Not the lamest ad he’s ever run — the “build the damn fence” spot will never be topped — but darned close. I was with him all the way until the end. Hayworth’s claiming he’s an “outsider,” McCain wants to remind people that that’s far from the truth — fair enough. But then comes this gut-punch, in full-on sneering voiceover: “Outsider? A lobbyist is as inside Washington as it gets.” Yeah, see, I would think that being a four-term incumbent senator and former presidential nominee is “as inside Washington as it gets.” Am I wrong about that? Have we actually reached the point where lobbyists, rather than the people they’re lobbying, are the epitome of Beltway sclerosis? That’s some trick.

By the way, does this mean that McCain is once again, officially, a Maverick? What better way to describe a true-blue “outsider” like him?