McCain vainly tries to deflect and counter his republican constituency's assholery

[Bucky]

9. Having trained their electorate to hate and encouged their hatreds, they can't switch 'em off

This is why it was never wise to play race for votes. It was always evil, but for those not uncomfortable with using wickedness for getting elected, it's a tactic that eventually comes around to bite you in the ass. What's setting McCain up for failure here, of course, is not his innate decency beneath the facade of a pandering politician. It was his original love of votes. That love of votes drove him and his party to grasp the low hanging fruit of racial resentment and it's spin-off product of cultural insularity. Now that the next generation of desireable votes is going to be browner, he's having a tough time telling his constituents "Hey, go easy on the simmering paranoia about The Other, kids. We don't want to be too extreme about this. Heh-heh."

Good luck with that, Senator. But next time you go sailing on Lake Hatred, you might want to plan ahead for when the winds change.