New polling shows Giuliani at fourth in Florida. Fourth! That, my friends, is what we call a collapse. I'm deeply conflicted about McCain's rise. On one level, it would be a boon for the GOP to nominate an actual adult. McCain has his problems -- and many of them are severe -- but he's not a reckless nut like Giuliani, and he's not a political knave like Huckabee, and checked by a Democratic Congress, there's the possibility that some decent, if incremental, legislation would be created and passed. On the other hand, he's still the most electable vessel for deeply unsound views on profoundly important matters, and it would be better to have sound views on important matters. So it's tough to know whether to feel relief at his drubbing of Giuliani, or fear at his nearness to the nomination. Maybe it's a whole new emotion: Fearlief, to be defined as "the peculiar mixture of hope and terror that leaves you praying for a Mitt Romney surge."
