Man, what a dreadful week for Palin-McCain! Here's the rundown of all the unforced errors from a flailing campaign:
1. McCain tells the world that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong" as the markets tumble and major financial institutions crumble. And then he inexplicably claims that he was subtly referring to American workers. Obama hammers him for being out of touch.
2. McCain proposes a Commission to look into what went wrong with the economy. Obama hammers him for wanting to pass the buck when we all know what's wrong with the economy.
3. McCain's campaign claims he created the Blackberry! The press hammers him ... for obvious reasons. The staffer in question is thrown under the bus.
4. McCain chief economic adviser Carly Fiorina says that neither Palin nor McCain could run a major company. The press hammers her too ... and she gets thrown under the bus.
5. McCain says that he would as President "fire" SEC Chairman Chris Cox ... even though as President he would have no such ability. The McCain campaign is so punch drunk from getting hammered all week that it issues a response to something Obama never said.
6. Palin proposes to put the government checkbook online, which the press dutifully notes is an idea that Obama already implemented.
7. Palin tells a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that "it's good to be in Grand Rapids!" The press is reminded of Gerald Ford.
8. McCain appears to not know who Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero is as he seems to call the European NATO ally just another dictator in Latin American. Rather than admit that McCain blew the interview, his campaign claims that McCain knew exactly what he was doing when he adding a NATO ally to the Axis of Evil 2.0. The press stops hammering Palin and goes back to hammering McCain.
Man, what a list! And the week isn't even over yet! The good thing for McCain, though, is that each gaffe crowds out the ones before it. It's so hard to focus on his mistakes when there are so many.
McCain's moments of blankness seem to be increasing in frequency. Imagine the concerns of his handlers, who must find ways to try to keep him alert for the upcoming Presidential debates.
Over the past two weeks McCain's energy level and mental acuity seem to have flagged noticeably. His movements have become more lurching and stiff, his reading of notecards has become even more halting than usual, and his responses to questions have become more robotically scripted or-- when he forgets the script--abrupt, hostile, or even incoherent.
It would not be surprising if McCain were to have an acute health crisis even before the election.
While any one of these so-called gaffes could be excused in and of itself (if you try), or if the spotty occurence of slips attenuated their affect over time (it's been a while since the little Sunni-Shia problem), we're approaching a point where quantity makes a qualitative difference.
What really strikes me, however, is the way his campaign staff is scrambling to explain away the mistakes and mixups, the increasingly convoluted excuses which border now on aggressive re-writing of the event ("that's the way he meant it, take it or leave it"), all have an air of growing desperation. The carefully constructed facade is slipping, and every once in a while we see the real face of the, ah, Palin-McCaine ticket.
John Mccain: Nothing But More Of The Same
Video of McCain's many recent deer-in-the-headlights moments of confusion would be easy to assemble and the images would speak for themselves.
(For instance I didn't know about the Cedar Rapids/Grand Rapids thing until just this moment).
Dear John McCain: implode more slowly. kthxbai.
A campaign spokesperson insisted that Palin was referring not to that specific proposal, but rather to "that kind of transparency in general."
ROFL. So, now Palin means that Palin/McCain will just do all the stuff Obama wants to do, and has already done.