For months now, Dorothy Wickenden has done a masterful job on the “Campaign Trail” podcasts engaging with the magazine’s talented political staff. They have been an undiluted source of pleasure in this exhilarating, maddening primary.
The latest installment, dated May 15, is one of the best yet. All three correspondents (George Packer, Ryan Lizza, and Hendrik Hertzberg) took part—I’d like to make known my desire that this happen as often as possible, as it worked so well this week. The three fellows grapple with McCain’s “2013” speech, with fascinating results. They don’t agree—indeed, they have wildly divergent reactions to McCain and his bid to recast himself as a moderate conservative. That may not sound very exciting, but I really liked how thoroughly undoctrinaire everyone’s contributions were, it made for a very lively discussion.
Plus Packer gave away the big surprise ending to the summer (spoiler alert—we attack Iran!). Wickenden seemed startled by that one, as was I!