The concession and the base

McCain's speech was excellent and his delivery was genuine. It was a truly great moment and showed the McCain that so many had come to admire and respect in the past. I'm glad that he found his old self  again. 

What struck me though was the ugliness of the crowd. McCain and (especially) Palin's ugly, bitter and divisive campaign style have stirred up the ugly underbelly of the GOP. Hopefully the rational conservatives can wrest control of their party back from the Christian Nationalists sooner rather than later but I'm expecting it to be a long and ugly struggle. 

I should note that Bush's speech this morning was gracious as well, he seemed relieved to me. Condi Rice sounded like she was pretty emotional this morning too.