GOP's closing argument: GRIDLOCK

In a year where Americans have proved over and over that they want serious change this year, the GOP has settled on a killer final argument.  The opposite of change.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Republican party has, some how, settled in on an anti-change gridlock message to close out the "we want change" election, and it's time to start calling them on it.
McCain and the RNC have been pushing this sorry argument for a few days now.  Here's the Boston Globe from ealier last week:

As the race enters its final two weeks, John McCain's advisers say the campaign has settled on a closing appeal that targets Congressional Democrats as much as Barack Obama: Keeping a Republican in the White House is the best way to stop the Democrats from dominating the legislative agenda....

Yesterday, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham introduced McCain at a rally in this St. Louis suburb as "the best check and balance you can find to tell Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi not to raise your taxes and grow the government." Over the last week, McCain has regularly declared that Obama is "planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, and concede defeat in Iraq."

Advisers say that McCain will begin marketing divided government more directly in coming days as part of a summation targeted at undecided independents, whom Graham expects will break "three-to-one" against the race's "virtual incumbent," as he describes Obama. "It's an argument that works in the last four or five days," said Black....

The appeal aligns with much of McCain's recent advertising ... [including that] sponsored by the Republican National Committee and not the campaign itself....

And McCain is keeping it up even now.  From a key in John McCain's 'graf in his "wait-there's-an-economy?" speech today:

In the speech, [McCain] condemned talk by congressional Democrats of another economic stimulus package, calling it a "spending spree" by the "dangerous threesome" of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Leader Harry Reid and Obama.

In not-so-subtle terms, McCain's speech today was just the latest to warn against the dangers of pairing a Democratic Congress and a Democratic Senate.  Oh, no!  They might actually do some stuff!

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't note the schizophrenic nature of the GOP's argument as the RNC tries to argue down ballot that presumes McCain is going to lose and calls for more Republicans in the Senate for ... you guessed it ... GRIDLOCK!

As the Washington Monthly put it recently:

First, "vote for gridlock" isn't exactly a compelling pitch. As the argument goes, voters should support McCain, not because he's right, but because he'll fight with Congress. In other words, if you're not tired of partisan spats and a dysfunctional Washington, McCain wants to deliver a few more years of it.

Second, McCain may find this hard to believe, but Obama's policy agenda is actually pretty popular. By running as the pro-gridlock candidate, McCain is effectively telling voters, "If you vote for Obama, he'll be in a position to do all of the things he's promising to do." Given that a majority of Americans support a middle-class tax cut, ending the war in Iraq, a comprehensive energy policy, and universal healthcare, the message may not resonate as much as McCain might hope.

Exactly.  Obama is popular because voters want (1) change in general and (2) the change Obama is proposing.  So a closing argument that calls for no change at all, well, I'm not sure that's going to move the needle in the direction McCain wants.  

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