This may account for the hatred many conservatives feel towards John McCain. His 82% ACU rating is beside the point. It's not issues; it's attitude. That McCain has this flippant attitude that there are things more important than politics, that he can jovially, almost dismissively, laugh off differences that people think ought to be worth dying over, this is seen as deeply offensive. They seem to interpret him as sneering at them, even radiating contempt. It would not surprise me that even if he agreed with them, that would not be enough. Mere agreement would be seen as phony, even condescending. They want hair shirt behavior. Atonement. Groveling. I think this is a conflation of politics and personality traits -- misleadingly labeled "principles." The problem is, McCain sees principles not as involving political positions, but as involving virtues.

You forget to mention that McCain spent 5 years being tortured by the real enemy(as it was at the time). I suspect when he looks across the aisle he see's fellow Americans with a different point of view and not 'the enemy'.

I once worked with an individual who had the temerity to proclaim that she 'hated' politics, this, despite:
1)Not shaving her legs or wearing make because she was a feminist, yadda, yadda, yadda
2)Being a vegetarian (maybe even a vegan, but I'm not sure) for 'moral' reasons, yadda, yadda, yadda
3)Pointedly not buying anything from Starbucks because they were an evil corporation or something, yadda, yadda, yadda
4)Repeatedly attending some protest at Ft Benning, GA against 'the school of the Americas' or whatever its called now.
5)Lecturing people on 'social justice' and other 'progressive' subjects.

Now none of this is necessarily bad, but when she said she hated politics, I simply had to challenge that statement, as she was basically the most political person I'd ever met. She actually took it better than I thought she would.

Hmm. I dunno. Your lifestyle really does reflect your principles.

You can, you know, be heterosexual, monogamous, red-meat-eating, bear-all-your-kids-to-term All-American WASP and still hold positions that gays should be left alone, free sex is fine, vegetarianism is healthy and pro-choice. That is because you can very well hold these as intellectual positions, and we can rationally argue about them. Don't get me wrong, you can be all serious about these positions - all to the better.

But most people do not hold them like that. As you point out, there is an emotional, extra-rational component to 'positions' which we call principles, and your actions will bear out those principles.

At the end of the day, what is politics? Is it what you define it? What I define it? I suspect you would view my thoughts on government drug regulation (I'm all for it, death penalty and all, but also a rigourous and fair due process, which is not necessarily true, so some compromise is in order) as political, even though I don't think so myself. Similarly, many people think abortion stances are political. I see it as a moral issue.

I am not an American, right? So my stake in your political system is not very great. Nevertheless, I can see why people would vote McCain, and why people would NOT vote McCain. I daresay if it impacted my life more, I would care more - as it is, I'm quite happily agnostic to the whole affair.

I bet if McCain, in the name of the virtues you speak off, decided that more government interference (excuse me, intervention) was necessary, libertarians everywhere would be up in arms. Literally, in some cases, I don't doubt. Tell me, is this conflation?

But on the point you are trying to make (so it seems to me) - that individuals can be professional adversaries and remain personal friends - I agree with.

I don't know about you, but the phrase "love bursts" makes me want to jump into the shower and scrub myself all over with a Brillo pad.

McCain has this flippant attitude that there are things more important than politics

Yes - politicians.

And he does radiate contempt for anyone who's not one, or some other such "servant." For that I find him far more contemptible than any always-on-duty lifestyle partisan.

Always-on conservatives misinterpret the hatred they feel coming from him. Their philosophy conflicts with his differently than they understand. He takes suspicion of government as a personal affront.

L'etat, c'est him. And all his friends.

Look. There is no way I'm getting down with Hillary. Bill's rejects maybe. Hillary - definitely no. Let me modify that a little. She is in chains and I have a full compliment of whips. Horse whips.

Tell me about it... I work at a church - one of the denominations that's so over-the-top "tolerant" that they seem to pray - in unison - from I'm OK, You're OK. While there are (I understand) some Republicans in the congregation, every person in the office from the reverend to the parish secretary (and probably the sexton, though he doesn't talk politics) is rabidly Democrat of the "Bush is a war criminal" stripe, and at the adult discussion period after church, lovely comments surface weekly about how if Jesus returned today, indubitably he'd be a socialist, or maybe a communist, because after all they care for the poor. Unlike all Republicans. Oh, and those southern fundamentalists, who are probably also war criminals.

I get so frustrated - with myself, that is - for my impulse immediately to spring to the defense of fundamentalists, with whom I have little truck. But when the freakin' sermon refers to fundamentalist churches as the "nursery" of Christianity and the "mainstream churches" as the "finishing school" of same, well, I'm a little overwhelmed by the chutzpah. Somehow, though, that attitude counts as ecumenism...