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Michael Grunwald has a very entertaining and insightful article up on Time titled “Oh, the Drama! McCain in the Theater of the Absurd.” The article chronicles the insanity and absurdity that has been the McCain campaign over the last week. Like I said, it’s a very entertaining column and a pretty quick read, but for the impatient, here’s the punchline:

On Friday, though, McCain realized it probably wasn’t in his interest to let Obama have the stage to himself, so he announced that he was going to debate after all, since the stalled negotiations were now on track, although in fact the on-track negotiations were now stalled, but whatever. By the time he left Washington — some Democrats suggested this was no coincidence — the negotiations seemed to un-stall. The bailout now appears to be back on track for next week, and at the debate, McCain suggested that he supports it. The wacky events of the week went unmentioned, and McCain made a strong case for himself as the candidate of adult leadership. Which, if you’ve been paying attention to his campaign, is probably true if your idea of an adult is Terrell Owens, although Terrell Owens is at least capable of running in a straight line.

There is, of course, a serious point to all this mishigas. The last eight years may have been a geopolitical and economic disaster, but one thing they have not lacked is drama. They’ve been eight exhausting years, and when Obama talks about change, he’s implicitly talking about giving Americans a break, a timeout from grand history. It’s like those T-shirts during the primary: End the Drama — Vote Obama. McCain has tried to make a similar case in a different way, arguing that he’s steady and experienced while Obama is risky and dangerous. That case can get lost in his roller-coaster campaign.