By Jim Baron

A bunch of random, bite-sized thoughts in a fast-moving news cycle 

n John McCain is a hypocrite.
Let me be emphatic: John McCain is a damned hypocrite.
All this guff about how he is a “maverick” and “his own man” may have been true once but now it is a lot of hooey.
Remember when Maverick John McCain denounced the likes of Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell as “agents of intolerance,” back in 2000? “The political tactics of division and slander are not our values, they are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country,” he said at the time.
Where was that guy this election? He was busy sucking up to the religious right, that’s where.
John McCain is a good man who loves his country but his lust for the Oval Office has overcome his good sense, judgment and even his decency. He has sold his principles, he has sold his soul and he has sold down the river anybody or anything he thought he had to in order to win the White House in one of the most brazen acts of political prostitution since George H.W. Bush renounced his pride and signed on as Ronald Reagan’s running mate. On issue after issue the too-eager-to-please McCain has whored himself out to the Republican “base.” (Good word for it.) Maverick my backside.
Who made John McCain a contender for President of the United States? Who ballyhooed the Straight Talk Express and put out all that stuff about McCain as a go-his-own-way, buck-the-establishment kind of guy?
The answer, of course, is the media. If it weren’t for the media, McCain would be an obscure Sun Belt senator who the country as a whole wouldn’t give a thought to, never mind elect as its president.
But all week McCain stood by and condoned it as one angry, snarling, sarcastic speaker after another – including his pick for vice president – took the stage and spewed vicious vitriol about the “liberal media” or the “mainstream media” to the howling delight of the crowd. He didn’t have the guts or the principles to do anything but watch and smile that creepy smile of his as the media was thrown under the wheels of the Straight Talk Express bus by the zealots on the right wing fringes of the party he is supposed to be so eager to stand up to.
He should be ashamed of himself.

n Speaking of McCain, is he mounting a political campaign or going to war?
That was a real St. Crispin’s Day speech he gave at the Republican National Convention Thursday, at least the end of it.
What more visceral a rallying cry is there than “Fight with me”?
Here is how he finished his speech:
“Fight with me. Fight with me.
“Fight for what’s right for our country. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people. Fight for our children’s future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all. Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America. Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. “We’re Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.”
You’ve got to admit, that is inspiring stuff, although the bit about nothing being inevitable and never giving up seem to hint that even McCain knows he is up against long odds.

n But the speech that wowed the socks off the delegates was delivered by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. No rookie jitters there; you would never have thought that was her first presentation to a national, in fact world-wide audience in the high-pressure role of being a dark horse vice presidential nominee.
The lady has class, poise, grit and nerve, which may or may not balance off a thin resume, especially but not exclusively on foreign policy/military issues, in the minds of the electorate.
She delivered a great speech, but has yet to be really tested, such as by answering the tough, complex or snarky questions that would come during a full-blown news conference (which she still hadn’t done when this was written Friday afternoon).
Because she is such an out-of-nowhere unknown, and because McCain is 72-years-old and has had several bouts of cancer, Palin has to prove herself to be presidential – not merely vice-presidential.
Palin has to assure voters that when the Secret Service bursts through her office door and says, “Ma’am, something has happened to President McCain; please come with us,” the United States will have a president who is ready to fully capable of leading the world’s only superpower at a dangerous and unsettled time.

n The best line I heard from any commentator on any station about either of the party conventions came from Republican state Rep. John Loughlin on Channel 36’s “A Lively Experiment”: “You were more likely to see Lon Chaney than Dick Cheney” at the GOP National convention, Loughlin said.

n Between the Olympics and the two presidential nominating conventions, I have logged more time in front of the TV in the past four weeks than I even want to think about.

n About the shouting, chanting, sign-holding peanut gallery behind the MSNBC desk outside the convention hall: Yes, I realize they are nuts – the 9/11 conspiracy theorists particularly. And, yes, I often find them annoying. But anytime that many elected officials and other important folk gather in one place, they should have the voice of the people shoved in their faces, and that means the whackos, too. (And it doesn’t hurt to have a mob standing behind media types reminding us to “Do your job.”) Forget those fenced-in “free speech zones” far away from the action that the people being spoken to can easily ignore or avoid altogether. Those will go down with Abu Ghraib, and the Katrina wreckage as foul, disgraceful mementos of the Bush legacy. Protesters like that should get space inside the convention halls and at other big political events to ensure their voices will be heard by those in power. The entire United States of America is supposed to be a free-speech zone.

n Watching Bill Clinton speak at the Democratic convention, I was thinking that we used to think of high elected officials as great men, and after they left office we revered them as elder statesmen, and looked to them to provide the perspective and wisdom to help handle the problems of the present. Now our politicians are more like celebrities, and like celebrities they have a shorter shelf life and are more easily disposable. Nobody is going to care what Paris Hilton thinks 10 years from now, either.

n After McCain went over the top in the GOP roll call Thursday night, CNN put one of those annoying boxes at the bottom of the screen with McCain’s picture and the message “Officially Wins Democratic Nomination.”