Mark Halperin lists fifteen ways that John McCain underestimates Barack Obama. Halperin doesn't offer any concrete insight into McCain's campaign, however, so who knows whether McCain is really that blind. But many of Halperin's points do seem relevant, in particular his point #3 is particularly apt:

3. The inherent difficulty/sensitivity of running against two figures at once. McCain will have to 1) explicitly criticize a sitting Republican president before Republican audiences and 2) prevent the historic event of electing the nation’s first African-American president that many in the country (and the media) desire.

It occurs to me that there's a relatively painless solution to this problem: don't criticize Bush/Cheney, just criticize Cheney. He's the real lightning rod in the administration, the most powerful vice president in our nation's history.

(via RCP.)

Resistance Is Useless

...says the Vogon.

Meanwhile back on Earth, the French feel the need to regulate...country line dancing?

The nut graf...

In a peculiarly Gallic approach to the phenomenon, French civil servants say line dancing should be submitted to the same rules as sports such as football and rugby. This means imposing training courses for line dancing teachers and a state-approved diploma for anyone who wants to give lessons or run clubs.

Amateur instructors will have to take 200 hours of training under the new rules. Professionals will get 600 hours, including such subjects as line dancing techniques, “the mechanics of the human body” and the English (or at least Texan) language. They will also learn how to teach line dancing to the elderly.

The cost of the courses, about €2,000 (£1,570) for the professionals and €500 for the amateurs, will be largely met by taxpayers. Mr Chauveau said the regulations highlighted the French state's obsessive desire to organise all public activity. “France is the only country in Europe apart from Greece where sport is controlled through the state,” he said. “Line dancing is now considered a sport, so it is being controlled, too.”

(Via Instapundit.)