One (two-part) comment:
Has W even made a half hearted threat to VETO any tripe McCain dreams up including Campaign finance reform?
First, why would he threaten to veto the Incumbent Protection Act? Especially when his "team" holds the majority?
Second, the further along he gets into the "final lap" of his administration, the more certain it becomes that he will never veto anything, period.
I am convinced that there is a pathology at work. Some kind of adolescent deal, where he's gonna show 'em, he'll show 'em that he's no quitter. It's like the kid who shows up for school, rain or shine, healthy or sick as a dog (and infecting hundreds of students and teachers!), so that at the end of the year, he can get that gold star, pat on the back, and have his name called out for having a perfect attendance record. Even one absence, no matter how justified, would mean NO award!
That's a mightly low horizon, isn't it. It's the kind of thing you see with kids who were raised by cold, demanding, distant parents, who never quite got that "nurturing" thing going. (As an aside, it might also explain the perverse fixation on "compassionate conservatism", which, as a slogan, is about as dandy as "Economic Democracy", which as you will recall, was Clinton's Chief Economic Advisor Derek Shearer's term for "Socialism", which he decided needed a new monica... um, "moniker". because the word "Socialism" had certain "negative connotations" in this country.)
It's not just angst-driven teenagers and Presidents of the United States that exhibit this behavior. You'll also see it with the poor downtrodden janitor who pushes his mop and pail day in and day out, year after year, constantly walking past custom-tailored executives who look down their noses at him (if they even see him at all), who, to show the world that he's just as good as "those guys" (if not better), shows up for work regardless of his health, the weather, and so forth, so that after 30 years of drudgery, he can get a genuine gold-plated ballpoint pen with the company logo, and a rubber-stamped "certificate" for a "perfect work attendance record."
Everyone needs a dream. Everyone needs a vision. How sad... how utterly sad that some folks latch onto something like that as their enduring legacy. ("Look, kids... see that man in the picture? That was your grampaw. He never missed a day of work. Nope, not a single one. No, he didn't get a reward for that, or a raise, or a pension or anything, but he did get a nice card and a pen when he retired, right before he went to the nursing home. And that's what really matters in life -- getting the recognition for a perfect record like that!")
Yeah, sure.