Trick or treat

WELL, THEY'LL debate tonight,  although in the circus-like atmosphere of the McCain campaign, I can't be sure of anything anymore.    His flight to Washington presumably to officiate negotiations that were  well along anyway  was the biggest political grandstanding act since the late Gov. Rhodes, a master of such highly visible nonsense,  proposed building a bridge across Lake Erie at the Canadian taxpayers' expense.  Of course.

Now that McCain has chosen to barge in on a systemic financial crises that he discounted a week or so ago, it would not surprise me that he would take the next  logical step and rent an aircraft carrier to announce his "mission accomplished". 

 What is it with this fellow?   In crediting himself with "leadership" in resolving the looming disaster, McCain has clumsily prompted  both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to accuse  him of only making matters worse.  The official explanation from his campaign flacks for his decision to debate is that the senator is "optimistic that there has been sufficient progress".  But he assured the nation that he will return to Washington immediately after the debate to "ensure that all voices and interests" will be heard.  Mostly, his own.  

What TV channel are they watching?   One after another of  the weary participants are talking about a stalemate between the sides.  Meantime, another financial giant, Washington Mutual, took a hit.

It does appear to me that in crudely upstaging the president on the bailout as a bull in the china shop,  McCain has already assumed the acting- presidency for his very own self  to continue the miserable  series of mistakes of  the current incumbent.    Meantime, almost lost in the windstorm of his campaign was a positive note from Sarah Palin that she damn well has international experience.  She's got Canada's mostly barren Ogilvie Mountains on one side and a few Russian villages near the Arctic Circle just across the Bering Strait. Added to those strategic pluses for her, she now says she once met with Iceland's president.  

I want to scream.  It's getting to be more than I can process in one sitting.  So let me be the first to wish all of you a happy Halloween and get out of here for now!