This is the last reaction clip we’re going to post tonight. It’s Alex Castellanos’ response on CNN. To understand the significance, you’ve got to know a bit about who Castellanos is — a longtime, street-fighting Republican political consultant with a reputation that compares to Lee Atwater’s in terms hard-edged political warfare. I believe he’s also informally working with the McCain campaign this cycle, as a sort of outside advisor.
Chuck Todd said below he thought Obama’s speech had left the McCain camp speechless. My own take was that the tone of the statement from the McCain campaign was like someone who’d had the wind knocked out of them.
In that context, Castellanos’ response was very telling. He made no attempt to put the speech in any positive context for McCain. Midway through this clip he sounds like an Obama surrogate. And he concludes by saying that “whoever didn’t get picked for Republican VP today may be a lucky Republican.”
In case, you’re tuning in late, here’s my initial reaction.
