Happy Birthday John McCain

Today John McCain turns 72 years old. Happy Birthday!

If elected, he will be the oldest first term president in American history. And clearly his age must be affecting his decision-making abilities, because today he picked one of the worst candidates possible for vice-president.

In the biggest decision of this campaign, he fucked up big time.

Happy birthday, Senator McCain!

Why Vetting Is Important

Apparently, John McCain only met Sarah Palin once before picking her as his VP. Maybe he should have met her a few more times, to make sure she wouldn't detonate his presidential ambitions.

Because here is what we've already learned today:

One month ago, she said "As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I'm used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration."

Her husband works for British Petroleum, part of "Big Oil".

She has supported mining projects that threaten fishing and caribou.

She doesn't want polar bears protected as an endangered species.

She is an anti-choice extremist, opposing abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

As recently as 1999, she was a Pat Buchanan fan. For those of you who don't know, Pat Buchanan ran as an anti-semitic, homophobic, racist, sexist hard right culture warrior during the 1990s.

She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools.

She has almost zero knowledge of the situation in Iraq.

More tidbits:

She supports drilling in ANWR.

She racked up $20 million in debt during her time as mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, which is a whopping $3000/person!

She vetoed clean coal and wind power projects in her state

She considered censoring library books while mayor.

She accepted money from Alaskan crooks Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young.

She is also currently embroiled in a scandal over the firing of Alaska's public safety director.

Why McCain would pick somebody who is currently under investigation is beyond me. This pick is a straight-up disaster.

If she were the most qualified woman for the job and just happened to be anti-choice, I would be more worried. But her terrible record on choice combined with her abysmal experience makes her almost laughable.

Andrew Sullivan:

Yes, we knew McCain had an ego. We never quite appreciated how vast it was. Yes, Obama is inexperienced in foreign policy. But at least he has thought seriously about it. Do you really believe that Sarah Palin understands the distinctions between Shia and Sunni, has an opinion about the future of Pakistan, has a view of how to exploit rifts within Tehran's leadership, knows about the tricky task of securing loose nuclear weapons? Does anyone even know if she has ever expressed a view on these matters? Here's a bleg: can anyone direct me to any statement she has ever made about foreign policy?

The biggest secret of the Bush administration is that they were never serious about national security. Serious leaders do not fabricate intelligence through torture methods borrowed from the Communist Chinese. Serious leaders do not invade foreign countries on dubious intelligence with no plan for an occupation. Serious leaders do not try to manipulate detainee policy for electroal purposes. Serious leaders do not engage in moronic talk of victory or surrender five years after removing a regime.

And now we know something about McCain's promise: he takes all this even less seriously than Bush.

TNR:

No doubt Michelle is right that the Obama-Biden team will have to be careful attacking Palin's frighteningly thin resume and tenuous grasp of foreign policy. But surely a campaign that has been charged with being too naïve to manage rogue state dictators can have a bit of fun with the idea that a one-time Miss Congeniality could effectively face down Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Kim Jong Il. Surely, Obama's "eight is enough" quip ought to apply not only to President Bush's economic and foreign policy travesties, but to the elevation of mediocrity that has characterized his appointment of Michael Brown to FEMA and his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. And surely we can agree that if the McCain campaign was desperate to transparently court voters put off by Hillary Clinton's loss, there is no dearth of women with far greater intellectual, executive, and political abilities--abilities that would allow them to assume the presidency in a heartbeat.

Ann Friedman:

It's clear that Republicans believe that what made Hillary Clinton such a good candidate was her gender, not her political experience or positions on the issues. And McCain's decision to pick Palin shows he took this message to heart and chose to add her to the ticket primarily because of her gender. In so doing, McCain has turned the idea of the first woman in the White House from a true moment of change to an empty pander.

Why is this a pander? Because Palin is not a woman who has a record of representing women's interests. She is beloved by extremely right-wing conservatives for her anti-choice record (fittingly, she's a member of the faux-feminist anti-choice group Feminists for Life). Palin supports federal anti-gay marriage legislation. She believes schools should teach creationism. Alaska is currently considering spending more on abstinence-only sex education. And when it comes to a slew of other issues of importance to women, such as equal pay, she's not on the record.

Ezra Klein:

You've got CNN anchors arguing with the campaign from the position that Palin is unqualified. You've got them replaying McCain standing in front of the camera and gravely saying that his top criteria for a VP would be "finding the person most qualified to step in and assume the presidency." Read that quote: "Most qualified." You can argue a lot of things about Palin, but no one can suggest she's literally the "most qualified" running mate McCain could have chose. You can't even argue she's in the top 25.

This is not going well for them. The base may be happy, but the coverage here is reminiscent of nothing so much as the reception that greeted Harriet Miers.

BooMan lists eight female Republican women with much more experience than Sarah Palin.

Josh Marshall:

At TPMMuckraker we've been on the Palin/Trooper-gate story for a while. And we've just reported that the investigation by the state legislature is scheduled to report its findings in the first couple days of November.

This is a perilous story for Palin and McCain. I flagged some of the details earlier in the day. But this is the kind of story, the kind of investigation, where it is highly unlikely that Palin hasn't made public false statements about her involvement in what happened.

This VP pick has the potential to destroy any chance McCain had at the presidency. Many conservatives are privately wondering why he didn't go with Tim Pawlenty, who is also anti-choice but has much more real world experience.

But when your campaign is panicked and your candidate is a crazy motherfucker like John McCain, this is what you get.

McCain Screws Up, Picks Lightweight Palin As VP

I didn't think it would happen. I didn't think McCain would be this crazy. But clearly the compulsive gambler has decide to go all in and roll the dice on this one. Right now the media is in a frenzy because the pick is unexpected and, well, just plain bizarre.

But the glow will come off Palin fairly quickly, once people realize what this means.

Sarah Palin is a scandal-plagued governor from Alaska who was the mayor of a town of 8,000 people just two years ago. The McCain campaign is desperately trying to say she has -- get this -- MORE experience than Barack Obama.

"WTF?" you might ask. Well, the Republicans say she has two years of "executive" experience as a governor, whereas Obama has none. I would argue that Obama is the CEO of Obama for America, which has thousands of employees and millions of volunteers, more volunteers than Alaska has residents, but that's beside the point. John McCain also has zero years of executive experience, if that's the new measure we are using. Hell, maybe Obama, McCain and Biden should just drop out and let Sarah Palin become president if she's clearly the most experienced one!

As I've stated for days, the McCain campaign has been in panic mode since Biden was picked. I'm sure that McCain was leaning towards Romney or Lieberman, but decided to swing for the fences. This is a desperation pick and will be seen as such, you watch.

If the RNC convention weren't coming up on Monday, I could see Sarah Palin being booted from the ticket after the initial shock wears off. But instead, luckily for us, it appears McCain is now stuck with her.

Obama's Fantastic Speech

In case you were not one of the 38 million who tuned in:



My favorite line:

John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell -- but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.

This was a commanding performance, and probably opened a lot of eyes. Obama looked presidential and sounded sure of himself while proposing progressive changes to our government. And it was nice to see him kick McCain in the face multiple times.

Game on.

The Brilliance Of The Obama Campaign

I'm not going to lie to you, and say that the Obama campaign has been right in every one of their decisions this campaign season. They've made some blunders big and small since February of 2007. But they've also had a pretty damn good track record, especially on critical issues where they defied skeptics and were proven right in the end.

With that, I'm going to toss together my list of the best and not-so-best decisions of the Obama campaign. Considering where they are today, about to claim the nomination in front of the entire world, ahead in the polls, ahead in enthusiasm, ahead in fundraising, their best decisions have obviously outweighed their worst ones.

Not-So-Great Decisions:

1. Failing to vet Reverend Wright in early 2007.

2. FISA flip-flop. Yes, we aren't seeing any ads about Obama being "soft" on wiretapping, but that hasn't stopped the GOP from running other smear ads instead. If Obama had held strong, the base would be a bit more fired up and he would have raised an extra $20 million in June alone.

3. Releasing the name of VP Joe Biden at 3 am on a Friday night. Thursday or Friday afternoon would have made a bigger splash. Suspense is one thing, but those days of media saturation would have been a great intro to Joe. Also, it would have been nice for the news to be broken by text message, as was planned, instead of by the media.

3. Obama's "bitter" comment. While true, was an unfortunate gift to the Hillary and McCain campaigns.

4. Troop-gate. Obama probably should have visited the troops on his own in Germany, then dared the McCain camp to criticize him for it.

5. Hesitancy to go on the attack. I know, the rope-a-dope might turn out to be brilliant in the end. But with a candidate as thin-skinned and as volatile as McCain, keeping him on the defensive over "nation of whiners", "100 years in Iraq", "Czechoslovakia" and other mega-blunders during August would have been a good idea.

As you can see, no huge blunders in strategy or messaging. The Rev. Wright fiasco hurt the worst, but then again maybe Obama wouldn't have won Iowa if the Rev. Wright videos had come out earlier. We'll never know.

Best Decisions:

1. Refusing Public Funding. We've already seen outside Swift-Boat groups funded by right wing billionaires begin their smear ads against Obama. While Obama was criticized by the media for his decision to raise unlimited funds, he has been proven right. His ability to raise funds from small donors is the only reason he'll be able to compete effectively against the Republican machine these next two months.

2. Investing in the Ground Game. You don't see it in the news coverage, but the Obama campaign is running the biggest grassroots voter registration campaign in history. Their get-out-the-vote efforts in November will be legendary.

3. Picking Joe Biden. The other tops names, except for long-shot possibilities like Al Gore or John Kerry, would have been disastrous. Hillary is still a mixed bag -- I'm convinced she would pull in older white women, but she could also drive away independents and fire up the Republicans. I think Joe Biden is a fantastic candidate with unparalleled experience who will wear well on people. Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine, Kathleen Sebelius, Bill Richardson -- those folks just don't bring the magic mix that Biden does.

4. Making Amends With the Clintons. The two Clinton speeches at the convention were among the five most important (the others being the Obamas' and Biden's). The drama was annoying to those of us wishing for the Clinton drama to end, but the suspense made the convention that much more dramatic and news-worthy. The Clintons have been redeemed (did you see the 5-minute standing ovation for Bill last night?) and the party is once again united and more powerful than before.

5. The "More Perfect Union" speech. It's impact can't be underestimated. Obama took on the greatest crisis of his campaign and dealt with it as only he can -- by giving a historical speech on race in America. This speech saved his candidacy and took the wind out of the Rev. Wright scandal.

6. The Overseas Trip. The trip was an amazing and resounding success. You couldn't really ask for anything more. He hit all the right countries, was adored by world leaders, and had no gaffes whatsoever.

7. House-gate. Using McCain's own words against him, to turn him into a national joke, has set the Republicans on the defensive for the past week. This is how to run an offense-based campaign. Brilliant.

8. Invesco Field. If Obama's speech had been set in the Pepsi Center, it would have just been another speech. Instead, it is becoming an insane mega-event, what HuffPo is calling the "SuperBowl of Speeches". The stakes are high for a legendary address by Obama, but there is risk too. One thing is for sure: if the McCain campaign tries to stop this train with their VP announcement, they will be run right over. What do you think will be the headline tomorrow? "McCain Picks Pawlenty" or "Obama Accepts Nomination As First African-American Candidate Before Crowd Of 80,000"?

9. Counter-attack. Remember Swift-Boater Jerome Corsi, whose 2004 anti-Kerry book helped win the election in 2004? This time around he set his sights on Barack Obama, and got pulverized. The Obama campaign made sure that every news outlet knew what a liar and a fraud Corsi is, and he's quickly turned into a non-story.

10. Podiums. I know this is my pet issue, but I'm very glad that the first presidential debate will be at podiums. McCain looks much worse waving his small arms and acting grouchy at a podium, while Obama looks commanding. After Saddleback McCain has higher expectations, but I don't think he'll meet them.

Because the best decisions will have much more impact going forward than the not-so-great ones, the Obama campaign is in very good shape as we head into September.

1

Today marks one day until John McCain turns 72 years old.

To give you some perspective, John F. Kennedy would have turned 72 in May of 1989.

Think about that. If JFK had lived, and if he had run for president in 1988, he would have been younger than McCain is today.

Americablog pointed out something else. Bill Clinton was president for eight years, he has been an ex-president for eight more, and yet he is still 10 years younger than McCain is right now.

Oh, and additional thoughts on ageism. I don't put ageism in the same category as racism or sexism, as least not when it comes to a very advanced age like John McCain.

You can't be too female to be president.
You can't be too black to be president.
But you can definitely be too old to be president.

It would be unthinkable to elect an 80-year-old man (or woman) as president. Yet McCain has the physical frailty and mental incapacity of an 80-year-old. And he would turn 80 at the end of his second term, if we elected him twice. The guy is just too damn old to be president, I'm sorry.

Asshole McCain

He's really turned into a piece of shit during this campaign. TIME asks him to define "honor" and he won't even try:

McCain at first seemed happy enough to do the interview. But his mood quickly soured. The McCain on display in the 24-minute interview was prickly, at times abrasive, and determined not to stray off message. An excerpt:

What do you want voters to know coming out of the Republican Convention — about you, about your candidacy?
I'm prepared to be President of the United States, and I'll put my country first.

There's a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us?
Read it in my books.

I've read your books.
No, I'm not going to define it.

But honor in politics?
I defined it in five books. Read my books.

[Your] campaign today is more disciplined, more traditional, more aggressive. From your point of view, why the change?
I will do as much as we possibly can do to provide as much access to the press as possible.

But beyond the press, sir, just in terms of ...
I think we're running a fine campaign, and this is where we are.

Do you miss the old way of doing it?
I don't know what you're talking about.

Really? Come on, Senator.
I'll provide as much access as possible ...

In 2000, after the primaries, you went back to South Carolina to talk about what you felt was a mistake you had made on the Confederate flag. Is there anything so far about this campaign that you wish you could take back or you might revisit when it's over?
[Does not answer.]

Do I know you? [Says with a laugh.]
[Long pause.] I'm very happy with the way our campaign has been conducted, and I am very pleased and humbled to have the nomination of the Republican Party.

You do acknowledge there was a change in the campaign, in the way you had run the campaign?
[Shakes his head.]

You don't acknowledge that? O.K., when your aides came to you and you decided, having been attacked by Barack Obama, to run some of those ads, was there a debate?
The campaign responded as planned.

Now imagine this guy as the most powerful man on the planet.

The Bounce Begins

Although some (including me) have worried that Obama might get little or no bounce from the convention, that doesn't seem to be the case so far:

Gallup (pre-convention):
Obama: 48% (44)
McCain: 42% (46)

This poll takes into account the first two nights of the convention, mainly Michelle Obama's speech and Hillary Clinton's. We'll have to wait until Monday's Gallup Poll to see the full bounce (or non-bounce) from the convention.

Democrats have been particularly worried about getting a bounce because of our experience four years ago, when John Kerry got a 2-3 point bounce while George W. Bush received a hefty 8-point bounce. So far the bounce looks to be about 8 points, which is quite good by historical standards:

It is worth noting that at no point during the 2004 Convention did Kerry show anything similar to the bounce that Obama has already received.

No wonder the McCain campaign so panicked that they might announce their VP choice tonight, in a desperate attempt to steal coverage from Obama's historic speech.

McCain's Health Care Guru Thinks We Already Have Universal Health Care

It's called "emergency rooms":

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

And people wonder why Republicans should never be trusted to run government?

Convention Thoughts

Like many others, I was a bit disappointed that the prime-time speakers on the first two nights did not rip into John McCain with enough gusto. I can excuse Michelle Obama, her job was to really warm America up to her and her husband. And while Hillary did an okay job of saying McCain was more of the same, she didn't lay into him on specific issues like choice. That's not to say she didn't perform a great speech -- the references to Harriet Tubman were incredibly inspiring.

But I've been hoping for some real body blows. John McCain is like a slow softball coming over the plate -- it's not hard to hit a grand slam on this guy. Well last night, we saw some very good hits. Joe Biden ripped McCain apart on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran. He made the strong case that McCain is wrong, Obama is right. I wish he'd thrown in his "seven kitchen tables" comment from last weekend, but it was a solid speech by a great guy. The intro by his son Beau was a certified tear-jerker.

Bill Clinton's speech was wonderfully delivered, and it was nice to see him finally put his hurt feelings aside and give Obama a full-throated endorsement. But I don't think he mentioned John McCain's name once, instead focusing on the broader failures of the Republicans over the last eight years.

But if you want to see the best speech of the convention (so far), check out this speech by John Kerry. Most of the networks didn't cover it, but they should have. It was the best ass-kicking McCain has taken so far in this campaign.

If you haven't seen it, watch it:



Some folks have asked, "where was this John Kerry in 2004?". But their memories must be bad, because this is the same guy we nominated back then. His 2004 acceptance speech was filled with red meat, bashing Bush and the failed Republicans. It was the highlight of that convention. Kerry didn't get much of a bump out of it, he was already near his ceiling at the time, but it was outstanding. He also demonstrated this tenacity during his debates with Bush. It's easy to retroactively consider someone an abysmal failure because he lost an election, but in reality Kerry is a great Democrat and a strong, principled American.

2

Today marks two days until John McCain turns 72 years old.

And in case you think I am being ageist, let me explain. First, I'm not against all 72-year-olds who want to run for President. But if you are demonstrating mental lapses, constant gaffes, poor memory, and an inability to deliver a strong speech (one of the principal jobs of a President) then this is a major issue for me. The Presidency is the most important job in the world, and we've seen over the last 8 years what can happen when a mentally-deficient person gets the job.

John McCain is not the same man he was 8 years ago, his mind has fallen apart. He is perhaps not too old physically (although he appears much less fit than, say, Ronald Reagan was) but he is definitely too old mentally. The guy doesn't even know how to use the internet, he forgot how many houses he owns, he doesn't remember his own stance on numerous issues. The guy just isn't ready for the job.

McCain Thinks American Workers Are Lazy

Two years ago, John McCain appeared before the AFL-CIO to defend his guest worker plans and amnesty plans. Obviously, the workers were a bit upset by his assertion that there are jobs Americans "won't" do, because it's an insult to their work ethic.

When an audience member said they would do any job for a living wage, McCain responded with this:



I'm shocked that the video of this has finally turned up. I've searched for it for months, but it was just posted two days ago. This should definitely be used in ads.

McCain Lies, Tries To Scare Jewish Voters

Here is what Obama said a few months ago:

"Strong countries and strong Presidents talk to their adversaries. That's what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That's what Nixon did with Mao. I mean, think about it: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela -- these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, 'We're going to wipe you off the planet.' And ultimately, that direct engagement led to a series of measures that helped prevent nuclear war and over time allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall."

And now here, is the ad that McCain has crafted from those remarks:



As it has become quite clear to anyone who is paying attention and knows the facts, John McCain is a slimy fucking liar. He is willing to do or say anything in order to achieve power, and for the most part the press lets him get away with it. Will any media pundits ask him why he is lying about what Obama has said? Will they make this a front page issue, that John McCain is running a smear campaign based on outright lies and distortions? I doubt it.

Democrats will once again have to win this election the way they always do: the hard way. Because the Republicans are lying slimeballs, the press is corrupt and feckless, and too many folks in this country are just plain stupid. This is why we had George W. Bush for eight years. This election will determine whether American voters have learned their lesson.

Told You So

A few days ago I speculated that the panicked McCain camp might try to steal Obama's thunder by announcing their VP on Thursday night, maybe before or even during Obama's acceptance speech.

Well look at what Marc Ambinder is reporting today:

Perhaps hoping to turn a fresh page from the Democratic convention, advisers to Sen. John McCain are considering a Thursday night vice presidential announcement, an aide said yesterday, although the unofficial word from campaign headquarters is that Friday is still more likely.

The prospect of a slightly earlier announcement has some Republicans worried that McCain has settled on Sen. Joe Lieberman., They assume that the campaign would not risk the bad form associated with jumping on Obama's night if McCain announces a traditional pick, such as Gov. Mitt Romney or Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

I'm convinced that the McCain campaign still has no idea who they will pick for VP. The longer they wait, the more panicked they become, the bigger the chance that they make a huge strategic error.

Folks as diverse as Andrew Sullivan and Mike Huckabee think that Mitt Romney would be a disaster.

Joe Lieberman has been called a disaster by Rush Limbaugh, and it's hard to see evangelicals falling in line with a pro-choice VP. The press would love it, obviously, but it would be the oldest, most out-of-touch ticket since Dole/Kemp.

I think Pawlenty would be the safe choice, although you'd be conceding that he'd lose the VP debate. But at least he doesn't piss anyone off in the base! Sarah Palin is compelling too, except for her current scandal.

Barack Obama Is Mr. November

Are you Fired Up? Are you Ready To Go? If you aren't, you will be after watching this video.



If you want this video to go viral, Digg It!

Some background. As you may know, I regularly write diaries both here at DailyKos and at my anti-McCain blog, OldManMcCain.com. After months of standing on the sidelines and watching Jed Report, Cartwrightdale and others take the lead in creating grassroots videos, I decided to get into the game.

I taught myself Final Cut Pro over the past two weeks, compiling Obama footage from YouTube, and putting it all to the brilliant indie rock song "Mr. November" by the Brooklyn-based group The National.

Although the band has indicated that the song was originally written following John Kerry's heartbreaking loss in 2004, they have since declared that it applies even better to Barack Obama. In fact they are selling Mr. November t-shirts at their website, with the proceeds going to Obama For America:

No word on whether Obama's a National fan (though he's no stranger to romanticized indie rock), but the National sure do like them some Obama, so they're donating each and every penny from the sales of their Mr. November shirt to the Obama campaign.

I plan to upload a higher-res version to YouTube, although obviously the quality is limited by the source footage. But I'm very happy with the video and hope it gets you fired up!

DONATE

VOLUNTEER

PURCHASE "MR. NOVEMBER" T-SHIRTS

PURCHASE ALBUMS BY THE NATIONAL

3

Today marks three days until John McCain turns 72 years old. To paraphrase Rush Limbaugh, do we really want to watch this old man age before our eyes?

In Case You Forgot

McCain thinks it is hilarious when one of his supporters refers to Hillary Clinton as a "bitch".



So of course Hillary voters should support McCain in November! And so what if he joked that Chelsea Clinton was "ugly" when she was just seventeen years old?

Seriously. Any Hillary supporters who really consider voting for McCain are either criminally ill-informed or delusional. Wake up. This guy does not care about you, or Hillary, or any of the issues that brought you to Hillary in the first place.

Great Obama Ad

You know, I was planning to do an anti-McCain video based on the Sam Cooke song "Wonderful World". But it looks like the Obama campaign has beaten me to the punch:



Great stuff.

Bragging

If there is one thing Americans don't like, it's excessive bragging. They love heroes, they love heroic accomplishments, but they don't want to see someone tossing it in their face every second.

Americans prefer humble heroes, reluctant warriors. It is for this reason that John Kerry's purple hearts were able to become a joke -- because, like it or not, people started to sense that he was making too big a deal out of it during his convention and in his ads.

Well guess what. The same is going on with John McCain and his constant references to his POW days. He is bragging, he is putting it in our faces every chance he gets, and it's starting to undermine the street cred that his prisoner days gave him.

It's hard to turn your POW service into a mockery. But McCain is doing it, and the media is starting to notice.

Maureen Dowd discussed it in today's NY Times:

So it’s hard to believe that John McCain is now in danger of exceeding his credit limit on the equivalent of an American Express black card. His campaign is cheapening his greatest strength — and making a mockery of his already dubious claim that he’s reticent to talk about his P.O.W. experience — by flashing the P.O.W. card to rebut any criticism, no matter how unrelated. The captivity is already amply displayed in posters and TV advertisements.

Liberal bloggers have of course been on this for a while. Yet the McCain campaign, instead of deciding to go on a POW diet for a while, are instead threatening to double down:

They will be prepared to show McCain's "home" in Hanoi by using images of his cell. They claim they have not overused the POW element and insist they have "underused it."

At this rate they'll probably construct a giant prison cage on the stage at the RNC convention, then have McCain emerge in his battered old prisoner garb for his acceptance speech.

Americans don't like proud people. It cheapens whatever accomplishments made that person great in the first place. If McCain keeps this up, "POW" will be a punch line by election day.

Chaos, Panic In The McCain Campaign

Ever since McCain's housing gaffe, the McCain campaign has been in a tailspin. They are putting up a good front, keeping McCain out of the spotlight, doing their best to slam Obama and Biden with a new ad and fresh talking points. But this is all a defensive crouch. These guys are in trouble.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Republicans have no good answers for the housing gaffe and are probably just praying that the Democrats stop talking about it or that voters don't pay attention. Good luck with that.

But I think the Biden pick might be just as worrisome to the McCain camp. As a diarist on DailyKos points out, this throws a wrench into McCain's VP plans.

Romney is already on thin ice, since like McCain he is extremely wealthy with multiple homes and no real understanding of the middle class. But can you imagine Romney in a debate with Biden? We're talking bloodbath. Romney's foreign policy experience boils down to whatever the CATO Institute's bullet point list tells him; he'd get pulverized.

Pawlenty? Again, a foreign policy rookie whose attempts to land zingers on Obama or Biden would be met with a laugh and a fist in the mouth.

Jindal? OK, this is an interesting one, since Biden once said some politically incorrect things about Indians/Pakistanis working at 7/11s. But Jindal playing the victim card would look pathetic and desperate -- no one wants a whiner in the White House. Jindal's youth and inexperience would be frightening for folks who think McCain isn't healthy enough to serve a full term.

Sarah Palin? Even if she didn't have an ongoing scandal, how the hell is she going to debate Joe Freaking Biden on foreign policy? Sorry, reading "Foreign Policy For Dummies" over the next month doesn't get the job done.

Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina? If McCain decides that being a CEO of a tech company is qualification to be president or vice-president, he might as well just apologize for the whole "ready to lead" campaign he's been running against Obama. These folks would lose the debate before it even starts.

Tom Ridge? All Biden has to do is make a few jokes about Ridge's color-coded terror diagrams and the debate would be over. And I don't care how much Chris Matthews tries to play up Ridge's strengths, the guy is as dumb as a post. He has all the charisma of one of those wooden Indian statues you see at trading post stores.

I hate to say it, but this leaves Joe Lieberman as the only VP prospect who could hope to go toe-to-toe with Biden in a debate. His ideas are terrible and he looks like a muppet, but Lieberman's been on enough talk shows and campaigns to have his debating skills down. The big downside that they have to somehow solve? Lieberman is pro-choice and voted against Alito (a vote he now says he regrets).

Maybe McCain has another dark horse candidate out there. But it seems to be slim pickings right now. Would he really go for Joe Lieberman, hoping that the increased Jewish vote and (theoretical) jump from indies makes up for the pissed-off evangelicals and conservatives? I don't know. Most Republicans think of Joe Lieberman as a useful idiot, just a bludgeon to use against Democrats. They don't really consider him a serious or principled leader. Unfortunately, McCain actually does believe this bullshit because Lieberman is such a sycophant.

I think Lieberman would be a disaster for McCain, but he may have no other good options if he wants his VP candidate to measure up to Biden. And before you say "oh McCain doesn't care about the VP debate" let me just say this. McCain is a very proud man, he thinks he is the world's premiere expert on foreign policy, and he'd be damned if he's gonna see his VP choice get creamed on that subject on national TV.

Maybe McCain should have vetted more people, or tried harder to recruit Petraeus. It's a hole he dug for himself, and his options appear to have dwindled down to bad and worse. This is what Obama was hoping for -- to string things out so late that McCain panics and picks the wrong person for VP.

No wonder the McCain campaign is reeling.