New Republican attack dog Joe Lieberman is apparently running around assuring folks that John McCain will not die while in office.

People say to me, oh jeez, he’s 72 and he’s got skin cancer,” Lieberman said, adding: “I can tell you he’s been in remission for eight years. Secondly, I talked — because I get asked this question so much — I talked to doctors and insurance actuaries. And they tell me based on McCain’s age, his health, including skin cancer, he’ll live till at least 85. And probably longer.

Two things here.  First, the going is tough when a campaign talking point centers on the need to assuage fears that you might die on the job.  During my next job interview, I’ll be sure to highlight this point when focusing on my strengths.  Question: “What are your greatest strengths?”  Eddy: …[standard strengths response] and, actuarially, I’m not expected to die anytime soon.”

I guess such talk is necessary when you’re running a 72 year-old cancer survivor for president who limits a review of his medical records to a small circle of journalists who were given just three hours to sort through everything while ensconced in a cone of silence.

Second, all this not dying talk reminds me of this classic scene from “Team America: World Police”:

Obama attracted 100,000 people to his rally in Denver over the weekend.  And while the McCain campaign struggles to explain away Sarah Palin’s $150,000 makeover, Obama has managed to amass a 170-69 lead in newspaper endorsements.  Included among the Obama endorsements was that of the Anchorage Daily News.  Doh!

I saw a clip of George Herbert Walker Bush debating Geraldine Ferraro the other night on Hardball.  In it, Ferraro played the victimization card quite nicely, which I suspect will be a core part of Palin’s strategy tonight as well (i.e. make Biden look mean and condescending).  So my advice for Biden – let Palin do all the talking.  Just sit back and let her destroy herself with her own words, just as she has done on her television interviews.