Ninety minutes ago, John McCain stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the man whose Svengali called his Bangla-American daughter Bridget a black bastard child, and accepted his endorsement for the presidency. His daughter must be wondering why her dad embraces the man who hates her for being ‘black.’ Awkward.

… Karl Rove… spent time [with McCain] during the 2004 campaign when, Mr. Rove told associates, they drew close. Mr. Rove gave Mr. McCain a pair of antique Theodore Roosevelt presidential cufflinks at the end… [NYT ‘06]

Dubya was ebullient and oblivious as usual; McCain was restrained and formal and seemed to be gritting his teeth. The president apparently inhabits such an opiatic bubble (’our great success in Iraq,’ ‘my good friend John McCain’) that onlookers were reduced to counting truths instead of enumerating lies.

To their credit, the press spent most of their time wondering aloud why McCain would hitch himself to Dubya given how unpopular the president is. The one striking truth of the Q&A: Dubya said, ‘I’ll campaign for him if he wants, I’ll say I’m against him if it helps. I just want him to win.’ Bare naked power untrammelled by principle — now that was some powerful truth.

Related posts: Abu Lincoln, Youth without youth, Junior McCain