This idea of a "real McCain", that we saw in 2000 and who knuckled under to the evils of the GOP in 2008, is kind of insane. The McCain we saw in 2000 was a public front. The only "real McCain" is the one that nepotism'd his way out of court martials, ditched the wife that waited for him to come home from the camp and married a beauty queen heiress to fund his political career, eagerly signed on to the Keating Five, talks a big game about torture and campaign finance until it actually comes time to vote, tells reporters that he'll hate the gooks until the day he dies, and consistently suckles at the deregulative, bigoted party teat.
The real McCain is the one we've seen during the race. Last night's speech was a desperate attempt to rebuild his image and hang on to his senate seat in 2010.