I really couldn’t decide what to write about…

Should I highlight the delicious news that John McCain’s much-anticipated, much-desired (by some) appearance in Vermont - a robo-stop stump speech for Martha Rainville - had been dashed by inclement weather?

Or, the bizarre fact that one of the medical centers in Montreal is known by its acronym, C.H.U.M. (the Centre Hopital de l’Université de Montréal)?

I mean… Chum?!

I was in Montreal this weekend, and passed by a CHUM entrance sign on St. Denis, with its kinda cool, hip logo…

And I thought, c’mon, of all things you might choose to call a medical facility, I don’t think chum is the one I would have gone with!

And, hey… Montreal is a bilingual city, whether it wants to admit it or not… So language can’t fully explain this perverse, dark, macabre gallows humor, can it?

What, did they mean chum as in pal?

Please.

But, then I thought, John McCain is kinda like chum for the supposed “centrist” voter.

So, maybe I could combine the two things that inspired me this weekend…

You know, McCain as chum for the ones who thinks criticizing the President is ~just not appropriate during wartime,~ despite the fact that they disagree with virtually every decision he’s made…

You know, the Lieberman Democrats…

And the part of Barack Obama that makes some of us cringe, sometimes…

The ones who think The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Chris Mathews are above reproach…

The “swing” voters who actually voted for Bush in 2004, despite the fact that they disagreed with virtually every decision he made…

The ones who think the media-generated middle American worldview must be accepted, not re-shaped, regardless of what they themselves believe…

They eat the McCain chum with gusto.

And they voted for Douglas in 2004, too…

So how could I ignore the missed visit after hearing that Rich Tarrant was trying to muscle his way into the McCain appearance?

(Cuz, no matter what the personal tiff was between two political operatives, that’s what was going on here, I think. It’s just that McCain’s official staff would have handled it more graciously than did the hired hand.)

After all that - and after all the hope the Rainville camp must have had for the glow of McCain to reflect on Ms. Martha - the tempetuous weather (and the lame Rutland airport) conspired to thwart all their best intentions…

It may not be nice, but it was hard not to gloat just a little.

And, who knows, this may mean a trip by McCain in late October, when Martha Rainville might actually be able to benefit from it.

So CHUM or chum? Who could choose?

Who could choose between sick doctor humor and taking just a bit of time to shine a little light on what must feel like a tragic turn of events to those who so desperately wanted a piece of the McCain magic.

Not me.

But, remember, come late October, McCain may just end up being the chum that keeps on giving.

[Crossposted at Green Mountain Daily]