Like a toddler trapped in the back seat for a long journey, John McCain is starting to feel a bit testy. Sweating through the heat of the McCain Meltdown, the Iraq war's biggest fan is getting peckish with the press.
Apparently, McCain is the first presidential candidate in history to feel that his message is getting too much media attention. Of course, when your message has become as threadbare, inconsistent, and downright loopy as McCain's, you don't want people listening too closely.
In a typical appearance, he dashes off a few minor chords of "Kill Them Before They Kill Us" on the right wing Wurlitzer, trying to dredge up that the fear used so effectively to support the Republican cause in 2004.
"They want to follow us home because it's not Iraq they're after, it's the United States they're after," McCain said.
See, the Iraqis -- who account for all but a handful of those involved in the insurgency -- aren't interested in their own country. They're like puppies. Puppies of evil. They only want to follow you home and make a mess on your floor. Even if that means abandoning their homes and marching across the Atlantic.
Note that this worn-out bit of idiocy is the part of his message that McCain wants you to take seriously. The other part, the part where he responded to a wingnut question about "sending an airmail message to Tehran" with a twisted Beach Boys impression, is the part he wants you to laugh about.
He's not likely to be pleased about MoveOn's new ad.
Now that people are rolling their eyes over his statements, McCain has decided to stop channeling Brian Wilson and switch to Sheryl Crow.
"My response is lighten up and get a life," he said. ... Asked by reporters Thursday if he thought the joke was insensitive he said: "Insensitive to what? The Iranians?"
Clearly, McCain wants us all to soak up some sun and lighten up. And would you press people please just stop touching him until this trip is over?
The funniest thing about this is that, despite all the head-scratching about "what happened to McCain?" and the subtle whispers of some kind of early dementia, the truth is nothing happened to McCain. His mixture of folksy nonsense and scattered policy is no different now than it was in 2000.
Only somehow, back in 2000, a lot of people thought that stupid looked kind of cute. McCain should know that the "yeah, he's not all there, but it looks like he has some experienced people on his team" card has been played, and there are very few people willing to make that bet a second time.