A weblog on Alaska politics, and other musings, ramblings, and vagaries.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

I'm a bit behind the news cycle on this, but what struck me in watching McCain's ">performance in Pennsylvania (as he stumbled all over himself trying to tar Obama by association with John Murtha's "racist" comments) was not so much his Bush-like dyslogia as the moment before. He described Murtha's comments and then paused, with that odd and uncomfortable-looking smile frozen on his face, to soak in the crowd's reaction. And what he got was precisely what his campaign has been aiming for - a chorus of loud and angry jeers, that went on for a disturbingly long time. That to me will be the signature image of McCain 2008: stoking the fires of division and basking in their angry glow ….