. McCain ducked. I think that's a question that deserves an answer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The House, not the Senate, votes to impeach. The House has not done so, so McCain has never had a vote.

David said...

The question was based, I believe, on McCain's stated position (reiterated without further explanation at the town hall meeting) that he would not support impeachment and removal from office.