Flailing, flailing, over the bounding waves

By Carol Gee

We do not know what the McCain-Palin ticket will do next. Senator McCain flails around in a dark sea of desperation. A couple of my favorite writers posted descriptions of all the goings-on that have all of us political junkies scratching our heads in amazement. To begin: "If at first you don't succeed...," at The Washington Monthly, was written by Steve Benen (10/12/08). Benen discusses McCain's several rather lame attempts to propose something coherent for the economic crisis. To quote:

In each instance, McCain seemed very excited about his latest thought, touted it for about a day, faced resistance from those who pointed out that McCain didn't appear to know what he was talking about; and then forgot about his idea soon after. A day or two later, he'd start the cycle over again with some new idea.

Now he's poised to offer yet another proposal, based at least in part on tax cuts on capital gains that don't actually exist in the midst of a financial collapse.

McCain has simply gone from one ridiculous notion to another, flailing around, desperately looking for something coherent to say. It's not working.

The Politico added, "McCain's new package would amount to a do-over from the hasty introduction of McCain's mortgage buy-up program."

Report stings Palin over Troopergate# -- The report said that Governor Palin "abused her official powers." The findings of the report were not surprising,* actually, in light of Palin's rather transparent ambition.# And, of course, McCain has his own (Keating) scandal# lurking back there in the past. Now these two "match," in a way. This post, on how the report might affect the outcome of the election, is from Marcie at emptywheel.firedoglake.com, written on 10/10/08. Near the end she questions his maverick credentials,# as others have in the past. To quote her four main points:

First, I sort of suspect that John McCain may have been warned TrooperGate might break badly today, when he decided mid-day to put his legacy ahead of his ego. . . [defending Obama]. . .

Second, at least for the moment, the McCain team is standing behind Palin. They released a statement that claimed that the report had found Palin had not done anything wrong, that the investigation was partisan, and that Palin looked forward to the Personnel Board investigation results as she continues her conversation with the American people. . .

. . . my third point. McCain's whole campaign since he picked Palin was about "mavericks" who take on the old way of doing things. Was. That's not going to work anymore. So now he's got an unqualified but charismatic fundie fire breather, but a really tainted claim to maverickyness . . .

So point four. At some point, the Republicans are going to decide that McCain's going to lose, and they need to save as many of the congressional seats as they can. They've already started pulling advertising out of toss up Congressional districts. . .

So to sum up: earlier today, there was a ceiling for Obama's support. But I think that roof just got raised.

We do know that the McCain-Palin ticket will do almost anything to win. Senator McCain flails around, seemingly markedly out of touch and willing to risk too much. Recent descriptions of the abominable way that Palin has incited anger in the crowds to whom she speaks, make knots in my stomach. And I was deeply grateful that McCain was willing to do something about it. It left me scratching my head in amazement. It will be interesting to see what Palin will be able to come up with in her next high-wire act.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo"* and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)