at this point you've got to think that McCain has softened up his bitterness towards Bush, and in return for him coming back to the fold he will be amply rewarded once Bush is re-elected.

More importantly, the Dems and the MSM have invested an awful lot, emotionally speaking, in naming John McCain as their favorite tame Republican. (At one point this past summer, they were touting him as Kerry's running mate.) If McCain rips in to Kerry on his "war crimes" testimony, they can't credibly call him a partisan hack, can they?

With Cheney already saying he won't be running in '008, any GOPer with an itching for the top job and smarter than Dan Quayle should be already out collecting favors to be redeemed in 4 years.

Let's also hope the GOP learns from the Dems mistakes this year and decompresses the selection process and pushes it back to April-June were it belongs. (And a schedule that ignores Iowa and New Hampshire, especially if both go Dem this year.)

Raoul:

Neither will. And you've already got McCain, Guiliani, Pataki & Romney campaigning here, with Bill Owens and Bill Frist to follow.

Kerry's appearance at the American Legion convention Wednesday promises to be verrry interesting.

McCain seemed to be doing the Dems bidding when he was criticizing Bush and the Swift Vets. As noted above if he goes after Kerry what is the press going to do? I think McCain will be too old in '08 but maybe there's a cabinet seat for him.

So McCain dissing the initial SwiftVets advert was simply a sacrifice that baited the trap?

My guess is the spin will be that McCain agreed to say this about Kerry in return for Bush supporting further legal action against the 527s -- which actually hurts Kerry more, but the media has spun that to make it appear as though the swift boat vets and GWB are the ones with with 8-to-1 funding advantage, not MoveOn.org and the other pro-Kerry groups.

As far as who'll be No. 1, I'd assume that if Air America is broadcasting live today, the winning name of the first Democrat to criticize McCain already has been drawn, but there should be a nasty shot or two from the regular media outlets by the time the opening night of events gets going on Monday.

You guys are overthinking this. McCain had the Fulbright Committee and John Kerry thrown in his face by the North Vietnamese while he was a prisoner. He came back mad at Kerry and wouldn't talk to him for the first few years they served together. He got over that and worked with Kerry on various projects. He sincerely (though wrongly) believes in CFR (he hated having his integrity questioned as part of the Keating 5) and doesn't think that anyone's service can be questioned.

But he thinks that Kerry and company did real harm to those serving in Vietnam and, particularly, to the prisoners who were being tortured to say what Kerry said voluntarily. There was never any chance that he was going to run interference for Kerry on this issue.

How did it come about that we cannot discuss politics without clearing it with McCain first?

The North Vietnamese didn't need Kerry to stick the war crimes stuff in US prisoner's faces. Lt. Calley was convicted in March 1971, in the My Lai massacre, 300-500 defenseless civilians, men, women, children and yes, babies were slaughtered by US troops in a fashion reminiscent of the Nazis.

People die in wars.

Interesting board. Good discussions I have noted without so much of the vitriolic stuff that other political discussions create.

Interesting board. Good discussions I have noted without so much of the vitriolic stuff that other political discussions create.