The Real McCain

Andrew Sullivan posted a reader email this morning that caught my attention on McCain's speech. I have been hearing quite a bit lately about candidate McCain and the 'real' John McCain. But here's the thing, there is only one man. If your coworker stabs you in the back to get a promotion at your expense you don't say "well that was just career Joe, the real Joe would never do that" and keep telling everyone else what a great guy he is. You may not punch him out or start swearing in the middle of the office, but I would hope you might stop covering for his shenanegans.



The other thing is that the 'real' John McCain isn't some psion of private virtue and character. When he got back from Vietnam the first thing he did was write a long piece on his experience for US News. All those quotes we kept hearing about the impact of being a POW on him from commentators last night were from the THREE auto biographies he has written over the years. We should not minimize the heroic ordeal he - and dozens of other Americans - endured as POWs, and he has every right to publicize his experience and its impact on him. But stop telling me how much he hates broadcasting it.



I would also add that a life of virtue is not a single point or event. Chris Matthews last night kept proclaiming that he had 'divorced' his party last night. When he got back from Vietnam and learned his beauty queen wife had been in a car accident and had been raising their children alone after suffering major (and some permanent) injuries, hoping and waiting for his return to them, he cheated on her and ultimately married Cindy before the paper work was even finished. If he is elected and his ratings are too low will he divorce us?