THE NEXT 10...

THE NEXT 10 WORDS. Brendan Nyhan reports on John McCain's bold plan to end the violence in Iraq:

"One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bullshit,'" said Mr. McCain, according to Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, an invitee, and two other guests.

Woo! That's bracing stuff! And then, after the hasty consultations with translators to make sure he actually said that, the participants would stare at him quizzically, wondering what the straight-talk solution to oil sharing, political representation, entrenched hatreds, and varying conceptions of secularism will be. So what is it? McCain demands that they "stop the bullshit." What are his next ten words?Update: As some commentors note, this could be the solution to everything. The deficit? get Congress in a room, tell them to "stop the bullshit." Abortion? Get women in a room, tell them to "stop the bullshit." Maybe this can be McCain's version of Ross perot's famously versatile plan to lock all the smart folks in a small room and don't let 'em out till they've solved all our problems.

--Ezra Klein