To be The Man

... you've got to beat The Man, says the Nature Boy.

So, in that context, Alex Castellanos just confused the hell out of me on CNN's post-debate roundtable.

Though John McCain is behind in nearly three-fourths of the polls and coming off a disaster of a week of campaigning, Castellanos is trying to sell people on the idea that by tying in tonight's debate, McCain actually comes out ahead of Obama.

WTF?

It's here that I resort to one of the general rules of boxing: in a title bout against the champ (Obama, by virtue of his poll leads), the challenger (McCain, by virtue of his inanity) has to win by knockout to remove all doubt.

By the way, I really think CNN and all the other cable networks are doing potential voters like us a serious disservice by inviting on operatives from the respective campaigns. They have nothing to offer that they can't send out in a press release later.

Sometimes, I hate the media.

UPDATE: That said, it's interesting how the Dems could have their veep nominee available to comment about the debate. I assume someone is holed up somewhere, writing out Palin's response.

(Hat tip to UBM for the photo)