Hmmm.

Clinton on the comeback trail last night, sorta, although Obama's lead in the delegate count didn't suffer significantly. Hmmm. Rumblings about a Clinton-Obama ticket in the fall. Would I be okay with that? I think I might, should Clinton pull it out via superdelegates. I think I would be far more optimistic about that scenario had Douchebag McCain not locked up the GOP side.

The first person I talked to this morning about the returns sighed and said at least McCain is the least of the Republican evils. As the words fought with each other to jump out of my mouth first, clogging up between my teeth like the Three Stooges trying to exit an elevator simultaneously, the person continued, "well, at least he's pro-choice." The subsequent choking noise I made was enough to dislodge the three key words needed to respond to just about any media-fueled characterization of John McCain, those being No! He's! Not!

He's not? No. No matter what you think you heard he is, he's not.

No, he's absolutely not pro-choice; in fact, he's in favor of a constitutional abortion ban. He's not a straight talker when it comes to the lunatics who have come out in support of him, including not only the race-baiting talk radio host in Ohio but, now, insane apocalyptic bomb-Iran-to-bring-Jesus-back preacher John Hagee. John McCain doesn't pander to the religious right? Think again. He's in favor of teaching Intelligent Design in the schools. He's opposed to full civil rights for gay people. And he's in favor of war, war, and more war as the only diplomatic option the US will ever need for anything. Period.

But Straight-Talking Maverick has been pounded into people's heads for so long that their automatic association with McCain is agrees with my position on this, actually, until they take a moment to think about it and then, belatedly, realize that he's fully and diametrically opposed to my position, actually. Is there any issue on which he's not in lockstep with the right wing? Used to be two, but then came that grinding make the Bush-tax-cuts-permanent moment. Now the only thing left is his eminently reasonable support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants currently living and working in the US. Hey, I'm totally there with him--that's the one thing he has managed not to be a total conservative douchebag tool about. But if I'm a one-issue voter, regrettably for Mr. McCain and probably for me, that ain't it.

So McCain has to be defeated at all costs. McCain, who just now finished up a tasty lunch and ceremonial endorsement befitting a visiting head of state with George Bush at the White House, must be defeated. I haven't seen a poll since Monday, if I recall correctly, but at that point Obama putatively defeated McCain something like 55%-45%, with Clinton and McCain polling in a dead heat. Does adding Obama to a Clinton ticket pull her numbers up closer to his, or does the presence of Clinton anywhere on the ticket sink it?

That's not a rhetorical question for me. I absolutely do not share the visceral loathing many people seem to exhibit when Clinton's name is mentioned. Policywise there hasn't been a hell of a lot of difference between Clinton's and Obama's Senate voting records, although her yes vote on the Kyl-Lieberman Iran resolution is pretty much a deal-breaker for me on its own, and more than pretty much when taken together with her original AUMF vote. Then again, Obama didn't vote on that one, so, well, what the fuck's the deal on that? Obama offers a personal magnetism she does not, and no one disputes that the man could orate the hide off a yak and come away without the slightest whiff of lanolin about him. I confess to continuing to worry that even continuing to address the notion of electability advances the meme that she doesn't have it. But I gotta address it and wonder about it. It seemed impossible four years ago that the stakes could be any higher. But they are. John McCain would be an unprecedented disaster for this country. There can be no doubt surrounding the ticket the Democrats send out to combat him. I would really prefer an utter lack of personal doubt to go along with it.