That giant flushing sound you hear is John McCain's credibility going down the drain.

It was inevitable that McCain's White House ambitions would collide with his need to carry water for the Bush Administration's illegal occupation of Iraq. And now it has.

McCain's ridiculous assertion that anyone could ride around Baghdad without body armor and without using an up-armored Humvee was bad enough. But flying to Iraq for a photo-op was a one-way, first-class ticket to the Twilight Zone. The Arizona senator has adopted George W. Bush's habit of asking the American public who they're going to believe -- Him or Their Lying Eyes.

The eyes have it.

McCain did a little shopping in a Baghdad market surrounded by 100 Marines, with three Blackhawk helicopters and two Apache attack helicopters flying overhead. Not even Paris Hilton shops with that big an entourage.

And then to stand in front of reporters and claim to have proven his point leads me to believe that John McCain has officially entered La-La Land along with Bush, his dog Barney and Joe Lieberman.

The vaunted Maverick has officially lost sight of the trail and is now wandering aimlessly in the mindless wilderness. At any moment he's going to launch into a monologue about missing strawberries.

More soon.