The Real McCain—“What does he plan for America?” John McCain asked a crowd at a rally in Albuquerque. “In short, who is, who is the real Obama?” Someone in the crowd shouted: “Terrorist!” McCain paused and smiled. It was a smile that recalled McCain’s response at a political rally during the primaries, when it appeared he would […]

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Wasilla, Alaska SPENDING A WEEK IN THE TOWN where Sarah Palin began her political career helped me understand why Palin is a near perfect candidate for the vice presidency—even if her two terms as mayor of Wasilla and twenty months as governor of Alaska are disgracefully inadequate preparation for the office itself. The Palin nomination speaks to the […]

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THE P.O.W. CELEBRITY—Longtime McCain friend and consultant John Weaver has said that John McCain was a media celebrity when he first got off the transport from Vietnam in 1973. After a couple of years in physical rehab, McCain parlayed his celebrity status into a position as a Navy liaison officer to the U.S. Senate in […]

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ALASKA GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN DELIVERED a terrific speech in St. Paul on the penultimate night of the Republican convention in St. Paul, demonstrating to an enthusiastic crowd and to critical television viewers that she is a natural politician, with a wit that some commentators say recalls Texas governor Ann Richards (whom I knew well and […]

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“I Gave at the Office”—When former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed failed to show up at an Atlanta fundraiser he’d helped organize for John McCain, he was doing the senator a favor. McCain knows all about Reed’s role in the theft of $88 million from six Indian tribes between 2000 and 2002. Both men know […]

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