McCain Fails To Impress Secret Conservative Club

This surprises me: I didn't know there was a secret social-conservative leadership council thing (the Council for National Policy) that doesn't let the press take pictures of their meetings. Any of you reading this want to tell me the club handshake?

What doesn't surprise me: Johnny Mac evoked a frustrated ambivalence among the gathered right-wing hotshots. The Wash Times piece about this event has a lot of quotes which ran from "he did great" to "flop". I thought Richard Viguerie's negative assessment was the most interesting, and possibly the most frustrating:

Mr. McCain, a onetime prisoner of war in Hanoi, was asked about his personal faith. He responded, Mr. Viguerie said, by telling us about the North Vietnamese guard who signaled his sympathy for McCain by drawing a cross in the dirt with his toes, but McCain didn't tell us anything about his own faith."

The saddest part, Mr. Viguerie said, was that neither Mr. McCain nor his campaign advisers "realized he fumbled the ball or why."

Another leader says most conservatives will probably vote for McCain, but good luck trying to gin up any enthusiasm. Maybe with a good running mate, she hinted, and I thought hmmm...maybe these guys are trying to score some condiments.

Speaking of which, Double Plus Undead has got a sprinkle of schadenfreude for you. (UPDATE 3:00PM west coast: some problems with Double+'s site; try back later, though. Good story.)