So I thought, watching maybe half of it yesterday. Now in WSJ Political Diary, John Fund reports it was a hit with a surprising variety of big wigs:
“It was a great speech, with a perfect tonal pitch,” said Don Devine, a former Reagan administration official who is normally a dour pessimist when it comes to GOP electoral chances. “I think he could beat Hillary.” Ken Blackwell, a former GOP candidate for governor from Ohio, called the speech “the start of a great conversation with conservatives and much better than I expected.”
Even Tom DeLay, the former House Majority Leader who has clashed often with the Arizona senator in the past, grudgingly acknowledged that he might bring himself to vote for Mr. McCain in the fall — a major concession from someone who has publicly stated that the party’s new presumptive nominee has been “the most destructive force against [the GOP] of any elected official I know.”
It was “a thundering speech,” said Fund. Ditto at this end. Wow, in fact. I heard him introduce his supporters in Boston on Monday and saw an accomplished speaker and in this case m.c. at work. And substance:
“He said all the right things, and if he now delivers, we have a chance to unite the movement,” concluded Richard Viguerie, a conservative who spent much of the last few months denouncing most of the GOP field for apostasy.
It’s enough to get a guy interested.
Blithe Spirit 
And then he will betray us, one issue at a time. He signed the stimulus package today aftersaying he would vote against taxes while talking to the conservatives.
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Well, I hope it isn’t just good speaking skills. I have been disheartened to see everyone I might have wanted for president drop out of the race. I still don’t really trust him, but I suppose political pressure can keep him moving in the right direction. But I’m still going to be focusing most of energy on electing good people to Congress.
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Margaret and Cynthia are both right. McCain’ll give us the shaft, and it’s impiortant to focus on Congress, in order to handcuff whoever gets elected. For some reason, it seems that no one gets to rise to the level of commander-in-chief these days who isn’t a traitor. I don’t know who I’m voting for, but I’m sure as hell not voting for either of the two big party candidates. The returns from lesser evilism have diminished to the point of zero.
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