It looks like John McCain will be heading to tonight's presidential debate after all (according to this priceless pool report from McCain's plane, which also states, "General atmosphere is utter confusion"), but one no-show is continuing to cost the candidate, and that's McCain's now-notorious skipped Late Show appearance. David Letterman continued to rip into McCain during his monologue yesterday, even conscripting guest Paris Hilton (who had her own memorable run-in with McCain) into the proceedings. Meanwhile, executives at CBS News are up in arms about the live news feed Letterman tapped into on Wednesday night's broadcast that showed McCain getting made up in advance of his Katie Couric interview:

Several CBS News executives - who asked not to be identified - said that the stunt did not go down well within the news division. "If we had done something like that to him, someone around here would end up getting fired," one said. News officials found out Letterman was using the internal feed shortly after it showed up on an internal CBS feed carrying the "Late Show" taping. "They were pretty aggravated," a CBS News source told The Post. "But they were not about to start a fight with Letterman," the source said. "We're in the middle of a heavy, heavy news cycle and Letterman is Letterman. "He does whatever he wants and always has."

At least McCain's team will always have the hospitable Tonight Show with Jay Leno as a safe haven — though only until next year! New host Conan O'Brien may seem inoffensive enough, but we hear that NBC already has their censor button ready...