I'm certainly looking forward to hearing John McCain try to explain why it'll help our economy to raise taxes on your health care and give massive new tax breaks to Big Oil. I'm also eager to hear how Sarah Palin has foreign policy experience because she made Alaska National Guard command decisions has been to Iraq loves IHOP.
But more than that, I'm curious to see if John McCain will continue his remarkable run of rage. It began at the first presidential debate when McCain refused to make eye contact with Obama. It continued at a Des Moines Register editorial meeting when McCain seemed to grind his teeth down to dust in the face of some very straightforward, fair questions. And now McCain is buying nothing but negative ads and baiting audiences to call Obama a terrorist. Before the last 24 hours, I wondered if McCain realized how hateful he's been. But today, I'm convinced he sees vicious attacks as his only path to victory.
So as much as the talking heads will tell us how McCain needs to attack Obama and articulate valid policy proposals, if he can't do it without coming off as a consdesending, angry curmudgeon, voters will reject his arguments:
What McCain doesn't realize is that his greatest enemy isn't Obama, or even the collapsing economy. It's the perception that he's an erratic old coot. That creates a deadly Catch-22: The only way you erase a 6-point deficit is by doing something dramatic. But the moment McCain does something dramatic, he reminds people he's an erratic old coot--the reason he's down in the first place.
Can McCain thread the needle? Land blows on Obama and bolster himself as the alternative without tarnishing his own brand? With his boy Tom Brokaw moderating, I suppose anything's possible. But if I had any money left after the stock market's collapse, I'd put it on McCain continuing his downward spiral tonight.
Going to a local debate-watching party tonight? The Green Miles will be at the Arlington Democrats party at Bailey's tonight. They've gotten over 200 people for both debates, so it should be a good crowd again tonight. You can RSVP on Facebook or find local events near you at My.BarackObama.com. And please post local events in the comments below!Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Republican Volunteer. "It was election night 1986, and John McCain had just been elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time. Even so, he was not in a good mood. McCain was yelling at the top of his lungs and poking the chest of a young Republican volunteer who had set up a lectern that was too tall for the 5-foot-9 politician to be seen to advantage, according to a witness to the outburst. 'Here this poor guy is thinking he has done a good job, and he gets a new butt ripped because McCain didn't look good on television,' Jon Hinz told a reporter Thursday. At the time, Hinz was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. ... Hinz said McCain's treatment of the young campaign worker in 1986 troubled him for years. 'There were an awful lot of people in the room,' Hinz recalled. 'You'd have to stick cotton in your ears not to hear it. He (McCain) was screaming at him, and he was red in the face. It wasn't right, and I was very upset at him.'" (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, "Stories Surface On Senator's Demeanor," The Arizona Republic, 11/5/99)
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