Only his fellow Republicans get that treatment. McCain is banking that personality and character will trump everything else in 2000, and he may be right. Voters do not seem to know or care where McCain stands on the issues. Certainly attacks on his war service or commitment to veterans, as Bush attempted last week, play directly into McCain's hands. And while he is not the sort of Republican many of us would choose, there is something about his popularity that is reassuring.
People still admire virtues like courage, self-sacrifice and patriotism.
They still long for leaders they can admire. A McCain rally is as much a pageant of patriotism as a plea for votes. All of which suggests good things about the voters. It's a shame that the man doesn't more fully embody the virtues they seek. JWR contributor Mona Charen reads all of her mail.