At some point during this summer or fall, St. McCain is going to display his famous temper.

I can see it in his face. He’s stressing, and being a decade’s worth of Mr. Mavericky Straight Talk of the Media Express, he’s simply not wired to contain himself.

All it will take is some bad polling news over a reasonably long period of time, maybe 2-4 weeks, probably after the conventions.

Oh, I know he’s handled not to do it, and I might be wrong. But there was something about that forced smile after his comment about Obama’s preference to lose a war to win an election that lit the light bulb of personal insight in me.

Update: I’m no health care, defense, tax policy, or any other kind of wonk. But I know my human beings, at least the American kind, and I’ll rest on my record comfortably about that. People are simply not that complicated if you get a read on them, and since McCain has been in the way of every TV camera in the world for as long as I can remember, I feel I have a read on him.

We’ll see. Like I said, I could be wrong. But I’ll bet the farm I’m not when it comes to McCain’s private conversations, and bet most of the farm I’m right on it happening publicly, even it is just a minor meltdown.

If Obama can maintain his composure, which he seems preternaturally disposed to do (and being the first viable black Presidential candidate this isn’t all that surprising, I mean, imagine what that would take, not unlike Jackie Robinson), McCain can be cracked like the crackers who hated Robinson.

I know I could do it. I’ve been making authority figures sweat since I was a little kid. Using people’s own words against them is an art form. McCain offers a lot of material.