Great lines from Wolcott

James Wolcott just writes too well -- bet ya can't read just one.
On the possibility of Senate Tom Coburn being McCain's running mate:

That would be Tom 'I favor the death penalty for abortionists' Coburn.
Well, I'd suppose he'd do, given that Dr. Mengele is otherwise indisposed.

and on Republican narcissism:

The sort of hacky quacks whose psychotherapeutic blogs appear at Pajamas Media are always drivelling on about liberal Democrats being afflicted with toxic narcissism (this sort of slop), but you don't know what narcissism in the native raw until you've heard Sean Hannity and Mark Levin crow about their unwavering conservative principles and the record of ringing pronouncements they've made and will continue to make as long as the love of Ronald Wilson Reagan beats in their hearts

and on having friends in New York:

...when I say "our friend," I'm not using "friend" in the generic, all-encompassing borderline hostile manner of John McCain, I'm referring to someone my wife and I actually know and like and recognize on sight, a rarity in the New York, world capital of vague nods.

and on Hillary Clinton

I voted for Hillary.
I have many faults and quirks, but one thing I'm not is a narcissist. My vote isn't about Me. Who I am, how I conceive myself, how my vote positions me in the pulse of the moment. The tab I flip in the voting booth isn't intended as a dramatic gesture to pin in my lapel like a carnation and sniff during intermission, like some Clifton Webb character. I don't accept being lectured or morally browbeaten into voting for one candidate over another in order to prove my virtuous intent and appease Kurt Andersen's peculiar, posturing racial anxieties. Perhaps it's my atheism at work but I found myself increasingly wary of and resistant to the salvational fervor of the Obama campaign, the idealistic zeal divorced from any particular policy or cause and chariot-driven by pure euphoria. I can picture President Hillary in the White House dealing with a recalcitrant Republican faction; I can't picture President Obama in the same role because his summons to history and call to hope seems to transcend legislative maneuvers and horse-trading; his charisma is on a more ethereal plane, and I don't look to politics for transcendence and self-certification.

and on Barak Obama and John McCain

Earlier today MSNBC dug former House majority leader Dick Armey out of a box of cereal . . . The dust bunnies that came out of his mouth seemed as dated as everything else we hear from Newt-era conservatives. First he brushed aside Barack Obama as a willowy lightweight who wants us to all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya." . . . you'd think that even modest exposure to Obama's TV presence would have clued him in to the candidate's tensile strength and counterpunch capability. Republicans who dimly persist in defining Obama as a peace-love poster child are replaying culture-war battles that are as outdated as a Dennis Miller monologue filled with references to OJ and Ward Churchill.
But the most mildewed offering Armey made was his advice on how John McCain should woo the conservatives who loathe him so. He said John needs to come back with some bold initiatives to reclaim the conservative base, such as promoting private accounts in Social Security. . . . in a time of economic distress and stock market turmoil, I can't think of a better way to hari-kari your candidacy than to advocate something George Bush couldn't put over after barnstorming the country when the country wasn't as sick of him as it is now. All that political capital squandered after Bush's reelection, and Armey wants McCain to repeat the same folly.
Thank you, O sage.