John McCain choppered into hostile territory tonight.
The GOP presidential candidate, who famously angered David Letterman when he skipped out on a Late Show appearance for a Katie Couric interview last month, returned to make peace with the irritable Indiana native.
The results were more lively than some of the debates, if less dependent upon Joe the Plumber, and even had some Sarah Palin TV spoilers.
"Can you stay?" asked Letterman, who has gotten far more mileage out of McCain's cancellation than he ever would have had the candidate actually just showed up.
"I screwed up," McCain said twice, by way of explanation.
The Republican was so contrite—or so concerned about another round of jokes from the late-night host—that he chartered a helicopter to get to the appearance after his campaign plane was grounded by bad weather.
Not that Letterman was too worried. In a funny bit, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who replaced McCain last time, was literally waiting in the wings should the senator miss his appearance.
Jokes aside, Letterman quizzed McCain vigorously about the debates, the campaign rhetoric and the qualifications of Gov. Palin, even pressing the senator about whether McCain believed she would be ready in case the U.S. experienced another 9/11 type attack.
"Absolutely. She has inspired Americans," said McCain.
Talk of Palin eventually led to talk of—who else?—Tina Fey. "Tina Fey does a great job," said McCain. "Sarah Palin enjoys it."
Letterman asked if Palin was planning on appearing on Saturday Night Live. "I think she is, yeah," said McCain. "Probably get more of an audience than our debate did."
When asked to confirm whether Palin would appear on SNL this weekend, an NBC spokesperson told E! News, "We are not confirming."
Overall, despite the heated exchanges, McCain's mea culpa seemed to work ("I'm willing to put this behind us," Letterman said at one point), but the candidate wasn't afraid to pull a mavericky kind of move.
"Now's not the time to raise anyone's taxes," McCain deadpanned to the host. "Except yours."
(Originally published Oct. 16, 2008, at 4:50 p.m.)