John McCain On Jay Leno: The Redemption Continues

Posted at 10:25 AM Nov 12, 2008

By Kenny Herzog

Yes, the title of this post looks like its teasing the most terrifying porn film ever made, let alone a sequel. But as NCDSUV readers know, we, like much of the nation developed a post-concession spot for John McCain that was softer than the flesh beneath his elbow. And after his appearance on The Tonight Show on Tuesday night, we are merely marveling at the brilliant PR coup that is the once-disgraced Presidential nominee's redemption.

Immediately telling Jay Leno that since the election he's been "sleeping like a baby: Sleep two hours, wake up and cry, sleep two hours, wake up and cry," McCain engaged in an odd mixture of canned quips and unrehearsed mutterings. Sometimes, the two even collided in a moment of pure septugenarian bliss, like when he responded to Leno's questions about Palin by retorting back, "Did you expect mavericks to stay on message?" but then trailing off into a near, non-coy admission that his VP candidate needed a bit more media training.

But for the most part, the Arizona senator was lucid, amusing and humble. His performance served as a surreal reminder that nowhere like on a campaign trail is all the world truly a stage, and in one instance brilliantly reinforced just how many players there are in political theater. Urging America to take gossip about Palin's stupidity with a grain of salt, he reminded Leno that he has "a thousand advisers," laughing off the notion of news networks sourcing a "top" one.

Sure, we were mostly excited about Mr. Cindy's appearance because it gave us one last chance to milk the election for pop cultural fodder, and to include Barack Obama in our story tags for no reason. But it was also a fascinating bit of post-closure closure on the last several months. And it reinforced the oh-so-21st century idea that anything which commands the national zeitgeist for that long isn't formally concluded until its final bow is offered before the satisfied applause of a live studio audience.