Portable Fiasco

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

-- Make-Believe Maverick, Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone

This story may be a terribly one-sided act of political character assassination. I can't tell. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it before. It may be the most unrelentingly scathing writing I've ever read about another person.

It may not change anyone's mind about anything. Goodness knows that's often the case. I'd guess that anyone who reads it all the way through has already decided against McCain. So it's likely to be so much preaching to the choir.

But we all probably know people who should consider reading it. You could even say that America needs more people to read it. But how ever do you get someone to slog through 10 pages of blood-curdling stories about their presidential favorite?

Probably, you don't.