Both McCain and Bush believe that they are old fashioned Gentlemen. That is not a matter of policy. I’m sure there are Democrats who fit that description, certainly there used to be. It is not a matter simply of how a man behaves so much as how he believes he behaves. In other words it is how he believes his Father thinks he behaves. It is the code of Prescott Bush and Admiral McCain. They would be kind to women and children, they would pay a ten cent debt immediately, they would always make a guest feel welcome, they would kill you in a heart beat if they felt it was necessary. They were dinosaurs by current standards. Sometimes such men were committed to inclusion and tolerance and sometimes they were bigots but they all understood that code. The most important point in it is you do not tell a personal lie. That may get murky when it is a question in politics of whether Mr A is backing Mr B’s bill. Bush felt Linda Chavez had been economical with the truth to him and therefore she is out of his administration, no matter how much she agrees with the White House on policy. McCain is not a man I would want to promise things to and then forget.

McCain believes that he did not select Palin primarily because of her sex. He is no fool, he knows and welcomes the idea of exploiting the Hillary vs Obama politics. What he said was that he first was attracted to the idea of elevating Palin when he saw how she challenged corrupt Republicans in Alaska. His first target wasn’t Obama but Ted Stevens. McCain must have contempt for Stevens bordering on rage. He wants that seat to go to the Democrats in order to purify the Republican party. We can only hope that McCain can get in and craft a new majority in Congress that will take power away from Reid in the Senate and Pelosi in the House. It is a bold vision and it probably will fail but if it works this will be a different country.