In no small part, I guess, because people like me keep fueling it.
But this answer to a running-mate question today from Reuters’ Arshad Mohammed was hardly what you would call Shermanesque:
Let me just say, first of all, that Senator McCain is an extraordinary American, a really outstanding leader, and obviously, a great patriot. That said, I’m going back to Stanford or back to California, west of the Mississippi. I very much look forward to watching this campaign and voting as a voter. I have a lot of work to do. Just this morning – you’ve just asked me a question about trying to complete the denuclearization of North Korea. I was on the phone with Abu Mazen this morning about his meetings yesterday with Prime Minister Olmert. I was on the phone this morning with the new Pakistani Foreign Minister, with Ban Ki-moon about issues concerning Darfur and issues concerning Kosovo. This is obviously a very busy agenda, and here I sit with my Mexican and Canadian counterparts on hemispheric issues. So I have a lot of work to do, and then I’ll happily go back to Stanford.
I will continue to keep Swampland readers abreast of the latest in this developing story–developing, that is, in my imagination. This is what happens when you live with a State Department reporter.
