This is the equivalent of a musician going out on a high note or the comic leaving the stage on the heels of his best joke, to the sound of applause from the crowd.

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Mr McCain is not unfunny himself he cracked the best joke of the first debate, about his obsessive admiration for Alan Greenspan at the Federal Reserve yet his campaign persona could hardly be more different.

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Thus the mean old joke that the best thing about Belgium is the ease of travelling elsewhere has been reversed, to the benefit of Belgian private banks.

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