John McCain confronts the right-wing mob (elderly white people version)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

John McCain has been part of the problem this year, backing up ex-running mate Sarah Palin on the "death panel" lie, and he hasn't been nearly as independent, and not nearly as much of a renegade maverick, as his phony, self-made image would have had us believe.

Give him credit, though, for not being completely insane.

At a town hall in Arizona yesterday, McCain actually came to Obama's defence, as well as to the defence of rational political discourse (a foreign concept to the irrational mob), stating that Obama "respects the Constitution of the United States." The mob booed, of course, but McCain stood firm: There is a "fundamental difference in philosophy and about the role of government." "I am convinced the president is absolutely sincere in his beliefs," he added, to yet more boos, and worse. "He is the president of the United States and let's be respectful."

That's not support for Obama, to be sure, but it's something, and at least McCain made sure to distance himself from the insanitarium his party has become, not least the base that has been mobilized by the party elites to try to defeat health-care reform.

Here's a short clip, my friends: