tactics, schmactics: McCain lays an egg

[bevoette]

might this just go down as the biggest campaign cluster-fuck there ever was?

let's take a look...

TACTIC: in an attempted show of 'presidential leadership'...McCain threatens to 'suspend' campaign and skip debate until the deal gets done.

EXCEPT: his campaign never actually stops, Obama calls his bluff on the debate, and now he has to say "uh...nevermind"

VERDICT: FAIL


TACTIC: McCain tells Letterman the situation is so dire he must cancel his appearance at the last minute to rush immediately to Washington to solve the problem.

EXCEPT: he instead hangs around town for another 24 hours, and makes an appearance on ANOTHER CBS SHOW, thoroughly pissing Letterman off. Letterman proceeds to rip him a new one in front of a several million person audience for the rest of the week. OH, and replace his appearance w/ McCain's mortal enemy, Keith Oberman.

VERDICT: double-dog FAIL


TACTIC: with Obama ignoring him, McCain calls in a chip from the president and gets him to 'call a meeting' to bring all parties together so he can showcase his 'uniter' credentials and how he can reach across party lines.

EXCEPT: the meeting goes south in a hurry, nothing is accomplished except increased partisanship and acrimony, and accounts by those in attendance indicate he barely even opens his mouth, much less 'helps.

VERDICT: super-duper FAIL


TACTIC: McCain paints himself as the 'savior' of the deal and his presence/participation as necessary for its success

EXCEPT: his presence/participation throws a giant political monkey wrench into the whole damn thing, and he is pretty much unanimously excoriated for the move

VERDICT: EPIC FAIL


BONUS ROUND: VP candidate Palin is dispatched on relatively simple mission to earn some foreign policy brownie points...and ends the week blabbering about Putin's disembodied head flying through the air like Underdog and non-answers on campaign conflicts of interest and McCain's "maverick-yness"

VERDICT: ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!



sure, they think Americans are stupid...but i don't think they actually think they are THIS stupid

[bevoette]

1. hmpf. shameless self-bump for the pm (nm)

[Bucky]

2. You left off the reason why McCain had to run over to Couric's place

He blew off Letterman to do Couric because her interview with Palin was such an unbelieveable disaster. McCain's people apparently lulled themselves into thinking Couric was a soft interview because she's so cutesy and perky. Ferget it, Katie is the real barracuda. And with her status at the network in question, she had a reason to cut her chops on Palin. Anyone who's ever really watched Couric knows she has a juggular instinct, but simply doesn't turn it on most of the time.

So to distract from Palin's weak perf, they screwed over Letterman and sat down the principal with Couric. Only Letterman hit them twice as hard, plus Couric still ran a full segment on the Palin interview.

The cluster is getting real lucky tonight.