Ferrablog

Also in today's USA TODAY, John McCain implicitly tells folks to not buy into the culture of fear and insecurity the Bush administration is trying to create these days:

''Get on the damn elevator! Fly on the damn plane! Calculate the odds of being harmed by a terrorist! It's still about as likely as being swept out to sea by a tidal wave!''

''Suck it up, for crying out loud. You're almost certainly going to be OK. And in the unlikely event you're not, do you really want to spend your last days cowering behind plastic sheets and duct tape?

''That's not a life worth living, is it?''

Truer words have never been spoken. It's a cliche, but if you live your life in fear, the terrorists win. Nothing sets humankind back more than irrational fear, and it's tool of choice for those who try to influence us.

UPDATE: More words of wisdom from McCain. The NY Times runs this story today:

Senator John McCain added a rare bit of restraint to the escalating tone of the presidential campaign today, rejecting assertions by other Republicans that his colleague, Senator John Kerry, would endanger national security if elected.

``I don't think that,'' Mr. McCain said on CBS this morning. ``I think that John Kerry is a good and decent man. I think he has served his country. I think he has different points of view on different issues and he will have to explain his voting record. But this kind of rhetoric, I think, is not helpful in educating and helping the American people make a choice.''

Mr. McCain also defended Mr. Kerry in an appearance on NBC's "Today," saying in response to a question that he did not believe Mr. Kerry was "weak on defense."