The John McCain the nation fell in love with pre-New Hampshire is the straight-talkin’, earnest guy who had no chance of winning. Now that he’s a front-runner he’s irritating as hell. Just watch some of the video of that debate tonight and you’ll see a very unlikable person sitting next to Mitt Romney. Unlikable and, yes, dishonest in his lying about Romney’s “timetables.”
Something happens to McCain when he’s in a position of strength. I don’t know what it is, psychologically, that makes him this way, but that’s not a good thing for a person who wants to be the most powerful person in the world. I’m tending to agree with Bryan at HotAir.com:
I’m now in the position of having come around to like Romney. He’s decent, smart and fair and I think he would make a fine president. And I dislike McCain all over again. He’s a smarmy beltway insider who just lied to everyone who was watching while he smeared a good man, flipped on his own awful legislation and belittled free enterprise. This man wants to lead the party of Reagan?
UPDATE: Paul Mirengoff at Power Line has some of the same feelings:
I hope (and not just in this respect) that the real McCain is the fellow I met on the Straight Talk Express in November, not the guy who has been on display lately.
I’m telling you, McCain can’t seem to handle success.
