Last week, I reported on Obama's radiant,  mesmerizing, slightly spittled High Definition look as he accepted the Democratic nomination for president. In the post, I reasoned that if even the 47-year-old NILF came off as less-than-perfect in HD, the 72-year-old McCain had an even tougher beauty contest in front of him. (Earlier, Slate's Timothy Noah went so far as to suggest that McCain's championing of HD technology, as radium to Curie, might be the cause that would do him in).

How wrong I was.

Note to John McCain's beautician: Strike fast with the promotional tie-ins. How quickly can you pump out the McCain/Palin age-reversing foundation / ass-kicking lipstick box set?