The battle of ideas on the right, and in the crowd

Forget Chris Buckley versus the National Review for a minute. I found this intra-right clash at a Virginia campaign event for McCain both fresh and inspiring: Muslim supporters of McCain and a young self-described Christian conservative, whose accent suggests "real Virginia," confront and denounce a fringe character promulgating anti-Islamic theories ("Muhammad himself taught to deceive the infidel!") and bogus stories about Obama's past.

A McCain campaign official, himself Muslim, steps up to side with the people condemning this guy -- and at one crucial point, a guy in a flannel shirt and hardhat (Joe the Contractor?) steps forward to say, "You can be of any religion and for McCain."

Maybe these people ought to be advising McCain and Palin, given that the current attack strategy -- which turns Muslims and big-city residents into collateral damage -- seems to be hurting the candidates in the polls. The video shows some serious diversity in the McCain ranks.

That'll be my last video for a while, as I know they're hard to take in at work, unless you -- hint -- pick up a set of headphones.

Via Matthew Yglesias