My Beautiful and Talented Wife (The BTW), who is one of the least politically interested people I know, was screaming at the the television yesterday as Wolf Blitzer interviewed House Minority Whip Roy Blunt on CNN.  She was flipping channels but heard Blunt say that John McCain's economic and tax policies would be, in Wolf's words, "a third Bush term."

Because she's not part of the policy world, when The BTW reacts very positively or negatively to something political or economic I generally find that she's a great indication that something is happening.  It was her positive initial reaction to Ross Perot, for example, that made me realize he had to be taken more seriously than I had been doing up to that point.

So when The nonpolitical BTW was literally screaming at Roy Blunt that the last thing she wanted was another four years of George Bush, I realized just how angry some people may be.

My question is what was Blunt thinking.  I've helped train people to go on interview programs like this so I know how they are usually prepared. They know the messages they want to say and how to say them regardless of what questions they're asked.  So Blunt almost certainly had decided in advance that he wanted to make it clear to some segment of the Republican party faithful that McCain was not as much a maverick as some say he is and is worthy of their support.

But with Bush's approval ratings at close to his all time lows, gasoline and milk causing daily heartburn, and the housing situation continuing to cause deep concern, does the Republican leadership really want to say to a large general television audience that McCain = 4 More Years?

Not if they expect to get people like The BTW, who they will definitely need to win in November, to vote for McCain.