When I was in college (Go Vandy!) I majored in English. At the time I just a college-aged kid who loved reading.
In the 18 years since I graduated I've experienced and learned a great deal about my fellow humans and myself. I've gotten married and had three beautiful daughters, but I've also witnessed my friend's marriages collapse due to the dumbest of human actions like lust (both considered and drunken), the most tragic (simply growing apart) and the worst which was outright betrayal because someone wanted to re-marry rich.
I've seen - in myself and others - much of the best and worst of human traits greed, generosity, ambition, doubt, despair, joy, etc. And through the years my appreciation for how great literature (and art) truly reveals the essence of humanity has deepened my appreciation of the great writers and artists.
I realize now that great writers are great because of their ability to hold up a mirror to the best and the worst of humanity. Shakespeare, for example, is great because his plays still have resonance today. I saw the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's recent adaptation of Richard III and the parallels to Bush were ridiculously clear.
My friends, John McCain is King Lear. Having scorned the daughter (the "moderate Republican" media) who loved him and handed his throne to the daughters that hate him (obviously Palin and the theocrats) McCain will soon be King Lear - lurching around the country complaining to anyone who will listen that the fates conspired to bring about his downfall when the fault lies not in his stars but in himself.
Eventually his reputation will be somewhat rehabilitated by the media and the left who will be eager to defend McCain against the crap that the theocrats are going to throw his way. This rehabilitation will take place in the context of the war that is going to be fought between the factions of the Republican Party.
By next Spring McCain will cast a vote that the Dems need on some bill and he'll give a speech decrying the Republican strategy of gridlock. Then he'll go on The Daily Show for a big kiss from Jon Stewart, and we'll have a wave of stories about how the old "maverick" McCain is back.
Alas, by then, the damage to McCain's body and psyche will be complete. He's going to lose to Obama badly, but the real damage is going to be inflicted by his neo-con "daughter" to whom he has blindly given away his most precious possession - his reputation. Just like pathetic old King Learn, John McCain is about to become a man without a country. He'll be shunned by the Republicans, and looked upon with pity by the Senate Dems.
I don't know if this outcome will be "deserved" or not. I've seen enough of the world to know that there is too much randomness to say people get what they "deserve." But I do believe that the luckiest people in the world are those who are fortunate enough to escape the randomness of life's bad events (accidents, crime) and are able to determine their fates largely due to their own actions and character traits.
John McCain's downfall is, tragically, entirely of his own making. We should all take the opportunity to look at his life and to examine our own to seek to understand where our actions and characters traits are taking us.
PS: Sarah Palin is like some character out of a Flannery O'Connor novel. Just plain mean and destined to end up despised by everyone.