A blog about television by TIME’s TV critic James Poniewozik.

The Other Republican Nominee (Remember Him?) Speaks

At times this week, the aftermath of Election 2008 has seemed like a bronze-medal round in the Olympics: having lost the gold, the Palin side and the McCain side of the Republican ticket has squared off in the media postmortems, each to assign the other the greater share of blame for the loss. Sarah Palin, who has a political future to think of, has aggressively defended herself in a blitz of interviews—with Greta Van Susteren and Matt Lauer, to be followed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Larry King today. 

John McCain appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, but he declined to be drawn in to the blame game, despite an open invitation from Leno, who asked point-blank whether Palin hurt the ticket: "If there's one thing I think Americans don't want," he said, "it's a sore loser." Of course, McCain doesn't have a future run to think about, so he has more incentive to stay above the fray. (Also, though pointing fingers at Palin may protect the reputation of campaign staffers who want to avoid blame for the loss, it doesn't help much if you're the guy who actually chose her.)

It may be left to McCain's biographers to determine what he really thought of Palin, though reading between the lines, both candidates have been offering each other praise that's been warm and faint at the same time. (He, "I'm so proud of her," and she, "Bless his heart!"—as if they were talking about a talented child and a beloved grandpa, respectively.) And as long as we're reading tea leaves, he did let slip a Neiman-Marcus joke. 

But on the surface, McCain was all good humor and honor, much as he was in his exceptionally gracious, cathartic concession speech. He even declined to blame the media for his loss, even though it has to be annoying to be told—as Leno said to McCain—that you were facing "a historical movement," as if it were your right and honorable place to lose an election for an office to which you genuinely believe you were better suited.

And yet McCain's personal traits—self-deprecation, refusal to point fingers—do make him well-suited to the role of the honorable runner-up. Regardless of who was better equipped to be President, from a late-night-couch standpoint, McCain has proved exceptionally well equipped to be the guy who almost got to be President.

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  • 1

    John McCain is and always will be one of my favorite people. I didn't vote for him, but he has my heart.

  • 2

    Write this down. McCain was never a good candidate, Palin in a month or so will be in the past. for her to think she is qualified to run for the Presidency is an absolute joke. She will not even be re-elected Governor now that her party and the Democrat's know more about her. She reminds me of a girl friend that was very attractive, i mated her and went right back to the ball game!

  • 3

    It's a pity the McCain of 2000 didn't rock up for the campaign, but it seems he's back again.

  • 4

    @James: "And as long as we're reading tea leaves, he did let slip a Neiman-Marcus joke."
    .
    Speaking of Neiman-Marcus jokes, my favorite that I've heard so far is from TWOP's recap of last Thursday's Supernatural episode:
    .
    "She takes the towel off her head and throws it across the room. It lands, not on the floor, but on Malachi's still invisible head. In the mirror, she catches sight of her towel taking on a head shape and hanging (apparently) in mid-air. The woman turns to face her invisible stalker. He lets out a shaky, "Um, hello Mrs. Armstrong," . . .Armstrong lets out the kind of scream not heard since the RNC got the bill from Saks and Neiman Marcus."
    .
    http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/supernatural/wishful_thinking_1.php?page=1

  • 5

    @gwazdos: "i mated her and went right back to the ball game"?
    .
    I'm not even going to pretend to unpack or interpret that comment.

  • 6

    Why are you picking only those couple of phrases to describe what McCain said about Sarah Palin?

    He strongly defended her and pointed her qualifications!

    Do you really think nobody watched the show last night (highest rated for Leno since last year) and don't you realize that most of the commenters here didn't watch or are pretending they didn't?

    Maybe you won't believe this, but I'm writing this from THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, and I just subscribed to this site to say this. It's been and incredible eye-opener this American election, I watched from my little island in disbelieve the bias of the media throughout the whole process, ME, who like many other Latin American citizens have always perceived the Democrats and their followers as the benevolent, open-minded people, and the Republicans almost as the "evil, prejudiced ones".

    I watched really thoughtfully for the first time this American election through the American broadcast, cable and printed news (it was specially important for us Latinos abroad), and slowly I realized WHAT I WAS SEEING (since the Clinton-Obama campaigns) and I was taken aback. I have accepted such things here, in our countries, but I didn't expect it from the American press (or has it always been like this?). I read entertainment sites because of the TV shows, but I saw how the campaign and the lack of objectivity most writers/TV journalists poured through. You were more careful, though, because I just only confirmed in the last few days your own predisposition, now that you're more open because “you won”.

    So sad, really, it's so sad for me. I guess I'll have to accept it and continue watching comments like this insisting on perpetuating the cartoonist image you created for mass consumption and marginalization of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton for the next four years (or more), even entertainment sites. And the on-going ignoring her or dismissing of her arguments against things said about her.

    I hope this message lives for a few hours… should I be afraid? I guess I have to.

    I hope this next years my believe that real, open race and gender discussion don't disappear under the PC press and ordinary American people discourse I'm perceiving, from so far away.

    If I were a religious person, I would be praying really hard for women (me included). I'm so sad and disturbed.

  • 7

    Would you consider posting on my blog? Thanks.

    http://thenewrepublicans.net

  • 8

    To: newrepublican: Absolutely yes. Keeping myself in check - after all, I'm not an American citizen - I would be interested in visiting your blog. Thank you very much for the invitation.

    Carmen Leda

  • 9

    "You were more careful, though, because I just only confirmed in the last few days your own predisposition, now that you're more open because “you won”."

    I'm totally with Ms. Leda on this one, James. If there's one thing that you could have done to improve your coverage, it would have been to mention in a more open fashion that you supported Obama before his victory. Perhaps every other sentence in your blog could have been used to state your preference? Or, if that was too much, perhaps you could have run "I support Obama" banners between every paragraph. You know, something subtle. Please keep this in mind for the next election cycle.

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