Pinch Yourself, That Rumbling Sound You Hear is Republicans Jostling to Run Against President Obama

[a kennedy]

MARK KARLIN'S EDITOR'S BLOG

October 8

Stick a Fork in McCain; This Debate Sealed His Defeat.

That rumbling sound you hear is not a herd of moose trying to escape Sarah Palin armed with an AK-47; it’s Republican presidential wannabees stampeding over the rubble of the McCain Campaign to position themselves for the 2012 campaign.

They are lining up staff and support to run against President Obama in four years, as the soon-to-be former junior senator from Illinois seeks a second term.

Yes, the major "snap" polls from the two presidential and one vice-presidential debates all showed Obama and Biden the winners, particularly in swaying independents by about 20% points each time. And yes, no matter how much I want to keep McCain’s age from becoming an issue per se, McCain’s tired, frayed, anemic debating presence last night was the final nail in the coffin of a bungled, mystifyingly inept campaign.

The October surprise turned out to be the collapse of a fanatical economic de-regulation crusade that began when Ronald Reagan was elected and will R.I.P. in November when voters go to the polls shortly after Halloween.

In a final tactical desperation gambit – in a campaign filled with desperation gambits – McCain surprised the pundits by trying to appear calm, moderate, and "presidential" in his second debate with Barack Obama. Instead, he looked grumpy, off-key, opportunistic and a bit too needy.

Independents tend to be more educated about the issues than the electorate as a whole, and they knew McCain was lying about his record on the environment, de-regulation and taxes, among other major issues. But the cruelest blow of all to the man whose finest moment was courage in a Hanoi prison was the abandonment of his campaign by conservatives who felt that he had betrayed them by hastily moving to the center.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/124

[Courtesy Flush]

1. Better make that 2016!