PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

● Shot: John McCain is the single greatest political leader of our time.

At long last, have they left no sense of decency?

White House official Kelly Sadler, during a meeting Thursday, had this to say about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for opposing President Trump’s CIA nominee over her failure to condemn torture: “It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway.”

Also Thursday, on Fox Business Network, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney had this to say about the torture of McCain, who was shot down over Hanoi with grievous wounds, but refused release to deny his captors a propaganda victory: Torture “worked on John. That’s why they call him ‘Songbird John.’ ”

And three days earlier, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a Trump cheerleader, declared the terminally ill McCain was “ridiculous” to prefer that Trump, who has belittled McCain and his heroism, not attend his funeral.

Hatch, Sadler, and the host of the Fox Business show have all apologized, as they should. But how did we let partisanship take us to this ugly place?

—Dana Milbank, the Washington Post, yesterday.

● Chaser: Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame.

—Dana Milbank, the Washington Post, October 7, 2008.