Roger Simon spins a fictional tale of 2008, resulting in John McCain’s ascension to the White House. It doesn’t, frankly, strike me as a particularly plausible story and that says something about McCain’s odds. I do, however, have to complain about this:
[McCain] had left Blair House early that morning to go to church, two churches in fact, Grace Reformed at 15th and O and then New York Avenue Presbyterian near 13th Street. The reporters doing live TV were still trying to figure it out — “I didn’t know McCain was particularly religious, Chris” — when a member of the new White House staff called and helped them out: One was the church of Teddy Roosevelt, and the other was the church of Abraham Lincoln. Two of McCain’s heroes. He had others: Thomas Moore, Lord Nelson, Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar, Colin Powell (his new secretary of State), Charles Darwin (how the creationists had howled about that one), Ted Williams, Mother Antonia, and Aung San Suu Kyi.
McCain and Powell are both Republicans with a strong interest in national security issues who are much-beloved by the national media, but they have different ideas about the subject. Why Powell would want to further ruin his reputation by serving again as Secretary of State for a president who has no intention of listening to him is a bit beyond me. On the other hand, Powell’s behavior in office was sufficiently inexplicable that I suppose there’s no telling what kind of crazy stuff he might do in the future.