McCain, muddled thoughts, and mudslinging

H.Hertzberg in The New Yorker on Aug 4:

Obama gained nothing in the polls during his nearly flawless, arguably triumphant grand tour. Still..., one would have to be an awful grouch not to be gratified by the sight of a sea of delighted Europeans waving American flags instead of burning them....

Back at home, one such grouch had ample reason to be grouchy. McCain's luck last week was as bad as Obama's was good. McCain rode in a golf cart with Bush senior; Obama rode in a helicopter with General David Petraeus. Obama got a big kiss from the new President of France, a dashing conservative with an exotic background and an unusual name; McCain stood athwart the cheese aisle of a sumpermarket, complaining....But McCain had no right to accuse [Obama], not once but repeatedly last week, of being willing to have his country "lose a war" if it would win him an election. That was shocking; that was unworthy. Obama drained a 3-point shot; McCain committed a 3-shot foul. The game is getting physical.