“I admire the Islam,” said the Senator who would like to hold the reins on U.S. relations with Iran, Iraq, and the Muslim world. “There’s a lot of good principles in it,” McCain added, showing that his administration would be at least as hard on grammar as terrorists.

Most stories I’ve seen about this interview focus on McCain’s preference for a Christian in the White House, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone outside of the Founding Fathers. I’m much more interested in how the Straight Talk Express seems to be navigating directly out of John McCain’s keister.

Just for a day, I’d love to see interviewers, all at once, I-am-Spartacus-style, start giving these candidates the same sort of pop quizzes that George W. Bush so utterly failed back in 2000. “And can you tell us, Senator, what the Five Pillars of Islam are, say, and which ones you personally consider ‘good,’ and why?” This would make Celebrity Jeopardy! look like the Algonquin Round Table by comparison.

Then again, the Bush strikeout didn’t make a damn bit of difference. Never mind.

Probably better just to emulate the Buddhism here.