Bush is holding a gun to the head of the statue of liberty, while Cheney holds out a bag.

And Bush says: "This sucker could go down."

But the really funny thing (NOT) is that the Dems agree to pay off the terrorists instead of sending them to jail.

Well, here's more proof. So now we know exactly why there has been zero accountability through eight years of the Bush administration. For all the worst excesses, Bush signed off and fully supported the criminal actions of his incompetent goons.

One day historians will struggle to understand why impeachment was always "off the table". I am hoping (but not expecting) to hear Obama mention the word "ACCOUNTABILITY" several times tonight. But the word might make a few Dems - including Pelosi - a bit nervous.

You have committed the supreme crime of showing empathy for Teh Enemy.

For that you shall be subjected the 1,000 lashes of short-sighted come-uppance from well-meaning readers who have not bothered to read your words carefully before they pleasure themselves with ejaculatory denunciations of your perceived ignorance.

Teh Stoopid is alive and well in BushWorld. Quelle surprise?

To quote the Chinese (if I might, at this delicate financial time):

Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government, saying, "What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?" Confucius replied, "Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it."

McCain is not really a politician. His gig is showbiz. That's why the media loved him for so long - he threw up compelling narratives.

Same with Palin. They might as well have picked Paris Hilton.

But McCain's Maverick act needs a straight man - e.g. the current President - to work off. How do you portray yourself as a Maverick when you are in charge of the show? You can't.

So suddenly, faced with the prospect of real power, The Maverick is just a sad old man with a twitchy eye, whose vanity compelled him to throw his hat in the ring.

That's not change we can believe in, my friends.

Neither is Obama, but that's another story. At the very least, he is more entertaining.

I've seen a few US articles labelling various McCain moves - including the Palin nomination - as "Hail Mary passes". But in fact his whole campaign has been nothing but desperation tactics from the get-go.

Just a reminder: the only reason McCain even got nominated by the GOP was because nobody else of stature wanted the gig. Anyone too close to Bush was soiled by proximity. The decision to endorse McCain was the GOP party's first "Hail Mary pass".

Now, whenever the going gets rough, McCain doesn't buckle down and work at a solution - he just flips the board. Yesterday's crap was a perfect illustration: Obama just crossed a magic line, and McCain instantly threw his campaign back into Maverick Mode.

Here's the proof.

If you click the link on my sig, it will take you to an Aussie psephologist's website. This guy is really very good. Check out the interactive graph at the bottom. Follow the instructions carefully to see how McCain's campaign was heading into meltdown territory. And note these two paras:

"If we look at the race to 270 – if McCain wins all his leaning States as well as every contested State, that would result in a 269 Electoral College Vote tie, as Obama's 'in the bag' States of 222 plus his leaning States likewise add up to 269.

So for McCain to win from here, he needs to defend his own leaners, take every one of the contested States as well as pinch an Obama leaning State. For Obama, he only has to hold his own leaners, and take a single contested or McCain leaning State to claim the Presidency."

Got that? McCain was heading into La La Land with more than a month to go, so he threw another "Hail Mary".

If it seems like desperate stuff, it is. And that's because the people behind McCain/Palin are the same desperate crazies who've been running the show from the back rooms for the past 8 years. They are learning just how much the politics of fear can backfire on its authors.