Back in July, an envious McCain campaign blasted Barack Obama for being "presumptuous" during his tour of European capitals. That charge was not only echoed in the right-wing media, but amplified by the Washington Post's Dana Milbank. But with conflict now raging between Russia and Georgia, it is the presumptuous John McCain who is pretending to be president of the United States.

On Friday, the Washington Post highlighted McCain's hypocrisy in aggressively inserting himself into the crisis in the Caucusus from its inception:

The extent of McCain's involvement in the military conflict in Georgia appears remarkable among presidential candidates, who traditionally have kept some distance from unfolding crises out of deference to whoever is occupying the White House. The episode also follows months of sustained GOP criticism of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who was accused of acting too presidential for, among other things, briefly adopting a campaign seal and taking a trip abroad that included a huge rally in Berlin.

No doubt, almost as soon as Russian forces began swarming into Georgia, a bellicose John McCain began substituting himself for the more circumspect President Bush. On Tuesday, McCain grabbed the bully-pulpit, declaring that despite Tbilisi's gamble in reoccupying South Ossetia, "Today, we are all Georgians." (Given McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann's extensive lobbying on behalf of the Saakashvili government, Americans could be forgiven for wondering if McCain's was a paid commercial announcement.)

The McCain shadow government hardly ends at presuming to speak for the American people. On Wednesday, McCain dispatched virtual ambassadors to Georgia, announcing that his water-carriers Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham would travel to Tbilisi under the feeble guise of their Armed Forces committee memberships. Then on Thursday, McCain penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, "We Are All Georgians." It's no wonder that former Reagan defense official and Obama adviser Lawrence Korb concluded with astonishment:

"We talk about how there's only one president at a time, so the idea that you would send your own emissaries and really interfere with the process is remarkable. It's very risky and can send mixed messages to foreign governments...They accused Obama of being presumptuous, but he didn't do anything close to this."

Those mixed messages are especially dangerous when they are as confused at those coming from McCain. In the past, his tough talk has included on-again/off-again promises to expel Russia from the G8, while still counting on Moscow's cooperation in nuclear nonproliferation initiatives. And just yesterday, McCain amazingly declared:

"My friends, we have reached a crisis, the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War."

(McCain's butchery of history should come as no surprise. After all, McCain in July erased the American war in Afghanistan when he labeled Iraq "the first major conflict since 9/11." And on Wednesday, McCain then edited out the war in Iraq, announcing, " In the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations.")

McCain's grand posturing on the fighting between Russia and Georgia is just his latest effort to play up his supposed commander-in-chief credentials. But John McCain isn't President of the United States; he just plays one on TV.