Editorial: McCain running a race with no direction
Two disastrous weeks in a row are threatening to sink Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign.
The first embarrassment came last week, when he decided to "suspend" his campaign in order to return to Washington to help deal with the economic crisis. The move was met with dismay in Washington, where lawmakers viewed his "help" as an unnecessary burden.
Last Friday night, even though McCain did surprisingly well in his debate against Sen. Barack Obama, focus groups weren’t impressed with his angry tone and declared Obama the debate’s winner.
Then, on Monday, he claimed credit for the $700 billion bailout bill. But McCain had spoken too soon. Just hours later, that same bailout bill crashed and burned in the House, where McCain could only successfully corral a third of Republicans to vote for the bailout.
His running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, gave a confounding, meandering interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric. Palin’s horrible performance left no doubt she’s unfit to be, as CNN’s mortified news man Jack Cafferty put it, "a 72-year-old’s heartbeat away from the presidency."
This week, in a move that reinforced McCain’s angry image, he blew up in a meeting with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register, the largest newspaper in Iowa. The trip was a waste anyway. Predicting Obama will win Iowa and saying there were no votes to gain meeting one of the most liberal editorial boards in the country, former McCain staffer Mike Murphy wrote on TIME Magazine’s "Swampland" blog, "What the Hell was McCain even doing there in the first place?"
A month from election day, Obama has widened his lead in polls to about 10 percent. The Democratic candidate leads in states George W. Bush won four years ago, like Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, Virginia and Florida.
Any more of these mind-boggling moves and McCain faces a blowout of epic proportions.
From the editor: Let's use this space to discuss reactions to the vice presidential debate, as well.
