The Republicans Have No Idea How To Handle McSame

They do know he is going to lose. They don't know how to help him, because there is simply no getting past the fact that Americans blame the GOP for the economy, and John McSame is the GOP candidate.

Again and again, party leaders said in interviews that while they still believed that Mr. McCain could win over voters in the next 30 days, they were concerned that he and his advisers seemed to be adrift in dealing with an extraordinarily challenging political battleground and a crisis on Wall Street.

The expressions of concern came after a particularly difficult week for Mr. McCain. On Friday night, new questions arose about his choice of Ms. Palin as his running mate after an investigation by the Alaska Legislature concluded that she had abused her power in trying to orchestrate the firing of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

“I think you’re seeing a turning point,” said Saul Anuzis, the Republican chairman in Michigan, where Mr. McCain has decided to stop campaigning. “You’re starting to feel real frustration because we are running out of time. Our message, the campaign’s message, isn’t connecting.”

30 day thing aside when there's 23 days left, the problem is the GOP just doesn't understand why the Rovian tactics aren't working. They really don't see why any thinking American would vote Democratic this year, much less for a black man. They don't understand because comprehension is simply beyond their grasp. You and I know that any "message" the GOP is trying to get across is drowned out by the 800-pound gorilla in the room with the airhorn and the neon sign that reads "THE BUSH REPUBLICANS CREATED THIS FINANCIAL MELTDOWN!" They honestly believe that since the media and America has given the Bush Republicans a pass on every other cock-up they've rammed down out throats, that this one should be no different.

Only it turns out this one is the last straw, because it's going to put millions of us out of work with no way to feed our kids. And that's making people stop and think about who should be in charge this year. The answer they are arriving at is "not John McSame."

But no subject has more divided Republicans than the one that has been a matter of disagreement in the McCain camp: how directly to invoke Mr. Obama’s connection to his controversial former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground who has had a passing association with Mr. Obama over the years.

In Colorado, a traditionally Republican state that Mr. McCain is struggling to keep in his column, the party chairman, Dick Wadhams, urged Mr. McCain to hit the issue hard, arguing that it was fair game and could be highly effective in raising questions about Mr. Obama in the final weeks of the campaign. He said he was surprised Mr. McCain had failed to do so in the debate last week.

“I think those are legitimate insights into who Senator Obama is,” Mr. Wadhams said. “I do not think it is irrelevant to this election.”

But Fergus Cullen, the Republican chairman in New Hampshire, said Saturday that he thought it would be a mistake for Mr. McCain to go down that road, warning that it would turn off moderate voters in his state who have a history of supporting Mr. McCain.

“I don’t think he should be giving into elements of the base who have been asking him to be going after, using Wright, using Ayers,” Mr. Cullen said. “Think about it as an undecided persuadable voter.”

Who the fuck cares about Jeremiah Wright AT ALL when you just lost your job, your health insurance, your pension, or your 401(k)? Who cares about Tony Rezko or the color of Obama's skin when you don't know if you can feed your kids or make your mortgage payment or car payment or credit card payment this month because you've been letting them slide and the collectors are calling daily?

Look folks, when people are losing trillions of dollars, their life savings, are going into indentured servitude and are watching AIG executives get spa treatments on the taxpayer dime, and your CHIEF CONCERN about yout party's candidate for President is "how negative John McSame should be when attacking on the Wright/Ayers angle" your party deserves to lose every election it's in.

The people are going to bury the Politics of Stupid for good. The GOP has nothing now. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This mass repudiation will put them in the wilderness for years. John McSame will go down as the GOP's McGovern.

If we come out of this with a country instead of a live-action version of Jericho then we're ahead of the game as far as I'm concerned. The Democrats are still infinitely preferable to the GOP.