Watch the video of John McCain accepting Nancy Reagan’s endorsement, and a video flashback; Nancy Reagan in a 1980 campaign ad telling Jimmy Carter to stop the attacks. As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The GOP nominee-in-waiting, in the midst of a West Coast fundraising swing, stopped by the Southern California home of President Reagan’s widow to accept the endorsement from the Republican matriarch he called beloved and wonderful.

“I’m very pleased and honored to have the opportunity again to be with Mrs. Reagan and to receive her endorsement for the nomination of my party and for president of the United States,” McCain said in a five-minute appearance with the former first lady in the driveway of her gated home. “President Reagan and Mrs. Reagan remain an inspiration to all of us, as an example of honorable and courageous service to the nation.”

In turn, she said only, “Ronnie and I always waited until everything was decided and then we endorsed. Well, obviously, this is the nominee of the party.”

In a written statement issued earlier in the day, she called McCain a good friend for more than 30 years.

“My husband and I first came to know him as a returning Vietnam War POW, and were impressed by the courage he had shown through his terrible ordeal. I believe John’s record and experience have prepared him well to be our next president,” she said. (More.)

Ronald and Nancy Reagan in 1953.

Flashback from the past, reminding us that negative campaigning and personal attacks are nothing new. Nancy Reagan, in the days before MTV and YouTube, tells Jimmy Carter to stop the attacks.