Devil you know

Since McCain doesn't have anything else, he goes back to making the argument that the devil you know is better than the one you don't know. I thought he was supposed to come out with something new. Oh, well. This story could have been published in almost exactly the same form in August. Or in February.

The problem for McCain is that Americans now know Obama. We've seen his calm seriousness. Except for the credulous wingnuts, we don't find him devilish, despite droning constant repetition from the Republican amen chorus.

Maybe, just maybe, McCain has decided that there are many worse things for America than his losing the Presidency, and one of them is the disgraceful campaign that he has run since the Palin nomination. Maybe McCain is finally beginning with the end in mind. (God, I'm an optimist today. More likely he's trying to have it both ways.)

Of all the things in doubt about the result of next month's election, the most important will be whether we wind up with a governable polity. If we don't, we won't be able to solve any of the other problems we face, and the late ugliness from the right has not been leading that way.