Byron & Kathryn, I think Sen. McCain’s comments have to be put in context. Gov. Romney was making a strong pitch on executive and business experience, in contrast to McCain’s stint in the senate, which stresses familiarity with issues but not decision-making. McCain’s main purpose in recalling his military service was because he was commanding men and women — emphasizing that he’s not just an armchair quarterback. I don’t think he set about seeking to demean entrepreneurship.

That said, it does get to something McCain detractors find disquieting. His Keating Five brush, his railing against special interests, his instinct toward regulation, and his campaign-finance reform campaign — in which he sees moneyed-interests where the rest of us see free speech — seem to have led him (at least at times) to paint all of big business with the same suspicious brush. He took that shot at Romney’s “fortune” on Saturday night; on Sunday, he contrasted profit with his (enormous) patriotism in a way that made profit sound like something dirty. For those of us who think big business, whatever its flaws, is preferable to big government, this continues to grate.