McCain's on the cover of Time under the headline, "The Phoenix." To a certain cohort, the associations are devastating. It so happened that at Kay's birthday party last week, Kriston and I had the opportunity to introduce Amanda to the Dark Phoenix Saga. Already we can see the costume worn by McCain, perhaps stirred by the pernicious influence of Mastermind, turning a deep red:

Stumping in Fort Myers on Saturday, McCain went on the attack first, linking Romney with Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.): "If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Senator Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Governor Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide, and the cost of American blood and treasure would be dramatically higher."

He added to reporters that "one of my opponents wanted to set a date for withdrawal that would have meant disaster."

Romney, who said in April that the military should consider a "private timetable" but not public deadlines, shot back: "That's dishonest, to say that I have a specific date. That's simply wrong. . . . I know he's trying desperately to change the topic from the economy and trying to get back to Iraq, but to say something that's not accurate is simply wrong, and he knows better."