The last part of this was a telling segment... McCain expressing the (once-thought common-sense) idea that the wealthy should pay higher taxes because they can afford it. Unstated, but part of the argument: 1) they have benefited most from the health of our society and can pay back into it; 2) they have a *duty* to pay back into it, as patriotic citizens.

Now, of course, McCain has been totally compromised by the Republican Party agenda, and calls his opponent a socialist.

This is too bad for McCain's legacy. Before the election, he was always considered as a guy who had a fair amount of integrity among a species that notably lacked it (politicians). As a left-of-center moderate, I rarely agreed with his views, but I generally respected the man. But that is not the man who appointed Palin as VP.

As is so often the case in elections, McCain's advisors and his party eradicated everything that was appealing about him. This happened to Gore (a geeky technophile with a dry, self-deprecating wit), and it happened to Dole (a bi-partisan pragmatist with a cranky, biting wit)-- two fairly recent examples.

I'm glad because I'm for Obama, but I'm sad for McCain -- hope he'll serve longer as a Senator so he has a chance to redeem his historic legacy. He had something approximating a soul, for a politician, before he fully sold out to the GOP.