By The River

This just in: Republican Sen. John McCain says he'll spend his entire Presidency in a dank, 4x6-foot cell in the White House basement, just like the one where he spent his P.O.W. years in the Hanoi Hilton. "I did my best thinking there," McCain said. "There's nothing like a good beating to make you think like a Republican."

That's not true, of course, but it might as well be. Enough already. McCain's biographical film last night at the Republican National Convention, his acceptance speech, and just about every other thing said about him during the convention was heavy on the P.O.W., light on specifics of what he would do to get the country out of the mess it has been left in by George W. Bush, who wasn't mentioned by name in the speech. Laura Bush was, but not George W. Neither was abortion.

McCain touted the same economic plan that has been on his website since at least last April. He mentioned once again his plan to "change" unemployment compensation. He gave no details, but you can be sure conservative Republicans don't like the idea of you sitting around and dreaming of getting your old job back. They want to "retrain" you for something else. If you live in a small town with few opportunities, does that mean you "retrain" for McDonald's? Or move halfway across the country? Or lose your benefits if you refuse? He doesn't say. This strikes me as yet another stealth attempt by the right to eliminate or greatly reduce a tax paid by business, in this case the unemployment compensation tax, just as Bush's failed attempt to "reform" Social Security was at its heart an effort to eliminate or reduce the half of Social Security taxes paid by business.

McCain's speech struck me as almost as a valedictory, a summing up of a career more than a serious call to action. He looked old. A vigorous old, but old. With the Church Lady by his side, he will set out for one last joust against the windmill.