Goodbye to "Morning in America"

I admit I muted out the sound on John McCain’s Wisconsin “victory” speech when he started climbing on Obama, although I do find fragments of what I was trying to get away from here:

I will do everything in my power to make sure the American people are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change.

...he said, eloquently, if somewhat emptily. And Obama is a “no more than a holiday from history and failed policies that rely on government intervention in the lives of Americans."

No, no, it’s not that I’m that nuts about Obama. He’s an attractive guy in his way but I think he’s make a deeply flawed president (but so would all the other contenders in the race, so where does that get you). And I recognize that Obama’s a big boy. And that politics ain’t beanbag.

My real point is elsewhere. Meaning: is this really the way McCain wants to start his campaign—on a note of bitterness and rancor?

You guess my answer. Thing is, just in general I think McCain’s biggest enemy in this campaign is his age—not the actuality, but the appearance. He’s got a long, tough slog ahead of him, and only the most daring of generals will make a ground invasion of Moscow. Trust me, by the end of the campaign, he is going to look tired. And tired is what he sounds just now.

But apparently it was no accident. Josh Marshall digs up this McCain gem from 2006 (link):

I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics, I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's efforts to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness.

John, John, John—as one who is too much given to snark himself, let me warn you: the voters do not want snark. Oh, they may like it for a day or so. And the folks at The Corner may take it as a regular diet. But most of the voters get tired of that sort of thing. It’s Ronald Reagan you want to imitate, not an unfunny Bob Dole.