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They say the worst part of a colonoscopy is the bowel prep. The worst part of a presidential debate is the debate prep where news pundits just fill in space with their brilliant moments of augury, where they wax pythonic and read the entrails of the debate/election beast. And this is ceaseless for the entire day.

And then there's post-debate palaver. Did any of you catch Olbermann's tête-à-tête with Chris Matthews? Priceless. And for the life of me, I have no idea what they were talking about. It was the begrudging handoff from the snarky know-it-all to the hyper-salivating self-styled foxhole pol who never fails to make me wish I could just see for a second the pictures that Matthews must have of Capus with some barnyard critter that ensures his position as resident rambler because for the the life of me, I don't know what purpose this guy serves. And while we're at it, a message to "Morning Joe's" Mika, make that Myna (as in the echolalic passerine), Brzezinski: up the meds, please. And one more, please. Who finds the words of Jack Welch, who looks like he survived a botched hanging, the least bit interesting?

And then the "debate" began.

First, the obligatory thanks to everyone at Belmont University where some from the audience provided questions. Where did they find these guys? They looked like the road crew for Jerry Clower. Maybe someone thinks that's endearing. I'd like to meet that person.

And then came Barack. Out of the shoot.

From the first question, Barack was off and running. When asked about the credit crunch fiasco, he laid out a series of plans and goals. Precise, concise, learned. He exuded confidence and was well-possessed of the facts, all to be expected. No gaffes, though he did claim that McCain accuses him of being "green behind the ears." I thought he was channeling Norm Crosby for a moment, but, sure enough, that is an alternate version of "wet behind the ears." At least according to the Urban Dictionary. Then it was Mr. Potter's turn.

Think Herbert, the creepy old codger in "Family Guy." He thanked Obama for joining him in a town hall meeting. You know, "town hall," as in the type of debate he's been asking for. Well, he got his wish. Be careful what you wish for, John.

When it was the Cryptkeeper's turn to address the financial meltdown, he talked about, I swear to God, energy independence, lower taxes and China. Maybe he heard another question. Maybe he heard someone ask him to list the first 10 points of the GOP play book. Because if he thinks the Wall Street debacle and credit crunch is about energy independence, he's lost. Not the election, he is lost. Gone. Untethered from reality. I've heard the various explications of this financial debacle so many times, I can repeat them in my sleep. Mortgage bundling, credit default swaps, subprime mortgages. But China?! Energy independence? Lower taxes? I think it's time to give Johnnie Mac a parting gift, maybe the home version of whatever he showed up to do. He even stated at one point, something to the effect that there were two institutions Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that most people had never heard of. It was as if he just learned of them himself. He sounded like the usual self-appointed expert for a subject who prefaces his comments with, "It's what we call in the business a . . . ."

I wish instead of using those ridiculous pseudo-scientific audience reaction monitors there could have been a graph of the plummeting DOW. That's what this is about, plain and simple. No one cares about bin Laden or terrorism or Iraq (and that's so sad), it's about our financial system which is disassembling.

Japan's Nikkei is down 10%. Hong Kong at 8%. The Dow sunk 500 points yesterday closing at under 9450. It's lost 1400 points in the last five trading days and plunged 33% over the past year. Retirement accounts have lost two trillion dollars in 15 months. And there he was, the Old Man waxing irrelevant about energy independence.

Folks, it's over. Barring another terrorist attack, Freddie and Johnnie Mac are toast. He appeared old, wizened, tired and spent. There's wise and experienced and then there's hoary and addled by senescence. McCain paced incessantly; Obama stood firm, feet planted and eye-balled his questioner. McCain comes across as tired and out-of-touch and that's just the truth. While Sarah was wowing 'em, you betcha, in my native Flawda, grandpa was trying his best, bless his heart.

Let's look at recent history. P.S., pre-Schmidt, McCain was tanking seriously "like a stone you have picked up and thrown to the heart rock bottom of your heart" (Randy Travis). Then Schmidt and the party elders threw Palin at him to energize the core. She was the election Viagra that allowed his flaccid and gnarled election to be perfused with new blood. (Yuck.) He was riding high. Reverend Wright. Tony Rezko. But now it's the economy, stupid, and all the references to Bill Ayers and domestic terrorism won't cut it.

McCain and Miss Congeniality are simply without the requisite talents and abilities to handle the problems that we and the world now face.

Goodnight, John Boy. Goodnight, Mary Ellen.