McCain works the conservative crowd

Stephen Hayes watched the crowd at CPAC while John McCain made his pitch to conservative Republicans.  One thing Hayes noticed was that the crowd was on McCain's side when he went after the Democrats.

Aside from a couple small pockets of boos, McCain got a more than polite applause from the crowd. And one of the interesting things to watch, from my vantage point in the second row, was the handful of anti-McCain attendees who gradually warmed up to him--or at least his message today--as the speech went on. A pair of ladies one row behind me sat on their hands when McCain was introduced and shouted at him a couple times near the beginning of the speech. But they both applauded enthusiastically when he mentioned FISA reform--something that energized the entire crowd because McCain went after Democrats.

McCain has all but wrapped up the Republican nomination on the strength of his position on Iraq and the war on terror, and he has proven himself willing to go after the Democrats on theirs.  Recall his recent straight talk to the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

John McCain sits across the table from the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, fielding questions on everything from taxes to torture to terror. He's asked what surprised him the most about the behavior House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with regard to Iraq. His answer -- "their lack of patriotism" -- is of the characteristically impolitic kind that often defines his personality.

It ought to be an interesting election year.