Straight Talk Express: Will it veer back centrist tonight?

Will Straight Talk Express Swerve into Ditch Tonight?

By C. Edmund Wright

A few weeks ago, a moribund "Straight Talk Express" took a little veer to the right as the campaign unleashed some brutally funny TV ads featuring Charlton Heston and Paris Hilton and poking fun at the messianic pop celebrity running for President. This was definitely not "reaching across the aisle."

Then came the Civil Forum at Saddleback, where a confident and decidedly more conservative McCain http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/08/who_was_that_mac_goes_right_at.html

took apart Barack Obama with certitide and Reaganesque ideas on taxes, education and healthcare in addition to a strong pro-life stance. He even made fun of his kindred spirit Arnold Schwarzeneggar for not getting up to speed on energy. Frankly, there was nothing McCain said that was in disagreement with President Bush. With yet another rightward lurch, the Maverick was catching up to Obama slowly in the polls and in the bank.

Then last week, Mac outdid himself with a Veep pick that is surely working out to be more brilliant than he could have imagined. The incredible effect on the base and on the entire race is of course unfolding before our eyes. But make no mistake, Sarah Palin is far more conservative than Mac has been for at least 16 years. This was not a "reach across the ailse" move, yet it drew over 37 million veiwers to the convention last night and you know that means 37 million positive impressions. They saw a delightful person explain outside the beltway common sense conservatism brilliantly while poking a lot of fun at liberal ideas and liberal candidates. She did not go to the center, as the Washington pundits have been telling the GOP to do for years. She was in the right lane all night and it was a smash hit.

Which brings us to tonight's speech by McCain and others. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMgoVuKgYKyihk5DAxOQe6VPw5jAD9303DR80.  I see serious landmine possibilities. It's almost enough to make you want another hurricane to blow in quickly. McCain, for all of his reinvention, is still lacking the star quality of Palin and there is some danger simply in having to follow her act.

But more danger lies in the line-up for tonight's speeches and the belief in "the middle" approach taken for years by many who are going to speak. In addition to the McCain of 92 through July of 2008, we have his shameless shill Lindsay Graham. Not only was Graham of the insightful opinion that Joe Lieberman would be the game changing pick, he was front and center on CFR and the "gang of 14."

And then there's Tom Ridge, the fairly accomplished former Governor of Pennsylvania who nontheless brought us strip searches of old ladies, inane questions, many union jobs and a huge bureaucracy as part of Homeland airport security. He is also a reliable social liberal.

Others in the more prominent time slots include Mel Martinez and Bill Frist, neither of whom can be accused of being movement conservatives or dynamic leaders, along with Sam Brownback of Kansas. Brownback, though the most conservative of that group, is not likely to be electrifying.

All of which could leave the night's festivities lacking in the zip that started building with Fred Thompson on Tuesday and reached crescendo last night with Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani all delivering hard hitting, funny and conservative messages and of course capped off by Palin's speech.

A straight talk express swevrve to the center would be very typical of McCain's political instincts for some 16 years. No doubt there are some in his camp advocating this. If he listens to them, there will be a palpable thud shortly before midnight tonight. And Keith Olbermann will be smiling again.