And so the grieving begins...
Noted conservative commentator and "right wing feminist" Kathleen Parker weighed in on the National Review this morning with this article regarding Sarah Palin, and how she has gone from seemingly glowing asset to unquestionable liability in just a few short weeks. One that would cause this particular commentator to call for the potential VP to step down. Please. For the love of all things Republican. Dear God....
Apparently, after witnessing Sarah Palin's performance both in mock debates and mock press conferences, and her three disastrous interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric, McCain's senior aides are at a loss regarding what they're going to do with her. Not only is she clueless, they realize that they cannot possibly get her up to speed, not even enough to debate the gaff-challenged Joe Biden.
In one day, John McCain has managed to piss off congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle by inserting himself, uninvited, into negotiations regarding the present state of the economy and talks regarding bailouts to the extent that he completely tore apart the almost-ready-for-presentation bill and forced them begin all over again--all for the sake of a photo op and the chance to grandstand for the sake of his campaign. And to present a few half-baked suggestions that succeeded in doing nothing but throwing a monkey-wrench into the works. He has very few friends today, in the same Congress where he has worked for nearly thirty years.
His on-again/off-again treatment of tonight's debate echoes the same behavior he displayed in 2000, where he was to debate then-governor George Bush and then backed out at the last minute. Apparently, he's going to show up, but not after invoking the wrath of the University of Mississippi, who prepared their venue to the tune of $5 million (that he was prepared to let them eat, should the congress not come to an "acceptable solution" on the issue of the bailout by this morning), as well as a good number of his supporters who have been looking for the opportunity to see their candidate go up against Teh Evul Obama. For the man who was screaming rabidly for debates from the time the Democrats chose their candidate, his current reluctance to actually see one through to fruition can't be construed as anything but cowardice in the extreme overlaid by a thick layer of blustering bullshit.
This is going to be a very interesting event. And I'll believe that McCain will actually show up when I SEE that he's shown up, because I personally believe that he will do anything--virtually anything--to avoid the unquestionable drubbing he's going to suffer tonight.
I fully expect Obama, in his inimitably gracious and bipartisan fashion, to neatly eviscerate him and jump rope with his guts. And I have to say that there is a part of me that is looking forward to that.
But.
It would appear that the Republican candidates are melting down at an astonishing rate, and that all but their most mindless supporters are jumping ship at an equally astonishing rate.
Part of me feels sort of sorry for them. I mean, it's got to be difficult for them to see this Washington icon turn into a burbling, shifty eyed cipher and the hope for the party withering from their smartly attractive ex-beauty queen with a picture-book family to the nation's most reliable dumb-non-blonde joke. It's got to be hard to be able to continue to beat one's chest in pride for the Grand Old Party when the most visible representatives of such are these two, standing alongside a president whose greatest contribution to history will be the nation's most astonishingly low approval rating EVER and at least four classic and criminal failures as a result of his own dismal errors in judgment.
It's got to be a continuous and backbreaking effort for the last of the meager supporters to find enough accusations against Obama to actually continue to have anything to say. Because, let's face it, they've been robbed by the McCain/Palin team of anything positive to say about their own candidates, so all they can muster at this point are derogatory remarks of questionable veracity against the opponent.
And that's kind of sad, actually.
A fair fight is always best. But right now I feel like the biggest supporters of the Obama/Biden ticket are the McCain/Palin ticket.
And I don't know how I feel about watching tonight's debate.
Apparently, after witnessing Sarah Palin's performance both in mock debates and mock press conferences, and her three disastrous interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric, McCain's senior aides are at a loss regarding what they're going to do with her. Not only is she clueless, they realize that they cannot possibly get her up to speed, not even enough to debate the gaff-challenged Joe Biden.
In one day, John McCain has managed to piss off congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle by inserting himself, uninvited, into negotiations regarding the present state of the economy and talks regarding bailouts to the extent that he completely tore apart the almost-ready-for-presentation bill and forced them begin all over again--all for the sake of a photo op and the chance to grandstand for the sake of his campaign. And to present a few half-baked suggestions that succeeded in doing nothing but throwing a monkey-wrench into the works. He has very few friends today, in the same Congress where he has worked for nearly thirty years.
His on-again/off-again treatment of tonight's debate echoes the same behavior he displayed in 2000, where he was to debate then-governor George Bush and then backed out at the last minute. Apparently, he's going to show up, but not after invoking the wrath of the University of Mississippi, who prepared their venue to the tune of $5 million (that he was prepared to let them eat, should the congress not come to an "acceptable solution" on the issue of the bailout by this morning), as well as a good number of his supporters who have been looking for the opportunity to see their candidate go up against Teh Evul Obama. For the man who was screaming rabidly for debates from the time the Democrats chose their candidate, his current reluctance to actually see one through to fruition can't be construed as anything but cowardice in the extreme overlaid by a thick layer of blustering bullshit.
This is going to be a very interesting event. And I'll believe that McCain will actually show up when I SEE that he's shown up, because I personally believe that he will do anything--virtually anything--to avoid the unquestionable drubbing he's going to suffer tonight.
I fully expect Obama, in his inimitably gracious and bipartisan fashion, to neatly eviscerate him and jump rope with his guts. And I have to say that there is a part of me that is looking forward to that.
But.
It would appear that the Republican candidates are melting down at an astonishing rate, and that all but their most mindless supporters are jumping ship at an equally astonishing rate.
Part of me feels sort of sorry for them. I mean, it's got to be difficult for them to see this Washington icon turn into a burbling, shifty eyed cipher and the hope for the party withering from their smartly attractive ex-beauty queen with a picture-book family to the nation's most reliable dumb-non-blonde joke. It's got to be hard to be able to continue to beat one's chest in pride for the Grand Old Party when the most visible representatives of such are these two, standing alongside a president whose greatest contribution to history will be the nation's most astonishingly low approval rating EVER and at least four classic and criminal failures as a result of his own dismal errors in judgment.
It's got to be a continuous and backbreaking effort for the last of the meager supporters to find enough accusations against Obama to actually continue to have anything to say. Because, let's face it, they've been robbed by the McCain/Palin team of anything positive to say about their own candidates, so all they can muster at this point are derogatory remarks of questionable veracity against the opponent.
And that's kind of sad, actually.
A fair fight is always best. But right now I feel like the biggest supporters of the Obama/Biden ticket are the McCain/Palin ticket.
And I don't know how I feel about watching tonight's debate.