McCain, Palin, Letterman and SNL - what a week

It was the timing of it all that got Dave steamed. A last minute cancellation ensued and Letterman said the reason provided was that McCain had to fly to Washington to work on the financial bailout package.

"This doesn't smell right," Letterman ranted to the audience. "This isn't the way a tested hero behaves."

"I think someone's putting something in his metamucil," he groused.

He's still here?

What really irked him was the tip that McCain was still in town. He, in fact, was getting prepped to do an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric. Letterman was able to wrangle the internal video news feed showing McCain getting prepped by a makeup artist and display it live for the audience.

“He doesn’t seem to be racing to the airport, does he?” Letterman asked before shouting at the monitor: “Hey John, I got a question! You need a ride to the airport?”

Night two

It wasn't going to end with just one night of mockery. The following night Letterman continued his rant. What was ironic is that one of the people the McCain team targeted to label Barack Obama as an airhead celebrity was his guest Thursday night - Paris Hilton.

"You're here on a good night," Letterman said to the audience. "So far none of our guests have canceled."

“Paris Hilton is on the program tonight," he announced. "Unless she needs to rush to Washington to fix the economy.”

On the topic of stuntman David Blaine who was hanging upside down in Central Park for 60 hours, Letterman quipped, "They just left the guy hanging there. It's the same thing McCain did to me last night."

Next week

As for this upcoming week, one would imagine Letterman's not going to just drop this and of course the SNL writers will be watching Thursday night with much anticipation.

In terms of the debate, one Republican strategist isn't worried. He instead sounds a bit like John Elway right before he marched his team downfield in the legendary football sequence called "The Drive."

Elway told his teammates before the miracle 98 yard drive to win the game, "We've got 'em right where we want 'em." GOP strategist Todd Harris must have been taking notes.

“I think expectations for Palin will be so low on Thursday that it will be difficult for her not to meet them,” Harris told The Vote. “And debate performances are not graded in a vacuum. It’s not just how she does, but also how Biden does and how he acts towards her, that makes for the ultimate grade. She could stumble through the entire evening, but if Biden talks down to her, the debate will be a draw.”

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