Can a campaign this bad really be in contention?

The McCain campaign cringe factor spirals ever higher:

[New Hampshire businessman Steve] Duprey trotted out a dizzying array of caps in both bright and muted colors, all sporting unique logos such as "McCain Pirate," "Keeping America Safe" and "Team Kaleefornia" (in homage to the Arizona senator's close ally, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger). Most of the time the colors reflect the hats' message -- "Veterans for McCain" is in camouflage, "Another day at the beach" is in lime -- but sometimes they don't, such as the hot pink "McCain Pirate."

"The sign of an overactive and underutilized mind," Duprey muttered as he moved on from caps to shirts.

His shirts are just as varied, with matching "Johnny Mac is my Home Boy" and "The McCain Blogettes are my Home Girls" in black, and the simpler "1191" in maroon, which refers to the number of delegates McCain needed in order to secure the GOP nomination...

While searching for a hilarious picture of personalizable flip flops to suggest further swag Duprey may want to produce, I found...well, this:

News reporters on the plane also received yellow-and-blue flip-flops printed with the message "McCain ... Another Day at the Beach..."

Isn't that a rather dangerous form of footwear for a senator who has been accused by some in his own party of changing his positions on issues such as immigration reform and tax cuts?

It would be, if any of the media applied the same standards to McCain as they do to other candidates. But apparently their love of swag extends even to the worst swag in the history of the world.