McCain Far Better Than His Idea-Free Campaign: Brooks

It’s a shame the kind of campaign John McCain is running, writes longtime admirer David Brooks in the New York Times. No, not because of dishonest ads (Obama has them, too) or a shift in politics, but because it “has no central argument." McCain has a wonderful record of "judgment, honor, and courage," as a senator, but “without a groundbreaking argument about why he is different, he’s had to rely on tactical gimmicks to stay afloat" as a presidential candidate.

“When people try to tell me that the McCain on the campaign trail is the real McCain and the one who came before was fake, I just say, baloney. I saw him. A half-century of evidence is there.” McCain, moreover, would run “the least partisan administration in recent times.” It’s too bad that the senator’s campaign hasn’t lived up to the senator.
(More John McCain stories.)