The McCain Sham

I just arrived in Oxford, Mississippi, and it’s more obvious than ever that McCain’s actions, throwing the whole debate process into uncertainty and chaos, was a put-up job.  Having first declared he would not debate “until this crisis is resolved“, McCain announced at the last minute that he will participate tonight.

Not that the McCain campaign was actually suspended, anyway, as it really appeared to be business as usual, given the number of activities, fund-raising, television appearances, and Obama-bashing that never actually ceased.

The plan was to have McCain ride into Washington on a white horse and save the day, but what happened instead was a partisan showdown at the White House that devolved into a screaming match, where the supposed white knight offered little in the way of resolution.

At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.

But with Bush’s own party at odds with the administration’s bail-out plan and John McCain airdropped into the middle of ongoing and delicate negotiations, deal partipants seemed blindsided by a new plan thrown on the table at the last minute, with few details attached.  Like when Elvis got songwriter credit for tunes he didn’t write, it looks as though the Republican leadership was injecting John McCain into an ongoing process at the last minute in an attempt to show that he, and only he, would be the one to save the day.

Meanwhile, if the Gallup Daily tracking poll means anything, this hasn’t helped McCain, as Obama is up 3 points after McCain’s risky political move.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.