That would be Lawrence Eagleburger — former secretary of state to Bush 41, current McCain supporter, and one of the names most eagerly dropped by Maverick whenever the words “Colin Powell” are breathed to him. Here’s how he “helped out” the campaign yesterday:

Asked Thursday on National Public Radio if he thought Palin would be ready to take over in a crisis, Eagleburger said, “Of course not.”

“I don’t think at the moment she is prepared to take over the brains of the presidency. I can name for you any number of other vice presidents who were not particularly up to it, either,” Eagleburger said.

“So the question I think is, can she learn and would she be tough enough under the circumstances if she were asked to become president? Heaven forbid that that ever takes place,” he said. “Give her some time in the office and I think the answer would be, she will be adequate. I can’t say that she would be a genius in the job, but I think she would be enough to get us through a four-year — well, I hope not. … Get us through whatever period of time was necessary, and I devoutly hope that it would never be tested.”

Twenty-four hours later, nutroots blogs have had a field day with it and McCain’s had to spend precious time explaining it away, most notably on GMA this morning. I figured they’d “disappear” him like they did to Carly Fiorina, but here he is on Cavuto groveling for all he’s worth and throwing roundhouses at The One to atone. Thus is another news cycle wasted. Good work, Larry.