all politicians try to deliver populist messages in some way. it's usually hooey. in McCain's case, definitely.
populism, imo, is basically when politicians work against their own interests. the ruling class are all elites. they must be, in order to get that far. and if they aren't elite when they get in there, they will be, soon enough. don't want an elite as your elected representative? uh, keep dreaming.
a populist would deny something like corporate lobby influence and be interested in making it easier for, say, joe schmoe to start a business and compete against a corporate chain.
it's not a liberal or a conservative thing. it's an elites-versus-the-masses kind of a thing. elites make up a tiny percentage. the masses are every one else. but the interests of the masses are very well represented and permeate washington culture. the interests of the masses? not so much.
there's a very good book called
"The Irony of Democracy" that I highly recommend. it looks at the entire history of politics in the US, and speaks about it in terms of elites and masses, not left or right or anything else.
the Civil War happened because the elites were in disagreement. at every other time in our history, the elites have had consensus. elite interests are in consensus, currently. only social issues are disputed.
the masses don't tend to see it this way. if they did, the wealth divide would certainly be less vast.
