don't mind the iceberg

it's an open secret, like a nasty little truth fart, embarrassing and unmentionable, about why the mcworse campaign, despite a pledge to conduct an respectful campaign, is hellbent on ensnaring the media in a morass of "straight up lies", triviality and sleaze, all while avoiding any direct contact with responsible journalists: like bad gas, they absolutely stink on the issues. and everybody can smell it.

this is the republican candidate for ruler of the universe in what must be his millionth live interview — and he might as well be a first grader at his first recital: nervous, robotic and clinging to his wretched talking points like a blanket. he looks like he's still reading that teleprompter.

i almost pity the fool. when your job is selling tickets on the republican titanic, you don't want to talk about icebergs and missing lifeboats. you want to talk about what an awesome crew you have:

campaign manager rick davis: "this election is not about issues. this election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates." strategist john feehery: "the more the new york times and the washington post go after sarah palin, the better off she is, because there's a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she's new, she's popular in alaska and she is an insurgent. as long as those are out there, these little facts don't really matter." cnn’s dana bash: "a mccain adviser i talked to tonight admitted that talking about anything related to bush especially policy, especially iraq policy, is basically a political death knell especially for john mccain right now. so he didn’t mention it at all."

so hush now, america — just hold your nose and enjoy the cruise!