A Losing Strategy

I’ve been saying for weeks, now, that the Rethuglican Party seems to have a plan — I think they want to lose this election.
Here’s my evidence:
McCain is the perfect sacrificial lamb. He was a long shot in any case and will never again be in a position to run for president.
The people who ran against him during the primaries are all still available to run again, later— although many of them are, currently, becoming anathema [far right wingnuts] to the public at large. Still, they may be able to make a comeback in Congress in the future.

Until the Republican convention, McCain ran a pretty good campaign. For a while, he looked like he might lose— so, he superglued himself to that chair on Face the Nation and brought himself back from the brink.
Then, the moment he secured the nomination, he began committing gaffe after gaffe after gaffe.
^^^
After repeatedly dinging Obama as inexperienced, McCain chose, as running mate, a far-right wingnut caricature who had no experience and who was so stupid that she positioned herself for and worked to secure the appointment during the current anti-establishment climate.
Palin has repeatedly shown that she should not be let loose near an open mike without a script and a chaperone [who does that remind you of?] And she has been allowed to just continue blithely putting her foot in her mouth:
When asked about the Bush Doctrine, she showed herself to be ignorant of just what that was.
When asked what magazines she has read, she responded to the question with a blank look and said: "All of them".
She demonstrated a total ignorance of what the job of Vice President consists of.
Palin appeared on Saturday Night Live—and allowed herself to be ridiculed.
She also was pranked by two Canadian humorists and had no idea it was happening.

I believe that McCain, who could have chosen many women who were actually fit to be vice president, passed them over because they were fit. By not considering them, he left them untarnished by this failed election— leaving them free to run again, later.
My guess is that Palin will return to Alaska after the election is over — and sink from sight without leaving even a ripple on the surface.
^^^
McCain, himself, looked like a racist during the first two debates. He looked senile during the second. During all three, he looked like a man who had a very tenuous control over his temper. This is a person I don’t want with his finger on the nuclear button.

Speaking of war: McCain has gone on record as stating he would be happy to stay in Iraq for 100 years. He said it at a time when the American population had long been saying they recognized that they had been lied into the war and were ready and past ready to get out of Iraq.

After saying that the economy was sound, McCain panicked and canceled the 2nd debate to "rush back to Washington" after which he appeared on Katie Couric's show. Then he appeared at the debate after all.
Simultaneously, he opened himself up to ridicule on David Letterman's show.

McCain spoke of abortion and demeaned the idea of the "life and health of the mother" by placing air-quotes around it. Selling out half of the population [and the half that is more likely to vote—especially when it comes to health issues] is not a winning strategy.

McCain said, of nuclear power, that Obama "waffles" by bringing up concerns about the environment, safety and "blah, blah, blah". This is a method of effective public speaking and selling his point?

And McCain has changed his message daily during the last 3 or 4 weeks. He hasn't seemed to be able to make up his mind how to run his campaign -- even during this, the 11th hour.
Meanwhile, his entire campaign is imploding.
^^^
There has been no October surprise against the Democrats.
If the RNC had dug, given their ability to sniff out scandal even where none exists [see Elizabeth Dole's campaign, the numerous allegations by McCain's campaign that Obama is a Socialist, 'pals around' with terrorists, stressing Obama's name, etc. etc. etc.], I have to wonder, why not?

Many Republicans, from Colin Powell to Bush’s own press secretary, Scott McClellan, have endorsed Obama in recent weeks. I may be reaching here, but I have to wonder— did they receive their marching orders from the RNC?

All the finger-pointing and mud-slinging within a losing campaign usually begin after the election is over. This time, it started a couple of weeks beforehand. Why?

As the campaign winds down, prominent Republicans are publicly coming out and stating that Palin is not ready for prime time.
Lawrence Eagleburger, who briefly served as Secretary of State under Bush 41 stated that Palin could, given time, become 'adequate' though she would not be likely to become a 'genius at the job.' He soon came out and tried to pedal back from his statement— but he did not do so all that effectively.

The weekend before the election, Cheney [an extremely tarnished brand name] came out and endorsed McCain.
The talking heads are asking, "Why didn't he endorse McCain months ago?"
If he had done so, it would've been old news by now. By endorsing him 3 days before the election, there is no time for the shock wave to die down.

Maybe these are the October Surprises—in reverse. Can Eagleburger's anti-endorsement, the finger-pointing and Cheney's endorsement help ensure an Obama win?
^^^
I think the RNC may be positioning itself to jettison the far right wingnuts whose votes it was very happy to exploit right up until they took over the party. Now, they have become an embarrassment and a liability.
So, the RNC wants to lessen the influence of the far right. What better way than to put one of their own at the top of the ticket and let her fall flat on her face?
Fwiw, I think McCain is in on the joke— and Palin is not. If they’d chosen someone who wasn’t an airhead, the whole plan might not have worked. I imagine there must be some anti-abortionists who aren't fools. But, none of them were tapped. Why not?

I believe the RNC is positioning itself to grab all the marbles [again] in 2012. It is virtually certain to lose the White House and both Houses of Congress this Tuesday.
In 4 years, the American public [well known for its fickleness] is likely to turn on the Democrats because they haven’t managed to repair every bit of the damage done by BushCo.
I think the RNC doesn’t want to be in control over the next 4 years— because it’s easier to seize power than it is to repair a broken country.
^^^
This looks, to me, suspiciously like a Rovian Playbook designed to throw the current election to the Dems. May I please be proven wrong in my assessment.

Stealing from the Huffington Post

Adam McKay coined the sentence that, he said, we must hammer and hammer between now and November. He's right.

I hear folks say, "The polls don't show the energized young people who only have cell phones."
"The polls are slanted because people are focused on Palin right now."
"The polls are skewed for this reason or that reason or this other reason."
But, the fact is -- there are people who, at the end of the day, simply want to vote with the majority. The folks who don't trust their own judgment. The people with short memories. The people who believe the lies McCain spews so effortlessly. The people who don't bother to look at the 95% voting record. The people who don't look ahead to the Supreme Court appointments.

So, I'm going to blatantly plagiarize McKay's sentence and place it, as a tag-line on all my emails. Everyone who gets an email from me -- be they liberal or conservative [of whom there are a lot in my address book, sad to say] or right-wingnuts [of whom there are a few] and people who are choosing ignorance [of whom there are a few] will receive the reminder.

Here's Adam's sentence:
"Katrina, four dollar gas, a trillion dollar war, rising unemployment, deregulated housing market, global warming...no more."
and while I'm about it, I think I'll add "corporate bailouts" just before "no more".

Thanks for the idea, Adam. I'm unholstering my hammer right now.
Please do the same and ask everyone you know to do it, too.
The alternative is unthinkable.