McCain want's somebody...to hold his hand

Poor John McCain. He had so much going for him! Aside from the fact that his campaign reeks of movement conservative politics, aside from his repeated gaffes on policy, aside from selling his soul to the radical lunatic fringe of the GOP, and aside from making the most irresponsible VP choice in modern political times, John has been hanging in there(1).

I find it exceedingly difficult, however, to imagine how his campaign can survive what has transpired the last 24 hours.

1. The stock market finished a horrendous week, dropping over 18% of its value. How bad is this? It's the worst week in the history of the stock exchange (yeah, worse than 1933). Any bad economic news is bad news for the McCain campaign, as the kind of policies he supports have directly influenced this melt down.

2. Earlier today, McCain defended the honor of Barack Obama, answering angry cries of Obama's religion and character at a Minnesota rally. After McCain made the statement, which was a basic declaration of what a decent family man Obama is, his supporters booed him for the gesture.

3. The bipartisan investigation into Sarah Palin's troopergate scandal was made public today, and it overwhelmingly concludes that Palin DID abuse her power as governor by firing Commissioner Walter Monegan, allegedly because Monegan would not fire Tim Wooten, a state trooper who was embroiled in a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister.

These developments are quite catastrophic, and they are the last thing McCain needed at this point in the campaign. His credibility slipping, his consistency nonexistence, and his integrity all but a mirage, McCain has nothing to run on. By deciding to avoid the issues, and purely run on the "controversies" and "scandals" of Barack Obama's character, McCain was playing on thin ice. These were the same strategies that Hillary Clinton employed during her own campaign battle with Obama, and obviously, Clinton lost that battle. By nature, however, democrats are less prejudiced voters than republicans, and by campaigning in such a fashion, McCain unleashed an electoral monster that he could have NEVER hoped to control, one united in racism and bound by their absolute hatred of variety. What did he expect to happen? Now that McCain has backed off on this approach, he has angered these supporters, and with them the powerful right-wing talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Idiots they are, but powerful they are as well, and their wrath will be swift.

The Palin is self-explanatory: the kind of scandal and abuse of power that we have come to expect as protocol during the Bush years. And she managed this during her first year as governor. Not only does it undermine the entire argument for her nomination--that Washington needs a new, fresh kind of politician--but it is the most blatant example of Palin's prevarication, as she was a staunch opponent to the investigation from the start, refusing to answer to subpoenas and hiding behind the McCain campaign's clout to crush the investigation. She failed, and the information is now out.

As I finish writing this, I'm listening to Otis Redding's rendition of "A Woman, a Lover, a Friend," and in the song, Otis sings:

"I want me somebody, to hold my hand. Somebody to love me, and understand."

Oh John, how Otis feels your pain.


1. With a practical tongue-bath by the press, mind you.