I feel bad for John McCain

I am by no means the first to express this, but I get depressed every time I look at the news. I had sincere admiration for the man for a very long time. This spring, I remember saying to several people that I would feel perfectly comfortable voting for him if he got the GOP nomination. When it became clear that Obama and McCain were going to be the contestants on our most important reality show, I thought I would have a very hard time choosing who to vote for.

I was wrong.

I can’t say that I am 100% behind Obama. I see a lot of promise, but I don’t know how much substance I see yet. Still, there’s no question that he’s going to get my vote (absentee, as I don’t trust Diebold) in November.

I had never heard of Sarah Palin before the news broke of her selection. My first response was, “but everyone in Alaska politics is dirty. Why we he choose her?” She does not appear to have the judgment that we require from a leader, and John McCain clearly doesn’t have it for having chosen her.

I have a hard time believing that McCain’s motives and actions in the second half of this week have been as bad as many of the pundits I have read suggest, but it’s been mighty awful. My friend Scooter suggests that this is the behavior of an alcoholic. While I think that is a bit of an exaggeration, I can’t refute it, and it is as good an explanation for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as any other.

Now, after spending two days running around screaming about how he had to save the process, he is headed to the debate. He couldn’t even find time for David Letterman, so I’m sure he hasn’t had any time to prepare for the debate. I am far more interested in tonight’s debate than I was a week ago, but my curiosity is far more morbid.