Straight Talk Expressed: McCain Says He Is Glad Iraq Is "Off The Front Pages"

The Mac Attack Is Back! And what a return it is: reporters crowding on the bus with John McCain listening to the candidate say all kinds of crazy things that would probably get reported as crazy were it not for the cozy, collegial way the press cuddles up to the candidate. Check out this nonsense that Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank relates uncritically.

Washington Post editorial writer Ruth Marcus asks him about his recovery from when "your campaign allegedly imploded in July."

"Grand times, weren't they?" the candidate recalls ruefully. He cites four factors: his strong debate performances, the support of erstwhile-Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, his town hall meetings in New Hampshire and, particularly, the success of the surge in Iraq. "Thank God it's off the front pages," he says.

Oh, yes! Thank God! Because what would happen if anyone noticed that those front pages were filled with stories of recent suicide bombings, intra-sectarian strife in Anbar province, or the Kurds taking a militant stance in Kirkuk? Why, that might hamper McCain's ability to sell himself as the shiniest, happiest proponent of the Surge That Was Supposed To Solve Everything Forever!

What are those front pages reporting? Marvelous news according to McCain!

"I just glanced at the front page of USA Today," he says of the lead story, reporting on a new poll that shows him pulling ahead of Mitt Romney here in New Hampshire. "I don't think you would have believed that headline six weeks ago," he says.

If only the good news could last a hundred years!