If they’re still trying to get his goat, John McCain’s opponents failed again. During a foreign-policy speech this morning at the University of Denver, anti-war protesters twice heckled McCain, interrupting his address. After the first interruption, McCain noted that the protesters came to the wrong event — if they wanted a sincere dialogue (via Shawn Wasson):

McCain makes a good point after the first interruption. He holds town-hall conferences at almost every campaign stop. Why not just prepare a question that criticizes with some intelligence McCain’s position on the war? The obvious answer: it takes a lot more candlepower to do that rather than chant, “Endless War!” endlessly. They are afraid McCain will outargue them — and they’re right — so they’re taking the significantly less courageous route of trying to shout him down instead.

Also, as an aside: those griping about conservative bloggers cataloguing Barack Obama’s rhetorical gaffes can remember that Obama himself spreads the spurious “100 years of war” quote attributed to McCain, the same one that fueled this chant.

After the second interruption, McCain just laughs it off, telling the audience that this speech may go longer than anticipated. So far, the temper hasn’t erupted, and the protesters simply look foolish. Neither group can manage to hold up their signs properly, which gives viewers another indication of the goofiness of the perpetrators.

Last point, somewhat connected to the first: why don’t we see these kinds of protests at Obama rallies? Maybe because conservatives can put together coherent arguments rather than mindless chants and mishandled banners.