Dole never gave the sense that he was really in the race to win the thing.

He constantly exuded an unusual level of humilty. Not a seemly humility, but an excessive one. And excessive humility is not a very desirable attribute for the leader of the free world. America sensed that, sensed that he, himself, didn't think he was equal to the job, and rejected him for it.

I don't know why he ever sought the Republican nomination.

I remember just 6 months ago wondering if McCain would have what it takes to win, would he have a feel for the jugular, would he expose his opponent and go after him. Man did I get that one wrong!

It has been a genuine treat watching McCain effortlessly pulling into Obama's 6 o'clock.

Everyone says it's been Governor Palin that has drawn Conservatives to McCain. And there's a good deal of truth to that. But Conservatives have been heartened watching McCain gash, again and again, that solemn, sacred cow, Barrack Hussein Obama. Conservatives were developing a healthy distaste for the personality cult they saw growing around Obama.

What does your post MEAN?

Steve, I see your point and cut it back. It needed to be much longer and much shorter.

meant much longer or much shorter

It's quite true that McCain was doing pretty well even before Palin was picked. There were several things that heartened informed Republicans in the weeks leading up to the convention, among them his good performance at Saddleback church. I said to myself long before Palin's nomination that McCain and his team appeared to be in this to win. Pray it continues.

Read the phrase "in this to win" as willing to compromise any standard in order to obtain power. Failure to do so is perceived as weakness by the neocons and excessive humility by the religious reich.