IT'S NOT EVEN REMOTELY PLAUSIBLE, BUT I GUESS IT SOUNDS NICE

A preview of the McCain speech, from The Washington Post:

"The constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause, it's a symptom," McCain is expected to say. "It's what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you."

Yeah, that makes sense -- we know partisan rancor is the result of selfish D.C. careerism because the two most partisan speeches we've heard this week were uttered by ... Rudy Giuliani, who worked in Washington in a low-level position for two years a quarter-century ago and hasn't worked there since, and Sarah Palin, who's never worked there at all.

That's McCain's message -- it's like Mad Libs, jamming all his bullet points together and making them sound as if they form a coherent view of what's wrong with America today. He wants to say Washington is a problem, he wants to say career politicians are a problem (because from now till November he's going to pretend he's actually Sarah Palin, rather than the D.C. careerist he is), and he wants to say failure to "put country first" is a problem, therefore ... the problem is D.C. careerists who fail to put country first!

And, of course, this all fits in with the GOP's main message this year, which is: We'll say anything to avoid talking about our actual positions.