After Barack Obama pulled off a stunning upset in formerly red Indiana, my mind turned to Indianapolis native David Letterman and the role he played in the meltdown of John McCain. I was curious to hear what Dave would say in his first monologue after the election. I wondered if Dave would still be bitter from having been stood up by McCain in the middle of the economic crisis. Here's how he greeted the audience yesterday:
"Attention passengers! The Straight Talk Express is no longer in service!
As Dave told Keith Olbermann on that fateful day in September, "The road to the White House comes right through here." "Here" is the studio that Dave notoriously keeps at a cold temperature, a temperature ideal for serving that dish known as REVENGE.
For the video and more great quotes, look below the fold:
Here's Dave:
Here are some quotes for those of you who can't see the video:
Barack Obama is our new President.
I think I speak for most Americans when I say, 'Does anybody mind if he starts a little early?'
And then he calls out McCain for blowing him off in favor of Katie Couric:
I would like to say one thing to Senator John McCain. Listen, Senator, you don't show up for me, America doesn't show up for you.
Ouch.
I guess we will never know exactly how much the no-show impacted the race, but the economic downturn and each candidate's reaction to it seemed to play a pivotal role. (They were neck and neck in the polls before the crisis started, and Obama pulled away as the bailout drama unfolded). Pundits repeatedly referred to McCain's reaction to the crisis as "erratic" and Obama's reaction as "cool". Saying the fundamentals of the economy are strong at 9 am in Jacksonville only to say that we were in a crisis 2 hours later in Orlando certainly played a huge part. The announcement of the suspension of his campaign and threat to not attend the debate later that week was another bizarre move, one that indicated an inability to multi-task and a tendency to make rash decisions.
But the Letterman debacle was at the heart of it all, and more than anything else it may have had a big impact on low-info voters. And it seemed to encapsulate all of the problems with the McCain campaign:
- Sarah Palin. News of Caribou Barbie's disastrous interview with Katie Couric was killing McCain, and he (or his campaign) seemed to think they needed to meet with Katie ASAP to do damage control.
- Lying. Americans are sick of it. And as much as we don't like being lied to we really don't appreciate it when you lie to somebody we admire.
- It was a dick move. The moment when Dave and Keith cut to the image of McCain sitting in that chair getting makeup applied you could hear a collective gasp come from the crowd. Everybody has been stood up or blown off for somebody cooler or more important before, and all of Dave's fans could empathize. That was no way to treat somebody, especially somebody who has been good to you for all of these years (McCain announced his campaign on Dave's show, they used to have a good relationship). Obama has shown repeatedly through his interactions with people on the campaign trail and his unwillingness to make negative personal attack ads, that he is truly a compassionate man who cares about other people.
Back to the monologue, Dave makes some jokes about the lopsided nature of the results, Joe the plumber [I no longer feel obliged to capitalize the 'p' in plumber, thank you very much] & Sarah Palin.
And for my money this is the coup de grace, an absolutely on the money explanation of why McCain lost the race:
Did you see the concession speech last night? Senator McCain was generous, he was gracious, he was statesman-like. And I was thinking, well, he should have tried that earlier.