A Bad Week in Just 48 Hours

John McCain's campaign suffered repeated body blows from fellow conservatives along with self-inflicted wounds in the last two days.



To review, there was the David Letterman huffing and puffing over MCain stiffing his show at the last minute. Link to the YouTube video:



David Letterman Reacts to John mccain Suspending Campaign,"



Then, of more substance, there was the blast from Goerge Will (George F. Will - McCain Loses His Head):

"Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.....It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

And today after the Sarah Palin interviews, conservative columnist (uber conservative?) called for Palin to remove herself from the ticket. Ouch. (Palin Problem by Kathleen Parker on National Review Online). Said Parker,

"Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.... Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country."

All the while McCain was 'suspending his campaign' (even though TV ads continued to run and what was his trip to DC if not political) and called for the debate to be postponed until Congress reached a deal on the financial crisis. And then announcing that he would attend the debate after all even though no deal had been reached. In fact, his campaign had already posted "McCain Wins the Debate" before he announced he would participate! McCain Wins Debate - The Fix

Not to mention the Republican candidate for governor in the state of Washington who doesn't want to be identified as a Republican on the ballot! He prefers "GOP Party" - the Grand Old Party Party - apparently because polling showed a lot of people don't realize GOP equals Republican. GOP or Republican? Democrats sue Washington state over how ballot ...

Of course, in these days the twelve-minute news cycle, McCain can undo it all with a 'win' in tonight's debate. Maybe.