"McCain is Gerald Ford with a hand grenade."

I hadn't looked at him quite like that, but it's interesting to think about.

I think you are most definitely on to something with the idea of McCain reaching across the aisle to pluck a Dem to run on a "bi-partisan" ticket. If he picked someone with a strong domestic policy background to match his foreign policy/military background, they could threaten the Dem nom, whomever it is. It wouldn't be that bold a move for him, really. It would be a far bolder move for whatever Dem he would choose.

And the punditocracy would, of course, have to attack whomever his Dem VEEP was in the same way they are currently going for the Clinton jugular.

Out of the three, I still see Clinton and Obama as twin DLC establishment candidates of Big Money.

McCain doesn't have Big Money on his side. At all. Which does make it interesting too. Big Money is on the Dem's side this time around. So of course, there isn't a bloody thing to be gained by electing either one of them, as they are both in the pocket of the Big Money interests.

Also, what if McCain could "fix" our current disastrous Iraq & Afghanistan war on terror policy? Nothing else (certainly not withdraw), but do something dramatically different to end the violence and suffering, and calm the region down, and bring about a peaceful resolution of the political violence of the post-9/11 clusterfuck we are left with? I know it is a big what if. But what if he could turn things around to the point where our troops could function as true peacekeepers, or we could send in UN/EU/NATO peacekeepers? If I thought he could bring us that far down the road, I would vote for him in a heartbeat. The greatest injustice of all, IMO, would be to abandon Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan & the region to a descent back into the hell that was the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and walk away from that tremendous suffering caused by our incompetent, evil political and military leaders.

I have been vehemently opposed to all the post-9/11 reactionary shit, from the Iraq invasion propaganda campaign, to the Bush Hot War against Islam Doctrine, to the anti-immigration xenophobia that was inevitable in the post-9/11 reactionary climate, to the destruction of the Bill of Rights and our constitutional protections being voted conveniently away by our political "leaders" in both parties, to make Americans "feel safe".

But if I truly believed McCain could, militarily, turn things around over there, I would vote for him in a NY minute.

But I too fear he is more likely Gerald Ford with a hand grenade.