McCain in a Bear Market

George F. Will, our conservative stalwart comes out with another blast against the McCain campaign in his latest article. He opens with

Time was, the Baltimore Orioles' manager was Earl Weaver, a short, irascible, Napoleonic figure who, when cranky, as he frequently was, would shout at an umpire, "Are you going to get any better or is this it?" With, mercifully, only one debate to go, that is the question about John McCain's campaign.

In the closing days of his 10-year quest for the presidency, McCain finds it galling that Barack Obama is winning the first serious campaign he has ever run against a Republican. Before Tuesday night's uneventful event, gall was fueling what might be the McCain-Palin campaign's closing argument. It is less that Obama has bad ideas than that Obama is a bad person.

He goes on, calling Sarah Palin McCain's "Sancho Panza" and describes the McCain/Palin attempts to distract voters by focusing on Barack Obama associations as "like being savaged by a dead sheep"

It's clear that George Will has written off John McCain's campaign.
He's not the only one - the other end of the Republican Party (the populist, Rush Limbaugh side) is angry with him too. What remains is only whether he will take down the rest of the republican party with him.

McCain Loses His Head

The signpost of Conservative Criticism, George F. Will, blasted John McCain in an article published in the Washington Post Tuesday calling him a "Queen of Hearts".

He opens with a quote from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

"The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said without even looking around."

and ends with what I would call a clear choice for the readers:

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

In the middle he called him "Childish", "Shallow" and his behavior "like a flustered rookie".

I just LOVE quoting Conservatives lately...

McCain stalls - to buy time for himself and Palin

John McCain played the 'crisis' card today - 'suspending' his campaign and suggesting that the debate with Barak Obama be postponed.

On the surface, it seems like he's taking the 'high' road. But the reality is that it is a thinly veiled attempt at using this current crisis to avoid another one - the Debates.

As usual, the devil is in the details. He actually suggested that the VP debate be postponed, to a date To Be Determined and that the Presidential Debate be moved into that slot.

What's the matter John, afraid that Sarah Palin can't handle the debate? She says she's ready 'day one' to take the reigns, so why not simply suggest that Gov. Palin debate Sen. Biden this Friday and just swap timeslots?

Nobody needs him in Washington - there are plenty of people already on the Banking Committee that have been working since last Friday on this. Another voice, one that is looking to take credit where credit isn't due for political rating points is the last thing that Congress needs to deal with.

The potential to disrupt the process at this point far exceeds any additional input that would be garnered from someone George F. Will (that's right - the Conservative himself) called "Childish" and whose words he characterized as "fact-free slander"