Yeah. Loyalty.

Compare this to the sniping we're seeing on the other side, to the zero-sum games, to the oh-my-god-you-don't-like-Hillary-what's-wrong-with-you, to the Obama-as-Messiah. I'm not the biggest fan of John McCain's policies. But I think I could respect him. The great John McCain story you've probably forgotten.

On the way out of the parking lot, McCain recalled what it was like to be a nobody called upon by a somebody. As he did, his voice acquired the same warmth that colored Russell Feingold's speech when he described the first call from John McCain. "When you called Feingold … " I started to ask him. But before I could, he interrupted. "Yeah," he says, "I thought of Mo." And then, for maybe the third time that morning, McCain spoke of how it affected him when Udall took him in hand. It was a simple act of affection and admiration, and for that reason it meant all the more to McCain. It was one man saying to another, We disagree in politics but not in life. It was one man saying to another, party political differences cut only so deep. Having made that step, they found much to agree upon and many useful ways to work together. This is the reason McCain keeps coming to see Udall even after Udall has lost his last shred of political influence. The politics were never all that important.

H/T to one of my favorite writers on the innernets.