Popping Smoke

Senator John McCain should take a sheet from the Governor Jim Gilmore play boook -- and drop out of the race.

If McCain continues on his present course, it will be an ill-suited coda to what has been a an otherwise remarkable career. (Will anybody remember Michael Jordan's lackluster seasons with the Washington Wizards? What about Willie Mays' time with the New York Mets? Don't even get me started on Joe Namath's tenure with the Rams.)

At present, McCain's campaign is a mess and there is nothing on the horizon that will suggest that things will improve any time soon.

McCain's failure is that he's running as if its 2000 all over again. However, much has changed since then -- (and we're not even going to discuss 9/11).

McCain's claim to popularity was that he was seen as the less ideological (and perhaps more competent) alternative to George Bush as the contest eight years ago was a two man race. (Go ahead and the name the other Republicans who were in the running.)

In the interim, McCain has been tone-deaf to his party with respect to illegal immigration and campaign funding. In today's Net-savvy environment, it's much easier to forgive than forget. And it seems that the pollsters are finding both in short supply when it comes to McCain's campaign.

Moreover, there is a thin dimes worth of difference between McCain and the other candidates on most issues, so McCain supporters can make common cause with them -- especially at crunch time during the general election.

There is another fact too -- McCain is no spring chicken at 70 years of age and the suffering he endured as a POW will probably become more pronounced as he ages. Regardless of one's affinity for his views, those issues cannot be easily sidestepped.

In short, there is very little in the way of an upside for McCain to continue. When Soldiers pull out of a no-win situation, they pop smoke grenades to obscure their retreat. It's time for McCain to do the same.