Where was THIS John McCain?

That is a question that has been asked a bit since the election. Sen. John McCain has given a new interview that shows the McCain we wish would have been present during the 2008 presidential campaign. In this interview with George Stephanopoulos yesterday he doesn't jump on the RNC bandwagon of trying to find fault with every.single.thing president-elect Barak Obama is doing (or not doing)

STEPHANOPOULOS: The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, has been highly critical of the way President- elect Obama has dealt with this. He's had a statement every single day, saying that the Obama team should reveal all contacts they've had with Governor Blagojevich. He says that Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested. Do you agree with that?

MCCAIN: I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody -- right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.

You should check out the RNC website to what I'm talking about- it's like the campaign never ended and they didn't learn a darn thing about what American's really want out of our leaders. Hey, RNC, in case YOU missed it- we're tired of the divisive smears! Why not focus on what is positive about YOUR cause rather than smearing the president elect. THAT would be a change I would believe in!

You should also check out this incredible article from the November 17th(published edition) Newsweek. it is incredibly long but well worth the read.

This is... a seven-part in-depth look behind the scenes of the campaign, consisting of exclusive behind-the-scenes reporting from the McCain and Obama camps assembled by a special team of reporters who were granted year-long access on the condition that none of their findings appear until after Election Day.

You really get a great understanding of how Obama won this election and much of what helped him along were the internal conflicts of the Clinton and McCain campaigns. You get a sense that Hillary Clinton really questioned whether she wanted to be president at all. And John McCain- perhaps he wasn't *really* all that much of a race baiter- he just trusted the wrong people with his message.
As for Sarah Palin - really no surprises there, just confirmation of the obvious- what you see is what you get.