Two days ago John McCain criticized Barack Obama for appearing at a fundraiser with Barbara Streisand.No kidding. With the economy going straight to hell, young men and women getting their limbs blown off in Iraq and hurricanes working the Gulf Coast like a speed bag, insulting the Democratic candidate for being in the same room with some washed-up singer was somehow worthy.And it’s not like McCain’s comment is alone in this tornado of lunacy that’s called a presidential campaign. How did it come to this?    During the past eight years the Republican party of George W. Bush took America right to the edge of the insanity and booted it right off the cliff with a swift kick in the ass and throaty shouts of freedom like they were feature players in some Mel Gibson movie.Nothing was sacred. No insult was out of bounds. No level of incompetence was unreachable. Freedom fries and feeding tubes, sanctity of marriage and FEMA, cut-and-runners and water boarders, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. You’re either with us or against us, and if you’re against us well, screw you pal, just shut up and stop wasting our time.And God knows just how far it all might have gone until the country took a breath and threw up its hands. Granted, it took a congressman preying on young boys from his Capitol Hill office and nearly 3,000 lives ended in the president’s unfortunate Arabian adventure, but it happened. In fall 2006 America ripped the heart of Bush conservatism out of Washington, leaving behind only a rotting corpse to waste away its dying years.Of course, now we had to find someone to replace this guy.From a comedy standpoint the Republican Party trotted out one of the most memorable lineups in history. It’s hard to see how the laughable Democrat primary group from 2004 could ever be topped, but these guys did it in style.Rudy Giuliani was the early frontrunner until, well, actual voting became a factor. Mike Huckabee seemed more interested in hanging out with Chuck Norris than running the country — seriously, I still want to see just what Walker Texas Ranger favorable/unfavorable ratings that campaign was relying on.Former Senator and “Die Hard: 2” star Fred Thompson said in a debate that overturning Roe v. Wade should be “our number one focus right now” without somehow being instantly gunned down by the enraged parent of one of the 3,883 soldiers who had died in Iraq up to that point. Thompson’s verbal feats paled in comparison to Mitt Romney, who would literally say anything to be president.ANYTHING.If there’s any joy to take from this entire election it’s that Romney threw $45 million of his own cash into the race and came away with nothing. Sometimes even liberals can see a higher power at work.McCain languished in the back of the pack for much of 2007 and early 2008. But once the public got a good look at these candidates his win was probably inevitable. Say what you want about McCain, but at least he isn’t those other guys. In fact that probably should have been his campaign slogan from the beginning: “McCain ’08 — If you think I’m bad, check out the other guys.”Unfortunately that catchphrase had already been patented by the Democratic Party in time for the 2006 elections and was quickly dusted off for another go around. It didn’t really matter that the Democrats were reclining in their new majority offices and didn’t seem to be doing, well, much of anything about Iraq, gas prices or the economy.Hell, the candidates argued, that’s all George Bush’s fault. It’s not like the Democrats promised before the midterms to do anything but feign outraged protest.In the meantime, the candidates rolled out some policies finely tuned to be just liberal enough for the base to get mildly excited in theprimaries and just middle of the road enough for the rest of the country to swallow in the general election. Insert heartwarming personal story and/or groundbreaking gender/race quotient.Aaaaaand choose!Technically there were eight candidates, but really there were only two, well three counting John Edwards. Hillary Clinton seemed poised to capture the nomination everyone knew was neatly wrapped and awaiting her acceptance.Unfortunately for her, however, the voters didn’t read the script. And the race got ugly. And it got vicious. And America learned more about flag pins, PUMAs and half-crazy preachers than it ever wanted to know.The highlight was when comedian Sinbad — yeah that guy — was interviewed to rebut Clinton’s claim’s of the threat of sniper fire on hermuch-publicized 1996 trip to Bosnia.Sinbad was the voice of reason. Remember, this is a campaign for the presidency of the United States of America.But Obama captured the nomination and that was that. The candidates picked vice presidents, reorganized campaigns and finally we can hear a serious discussion on the issues.Unless Barbara Streisand is hanging around. Face it, there’s no chance.—-contact Elliott Brown at [email protected]