MY BIG FAT WINGNUT WEDDING

Yesterday, Petulant at Shakesville quoted this Chris Matthews pronouncement:

"...When you see the picture together of John McCain, who is an older man, but he is a kind of Audie Murphy hero image and this obviously attractive woman much younger than him, it's like they are offering themselves up as a kind of a political couple, almost like Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, Senator... President and Senator Clin... They are offering themselves, it's a fascinating tableaux.... are they offering themselves up to run as an alternative to Barack and Michelle Obama to go to the White House? I am telling you. Politically speaking. This picture is appealing to traditional Americans. They go, yeah that's a nice traditional formal, we've seen that picture before."

I don't even want to get into Matthews's assumption that America somehow craves an alternative to (gasp!) two black people who have actually embraced each other. I just don't buy that McCain and Palin are being read as some sort of substitute couple in that sense. (Especially a substitute for the Obamas, whom we hardly ever see together anyway.)

Meanwhile, I'm reading that McCain is still drawing big crowds with Palin and lousy crowds without her, so he's planning to do more and more joint appearances with her. He's nothing without her.

This is why I can't quite buy that McCain and Palin are a substitute for a married couple. They don't seem to be on the same plane at all; Palin is obviously the star of the show and McCain is just along for the ride.

I think it's like a wedding -- a big fat wingnut wedding.

Yeah, everyone knows Dad (McCain) made it possible -- but it's not about him. It's about her. It's her day. (Except, in this case, it's her day every day.) Dad's just some old guy who's watching the ceremony and realizing that it means he's getting kinda old and meaningless.

Or maybe it's not that. Maybe it's this:




Yeah, that's probably it.