Par for the course.  

IF OBAMA HAD ONLY TAKEN MY OFFER OF JOINT TOWN HALL MEETINGS I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO SUSPEND MY CAMPAIGN AND SAVE AMERICA!

What I mean by that is, if you have read Suskind's book One Percent Doctrine you will recognize this abrupt change of rules. The intention is deliberately to foul your opponent, put him off his stride, and move aggressively against him unespectedly while the opponent and the audience are disoriented. Bush, in college, playing basketball, deliberately fouled his friend (who was his opponent in the pick-up game) in the back of the knees, then proceded to ram ahead unhindered. When his friend asked him "Why did you do something like that?" Bush gave his smirk, and said, "it worked didn't it?" McCaine has exactly the same personality. I seriously doubt the debates will be held at all, McCaine will romp forward doing television interviews, the SwiftBoaters will begin their slime blast, and everyone will wonder what happened.

Remember how the Bush campaign jumped the chess board in 2000 and went straight to the Supreme Court to stop the Florida vote count---- a totally out-of-the-blue maneuver that no one knew how to respond to and still play the game. Well, this is the same thing.  

Something physical is going on with him. Facial nerve irritation? A Botox shot that went terribly wrong? Mini-stroke? Tumor on a nerve? Simple exhaustion?

Remember that over fifty percent of all melanoma patients (and McCain has had four instances) eventually develop metastases to the brain. A typical symptom of such metastases is seizures. If McCain has one (or has already had one) in a public venue, will it be censored out of the news?

McCain, despite his $5000+ makeup jobs, has been looking progressively worse for the past three or four weeks. I can't help but wonder if now is on the brink of a health crisis.

One of the more irritating facts of my life is the number of palin (notice that I didn't say mccain) supporters that I know.  They would like nothing better than to have palin as President.  With some of the nut cases on the far right, I would not be the least surprised to find out that poison levels are rising in mccain's blood.

Kinda looks like my dad about 2 months before he died.

Stay well, John Mccain.

Your always worth a couple of laughs.

"Politics before Country!"

Called out on his plan by Harry Reid and Congressional Democrats to prevent him from demagoguing  an intervention plan from a populist perspective, McCain had to get to DC to kill any deal.

This seems to be his dilemma. Had Democrats and responsible Republicans worked out a deal (and we can debate the merits of such deal at another time and in another thread), McCain would have sought to rail against it. The danger was that such a position would be inconsistent with his entire argument for being president: that he was someone to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats for the good of the nation.

But nor could he support a bill that would anathema to the GOP wing-nut "let the banks fail, who needs credit anyway" know-nothing base.

Country first, my ass.

I do not think the country will be fooled by this. But it is sad watching this happen to McCain. As a politician, he has been a fraud his entire career, but given those five years as a POW, he deserved a better end than this. His utter self-destuction is taking on tragic, Shakespearean proportions.  

the low information, credulous "independent" voters out there will swallow the absurd spin that McCain knows what he is doing and that he is riding to Washington to save the economy all by himself.

And with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank fumbling away on our team, McThuselah might just get away with the scam. Lucy just pulled away the football again. Don't our players ever learn?

Why in the world are the tracking polls tied today? Answer: the Republicans never make the mistake of overestimating the intelligence of the American voter.  

True, Americans elected George W. Bush (only once), but throughout our history, as a nation we also elected people like Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the right men, as history has proved, to lead us through the worst times and the gravest threats we have faced.

In times of true, nation-threatening crisis, the collective judgment of voters does seem to get it right.

It's the only way I sleep at night.

One of the more irritating facts of my life as an older person is that I know mostly mccain/palin supporters.  I am thankful for this blog because it is great to have some people with my viewpoint.  From listening and talking to these bush/mccain/palin supporters, I am rapidly losing faith in the American voter.  My friends seem to fall into two groups.  

The Brainwashed.  These are folks struggling just like you and I with health insurance, layoffs, etc.  The difference is that they have totally bought into the fox news/conservative talking points. They complain about their health insurance, I point out that Obama wants to help them.  Their Reply - No, he is a liberal, socialist, under control by the left, wants big government, etc.  Even with America in a shambles, they totally support bush.  I ask why.  They say bush is a good moral man and great leader.  It is NOT his fault, he had bad advisors. I point out that a great leader is able to weigh advice and make wise choices. Usually this ends the conversation.

The Low Information Voter.  These that I know are not stupid.  They are just working hard with long hours and don't follow politics very closely.  This makes them really susceptible to 2-3 word talking points. The other week, one asked me about who I was voting for.  I said Obama.  He was surprised in that several friends had told him that Obama is a muslim.

Washington Mutual just went down this evening.

Watch the Asian markets tonight.

It should be Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on Wall Street tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back in WDC, the House Republicans--hand-in-glove with a dim but politically conniving McCain--screech for even less regulation and even lower capital gains taxes before they will sign on to a rescue package. Tonight they even refused to join the negotiations.

Mind you, Paul Krugman, who understands this stuff as well as anyone, is skeptical about the emerging package, but for other reasons, including questions regarding the general competence of Paulson and Bernanke, who seemed not to see this crisis coming. Why should we trust their judgment now?

making statements like the one in this 2 minute clip about the bailout, I'm less concerned about getting some kind of resolution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

and I'm sure there are those who will continue to pretend that McCain was a selfless patriot when he "suspended" his campaign and rushed to Washington to perform laying on of the hands. Where was Barack Obama? Running from responsibility, not meeting McCain's bipartisanship half way--- or so his ads will say, I'm sure. The ads are running still, right? This is all so bizarre that I have to believe there is something else going on; I have felt that way for almost an entire week.

Despite the tactical maneuvering and drama from McCain this week, polls show Colorado and Michigan are moving firmly in Obama's direction. And more states are back in play now than a week ago. So Obama doesn't need to 'win' the debates, he just needs to keep the campaign momentum from shifting.

I'm becoming more and more concerned about McCain's mental and/or physical health every day. His nearly total silence at the WH meeting yesterday was really bizarre. If he had been in anything approaching a normal state of mind, he had to have realized that leaving it up to the knowledgable Congressmen to do the talking would only confirm the obvious that his request to Bush to hold the meeting was a political stunt.

If for whatever reason, whether it's giving up on a lost cause, health reasons, realizing that he'd have to put in long hours of hard work if he were elected (he of all people must know it's a killer of a job), etc., is there any legal process for the GOP to select a replacement candidate this close to the election ? As most of you already know, the Virginia ballots have already been approved I don't know of any process to substitute a replacement candidate. I think I recall that years ago when a Congressional candidate died his name remained on the ballot and (I think) a replacement was added (many people voted for the dead man anyway). But I have no idea what would happen in a Presidential election.

I don't seriously believe that McCain will drop out either voluntarily or because of health reasons, but so many bizarre things have already happened that anything is possible.

Does anyone reading RK have any insight on this ?