And why isn't that person kicking people in the butt?

The corporate media and Hillary Clinton.

The sound of fretting Republicans.

Remember this: John McCain's class rank at the Naval Academy was 894th out of 899. What do you expect?

I've been not so anxious to hang around lately but at this this trip to salon made me smile.

BTW McCain is/was the repubs throw away candidate. They know this would be a tough year to win after good old GW destroyed the brand and every ace in the hole they ever had. So who do they "nominate"? A 71 year old guy with a bad temper who even republican conservative hate and who can be made to dance all over the place in exchange for a chance at the presidency before he dies.

McCain was their throw away. And the more he talks, the more he proves it.

And nice to see you back, Slackie. I was afraid you were permanently out. You can't imagine what it's been like in here without you (all the roses and cats and lilies have been getting to me, at least).

Awww, thanks, Melthough. I've been mostly staying out of the sandbox awhile because it's been too crazy!

My Fiends, -excuse me- i mean, Friends, I come before you tonight because it's late enough that the sound of my low key conversational tone of masterful simplicity is softlier self-contradicting better misstated after dinner, if you can afford it, when many Americans have found other activities, which is their right to do so under our system of laws, rather than be bothered to listen to how much or many ideas of circular symmetry i might produce by intelligent design or whatever the last guy i just had to fire wrote down for me to share with you, as it is my right to do so and you can be i mean that when i've said it as well as i've read it, today, and possibly far into the near future, unless events or common sense dictate otherwise.

My campaign, we're on track, you can believe it, will continue to bring our message to the American people wherever and whenever they may be without regard for political gain, expedience, polularity, plagiarism, core values, which i support as much as their destruction, convenience, shared vision or what i've said so many times in the past; which can't get here soon enough.

If we are going to have debates, and that may be worked out if i have opponent other than myself, i'm sure i'll be able to walk there or my wife could buy me a bicycle. You know i'll show up and i'll be ready, when the time comes, to wistfully declaim all that i've seen and grown through my long years of public service to this nation, which i so dearly love that i can't say no to anyone about anything unless they are our enemies; of which i'm now preparing a list in case anyone asks or if i have a website to provide it to those more curious than the average voter who may not yet know more than i do at this time or may ever know.

And, I'm John McCain, and i support this message of hope of change your mind, i'm not doing this twice, thank you.

The MSM will no doubt give McCain every break and opening possible. That said, it may not be enough to throw the contest his way by the time voting day arrives. One thing that could really box him in is what looks like his inability to raise nearly the amount of money that Obama has managed to haul in. If Obama can sustain and perhaps even build on the exitement his campaign has brought to the race so far and outraise McCain by perhaps a 2 to 1 margin or even better into the fall, McCain won't have many good options at that point. If he tries to go all-out negative, and Obama has enough cash to flood the airwaves with TV-spots pointing out the obvious distortions, that could really be bad for McCain. If Obama succeeds in denouncing negative Republican tactics on TV and McCain can't afford nearly as much advertising, McCain would run a substantial risk of being defined much the same as Clinton in the primary season in that he'd be just the latest who's only basis for running was that he'd been around for years and years and it was his place in line.

While that status-quo approach has worked many times as candidates such as Nixon, Reagan, and Bush-1 have demonstrated, those candidates won over the likes of Humphrey, Carter, and Dukakis. None of those three Dems had much if any charisma or personal warmth to offer a direct contrast with thier opponents, where as Nixon, despite having already been around a long time, lost to JFK largely due to JFK's more likeable personal appeal. And Nixon, coming off 8 years on the coattails of Eisenhower who at the time at least had some measure of respect from both parties, didn't have to run in the face of such public disatisfaction with the status quo. No such luck for McCain this time around as he's stuck with the draft evading, drunk driving, coke snorting fratboy George W. Dumbass.

By September, it wouldn't surprise me if McCain decided his chances were so bad that he flip-flops 180 degrees and decides to lead an impeachment effort against Bush in an effort to surpass Obama as the "change" candidate. We saw how quickly Clinton went into full-tilt pandering mode in an effort to hang on. Why should McCain be expected to act any different in the event that his one and only opportunity to get the prize he's been dead-set on getting for so long starts to slip away from his grasp?

That sure seems really conspiratorial. OTOH that would explain McCain's bizarre appearance on SNL last week. He just seemed like he didn't even care anymore.

Isn't it always possible for a left-field candidate to be brought forward in a party convention? It makes no sense for Republicans to go through with a McCain nomination. There are many possible candidates that could be drafted who would grab the American imagination much more than McCain. Democrats shouldn't plan too much on a McCain-Obama race until after the RNC.