Let McCain be McCain?

Peggy Noonan, who has been certifiably senile for years now, attempts to capture the lighthearted wit of John McCain in her bizarre commentary this weekend in the WSJ. Her column, entitled "Let McCain Be McCain", is ostensibly organized around the idea that certain forces in the McCain campaign are keeping him too reigned in, holding him back, and in doing so, hurting McCain's chances because the real John doesn't come out. Peggy wants us to understand that McCain's real personality is funny, mischievous, witty and lovable. As an example of the real McCain, she tells us

The most interesting thing about Mr. McCain has always been the delight he takes in a certain unblinkered candor. There is also the antic part of his nature, his natural wit, his tropism toward comedy. All this was captured wonderfully by Mark Leibovich last February in the New York Times. Mr. McCain had taken the lead in the primaries and had gone from being "one of the most disruptive forces in his party" to someone playing it safe. In an airplane interview he said things like, "There is a process in place that will formalize the methodology." Then he couldn't help it, he became McCain:

"[He] volunteered that Brooke Buchanan, his spokeswoman who was seated nearby and rolling her eyes, 'has a lot of her money hidden in the Cayman Islands' and that she earned it by 'dealing drugs.' Previously, Mr. McCain had identified Ms. Buchanan as 'Pat Buchanan's illegitimate daughter,' 'bipolar,' 'a drunk,' 'someone with a lot of boyfriends,' and 'just out of Betty Ford.'"

Wow. I may be a bit old fashioned, but lovable and witty don't seem to describe that little bit of charm. That seems to veer a bit towards the insanely nasty, disjointed and vicious ramblings of an addled old man. Sounds like old Johnny may be a bit off his meds, actually. McCain's reputation as a cranky and hot tempered senior citizen has been well documented, and I'm sure that the McCain campaign knows a bit better than Peggy why they need to keep gramps under wraps.