ABC: The real question is, who is the real John McCain?

By GottaLaff

When ABC news sends a message like this, you know the Palin/McCain-have-crossed-the-line story's gone "mainstream" and Gramm-pa has dug himself into yet another hole:

The real question is: Who is the real John McCain? (And is he listening to Sarah Palin?)

McCain and Obama enter Tuesday night’s second presidential debate at Belmont University with a real sense of a race that’s slipping away from McCain -- and a growing realization in GOP circles that the Republican ticket has a dwindling number of chances to reclaim the narrative.

(If the national polls don’t convince you -- take Ohio, please.)

McCain gets the format he wants, but not the backdrop. If the debate follows the logical progression of the week, we will continue down the path of least subsistence into out-and-out, guilt-by-association name-calling -- led there, in all likelihood, by McCain, whose campaign is trying to thrust “character” into a campaign that may not welcome it.

Does McCain want to go there? Will/should even nasty attacks register when compared to the psychological blows arriving in mailboxes these days, depicting shattered 401(k)s? And with Tuesday night’s town-hall format, does a candidate want to throw bombs when there are civilians in range?

Self-inflicted wounds. Let's hope they're fatal.