No context whatsoever provided so we’re left to wonder in what sense they’re problematic. Problematic because they’re leery of McCain and might not turn out in force in November? Problematic because they’re the “agents of intolerance” Maverick once accused them of being? Problematic because they’re known for asserting that the U.S. engineered the AIDS virus and may just have let the attack on Pearl Harbor happen to justify a colonialist war in the Pacific? Oh, sorry; he said Christian right.

My advice to McCain: Give a speech perfunctorily condemning every freaky thing any Christian preacher has ever said while embracing the preachers themselves on grounds that to do otherwise wouldn’t fully reflect “the American experience.” Be sure to hint that anyone who disagrees is sort of a racist.

Eagleburger was trying to have fun. He was mocking his fellow panelist Kurtzer, sitting to the left of the others (“where he belongs”), and making noises and funny, impatient faces, while Ann Lewis was speaking. But more importantly, he did not mince his words. In a response to a question about the religious right, an important component of the Republican coalition, he said that it was, indeed “a serious problem,” and reminded his listeners that he now lives in Charlottesville, surrounded by such people that he needs to fight.

Meanwhile, the left is in a froth over McCain accidentally substituting “Al Qaeda” for “the Mahdi Army” in something he said about Iran training jihadis in Iraq. Exit question: Do you really want to play the “words mean things!” game today of all days, nutroots? Really?