Our Lady of the Magic Dolphins says that John McCain has "stature" that the other GOP prezitnential contenders lack:
You can agree or disagree with Mr. McCain, but where he stands is clear--and clarity these days, from our candidates, feels like a gift. As does certitude. He isn't running from the war but owning it. A political rival might say, "He has no choice." But there's always a choice.
My larger point, however, is that he sounded like a serious man addressing a serious issue in a serious way. This makes him at the moment stand out.
Oh. OK... I'm sure glad Peggy Noonan is around to clear this up, because I was under the impression (along with the rest of the country) that McCain was kinda looking like a total clown nowadays. Of course, Noonan's standards for "dignity" seem a bit, er, lax: "It all might have started in 1968, when Richard Nixon went on "Laugh-In" and said, "Sock it to me." But that worked because he had actual personal dignity to spoof."
I suppose though that it is a devastating comment on the GOP field that only McCain recalls the immense personal dignity of Richard Frickin' Nixon...
