Don't Make McCain Come Back There

Courtesy of Brendan Nyhan, here's John McCain's "fresh, daring, original!" (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times) answer to our problems in Iraq:

"One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bullshit,'" said Mr. McCain, according to Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, an invitee, and two other guests.

The first obvious question is, "Was he sober when he said this?" I'll take it that the answer to that question is yes until someone proves otherwise. The second question, sadder than the first is, "Has McCain reached the conclusion that the press train following him is so in the tank that he can get away with saying anything?" The third question is whether McCain is so glib and shallow that he takes the nonsense he sprays from his face seriously.

These three questions have been asked about a politician before (Hint: he's the twit with the smirk and the 30% job approval rating), and they lead me to a fourth question. Have we as a nation become locked in some horrible sisyphean matrix of eternal recurrance? Will we push Bush out of our lives only to turn around and find McCain? Will we still be sitting here ten years from now, listening to pundits tell us about how we've reached a turning point on [Iraq/the economy/energy/"American Idol"] and how we'll know in six months whether [the insurgents/interest rates/oil prices/Ryan Seacrest] will rise or fall.

To quote either Tom Servo or Crow, "What is it about the gates of hell that compels people to walk through them?"