Hilzoy discusses the latest example of McCain’s apparent cluelessness about policy details, even when it comes to his signature issue (the surge): More straight talk…

If you put it together with some of the other gaffes he’s delivered in the past few months, it starts to look like a consistent pattern. Check it out:

So, can someone explain to me why McCain has any support at all?

I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes find Keith Olbermann’s schtick a little off-putting, even while recognizing that I mostly agree with the points he makes. And I’m not sure that the same thing isn’t going on here. But I think this is worth listening to:

For those who prefer their information staid and textual, as opposed to jittery and noisy, here’s a version of Friday’s events from the perspective of Katherine Q. Seelye, a writer for the New York Times’ politics blog: Clinton’s Very Bad Day.

I don’t really know who this Alex Balk guy is, based on some of the other things he’s posted he seems to generally be full of shit, but there’s something about his arguments that Hillary Clinton is deliberately acting like A Tool to make Obama look Great in a way no one else can that makes me stop and wonder.

If 1/100th of this idea is even remotely close to being true, then politics in the USA is even more horribly manufactured then any nightmare I ever imagined.

So, where have I been? Mostly working, but with whatever obsession time was left over going to things like telerobotically bird-watching at a Texas wildlife refuge and compiling correspondences between The Weepies and The Submarines.

But I’ve been following the presidential campaign. In the interest of giving y’all something new to comment on, I liked the following piece about the long-distance debate that Obama and McCain had yesterday about the new G.I. bill (which Obama supports and McCain opposes). From Mark Kleiman: Bad day for John McCain, Part II: anger management.

From Timothy Noah in Slate: Hillary Clinton, Fairy Princess:

Here’s a rule I would like every political reporter, campaign official, TV talking head, and politician in the United States to follow. Go ahead and say, if you like, that Hillary Clinton retains a serious chance of winning the Democratic nomination. If you say this, however, you must describe a set of circumstances whereby this could happen. Try not to make it sound like a fairy tale.

He goes on to explore this in detail. For an Obama supporter, it’s a reassuring exercise.