Dave Gets John

McCain finally gives Letterman his makegood.

Fair Enough?

Does it matter?

John McCain returned to "Late Show With David Letterman" Thursday night, appologizing for canceling an appearance three weeks ago, but should the onetime media favorite have been preparing for an ambush?

A study shows the Kings of Late Night are not equal-opportunity destroyers this year when it comes to telling jokes about the candidates for president and vice president -- they're hammering Republicans a stunning seven times more often than they skewer Democrats.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs, a media analysis group, kept a tally of jokes told about the presidential contenders on the "Late Show" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" in the five weeks after McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his running mate and vaulted the little-known Alaska governor into the national spotlight.

The total: Republicans, 286. Democrats, 42.

Makeup

David Letterman's lambasting of John McCain on Wednesday night is causing a ruckus at CBS. Seems Dave used "internal" CBS News video from Katie's interview with McCain.

McCain canceled his appearance on Letterman's show late Wednesday, several hours before he was due to appear - claiming he had to return to Washington to deal with the financial crisis.

But when Letterman discovered the Senator sitting down with Couric at the same time he was supposed to be taping "Late Night," he unloaded on McCain.

"I'm more than a little disappointed by this behavior," Letterman told viewers. "This doesn't smell right."

"This is not the way a tested hero behaves. Somebody's putting something in his Metamucil," he said.

Letterman got his revenge.

Later in the show, Letterman showed an internal, live video of McCain being tended to by a make-up artist before the Couric interview. Both Couric and Letterman are on CBS.

Rock Star Mocked

It wasn't long ago that comedians were complaining about the difficulty of finding an angle for mocking Barack Obama. No longer.

Last month Jon Stewart, host of the satirical news programme The Daily Show, had to tell his audience that they were allowed to laugh at Mr Obama after a joke fell flat.

But Mr Stewart made comedic hay during the Illinois Senator's international trip, mocking his progress through the Holy Land, where he said the candidate stopped "in Bethlehem to see the manger where he was born."

The angle now is that Barack is high on himself, and comedians are doing their best to knock him down a peg or two.

The attitude was summed up by Dana Milbank, the Washington Post's resident political humourist, who declared: "Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee."

Mr Letterman listed top ten signs that Barack Obama is overconfident, which included "Offered Bush 20 bucks for the 'Mission Accomplished' banner" and "Having head measured for Mount Rushmore."

This is all to be expected - the immunity to being mocked was an artificial condition brought on by racial discomfort, and the religious zeal with which Barack broke onto the scene.

Mr Obama is also under fire for moving politically towards the centre ground, moderating positions he had once boasted were evidence of his unique appeal.

Jay Leno, of the long-running Tonight Show, said: "Barack Obama now says he's open to offshore oil drilling. So, apparently, when he promised change, he was talking about his mind."