How low can he go?

I thought McCain made a misstep when he selected Palin. I thought his cynicism and rash judgment were evident, would easily be seen through, and would foment a backlash. I thought wrong.

So my first thought when I heard the latest news -- well, actually, what I heard on the radio was the brief snippet "McCain suspends his campaign," and my brain obligingly matched this information with the previously-heard "Edwards suspends campaign," and "Clinton suspends campaign," and I was, all too briefly, euphoric.

But, anyway, then I thought, of course, of the obvious: oh, c'mon -- how could anyone not see this as a desperate bid for a timeout, and an attempt to prevent the media (who are, I'm the first to argue, after all patently pro-Obama) from taking the spark of a small pullaway lead and breathing oxygen into it until it catches? And, at the same time, naturally (and transparently!), an opportunity to shield Palin from further scrutiny...? Surely, this time, everyone will get it, and they'll be ticked to have been thought so easily led.

But then I thought: geez, I dunno. McCain's already gambled on lowballing the electorate's collective IQ -- and won. Not only does it make perfect sense that he'd try again, aiming just a little bit lower, but, frankly, at this point, I'm not sure he doesn't have a more accurate bead on it than I do.