Ramesh does as good a job as can be expected laying out the case for McCain (subscription required). His claim that McCain’s chances of winning the nomination are all-but-certain is weak, and I don’t buy that McCain’s anti-First Amendment crusade is anywhere near its endpoint. As for Ramesh’s McCain interview, Jon Chait is absolutely right:

This is just a hilarious window into the process: A conservation between somebody who is deeply informed and passionate about a subject that he considers to have enormous moral weight and a politician who knows almost nothing about the issue and cares even less. It’s obvious that McCain’s thinking throughout the interview is entirely confined to the question of what he can say to avoid displeasing his questioner (and, by extension, social conservatives.)

Are you willing to ban cloning? Sure. Will you support the Brownback bill? Yeah, I think I’m a co-sponsor. Or maybe not. Whatever. Can I have your vote now?

This kind of box-checking goes on all the time, in both parties. It’s just hilarious to see it in real time.