Just heard Anna Marie Cox who is the Editor of Radar Washington and was there when McCain chastised the crowd about being respectful. She said that for the first time in a long time she saw the same McCain she saw back in 2007 when he would fire back at the crazies who talked about the secret NAFTA highway and the open borders and the evil wetbacks when he would remind them that we are all god's children. She said that it was good to have that McCain back.
There have been somewhat similar situations when someone in the crowd or on stage would say something off the chain about McCain and Obama would remind the crowd that McCain is a good and decent man. You didn't get booing from the crowd when he defended McCain .. in fact, sometimes you got applause.
Unfortunately, McCain isn't back, nor can he be. The maverick McCain is not what his base wants to see. They want him to attack Obama with everything he's got. They want him to shout "William Ayers, William Ayers, WILLIAM AYERS" at the top of his lungs.
Simply put, that's who the republicans are. There is no democratic equivelent of Karl Rove. Republicans like the kind of bullshit he produces .. but an ever-growing majority of Americans do not.
Irrespective of judging the whole from a subset .. which is what polls do .. there is a certain characteristic about republicans that doom them .. and again, they will pay the price this coming November in a democratic psunami of the White House and Congress.
That characteristic is their inability to adapt to change or even the dynamic nature of life. They are stuck hundreds of years in the past when white males dominated everything. They are stuck in a belief that they can simply force their will on the world .. because they are "entitled" to do so. They believe you go forward by looking backwards.
With their feet planted firmly in the past, the future will overwhelm them.