It's been a tough few weeks for Fox News. Rudy went down in flames. Mitt schlepped offstage. And they were left with John McCain.

How fortunate then that Michelle Obama said yesterday that she is "really proud" of her country for the first time in her adult life. Bingo!

The comment, admittedly somewhat hard to figure, has gotten regular rotation all day on Fox. You can watch the emergence of a general election attack theme here, as Brit Hume mulls the glorious possibilities:

The McCain camp knows a good thing when it sees it, and Cindy McCain became the campaign's point person for highlighting the remark as evidence, apparently, that Michelle Obama is an America-hater at heart:

Cindy McCain was more expansive in a later appearance at a rally, milking the line for a big round of applause.

A general election preview, in February.