McCain's "highly unusual disappearing act" to his Arizona ranch as "Palin power putters out"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Post-debate, Palin power putters out
Agence France-Presse
Published: Saturday October 4, 2008



http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Postdebate_Palin_power_putters_out_1004.html

DENVER, Colorado (AFP) – Despite a gutsy debate performance by Republican VP pick Sarah Palin, she failed to turn the tide in the race for the White House, leaving John McCain struggling to revitalize his slipping bid, analysts said Friday.

Just over four weeks until the November 4 elections, McCain has yet to seize the upper hand from his Democratic rival Barack Obama and has been left trailing in the polls.

On Thursday his campaign admitted that it was pulling out of Michigan, effectively surrendering the midwestern state to the Democrats, to focus instead on six swing states.

And with more bad news on the economic front, McCain was Friday to hold a rally in Colorado before retreating to his Arizona ranch for the weekend, in a highly unusual disappearing act at the height of the campaign.

[LiberalAndProud]

1. Doesn't McCain always take the weekend off?

I thought I had read that somewhere earlier. What makes this "highly unusual"?

[otohara]

8. Yup, Yup... As Sarah

would say!

At least Lieberman has his religion to justify not working on Saturday.

What's McCain's?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. "...at the height of the campaign..."

The author's opinion.

[Binka]

2. Palin Powers "Oh Behave!"

[Arkana]

3. Picture begs a "FAIL."

[NC_Nurse]

4. "gutsy"???? Bullshit. She didn't answer the questions. A trained dog could

spew talking points after being coached for 5 WEEKS, fer chrissake!!!!

Jeebus that shit annoys me.

[Bucky]

6. I'll buy "gutsy". Think of it as the opposite of "thoughtful."

Anyway, the commentators might have been fooled (most who graded her on CNN gave her Bs), but the viewers weren't. People are looking for substance, not pre-fabbed slogans. She did a pretty good job smiling through her sloganeering, but vast majorities of viewers knew she wasn't actually debating.

[Mz Pip]

5. I heard it was

for debate prep.

He has the weekend to practice looking at a cardboard cutout of Obama.

[TexasObserver]

7. McCain is trying to come up with a new game plan, since nothing has worked.

The numbers show that Palin helps him with his base, but not otherwise. She's probably pissing him off these days. Her comments about Michigan can't make him happy. Her star power that leaves him as the tired old second act no one wants to see can't make him happy. Her apparent independence cannot appeal to him.

I don't expect him to dump Palin, but I suppose it could happen.

I do expect him to decide to go negative big time. He'll want to distance himself, so we might see a bunch 527 ads cropping up. They are going to go negative and probably get really nasty about it.

[democrattotheend]

10. What was gutsy about her debate performance?

I will admit that she probably beat expectations and did not completely implode, and she did sound spunky and come off fairly appealing, at least in the beginning. But there was nothing gutsy about her performance. She largely stuck to her rehearsed talking points and did not really take any big risks with her answers.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. Maybe it was the "I'm not gonna answer the way you expect me to" thing, I don't know...

...I've seen a lot of "despite low expectations, Palin stood her ground" reporting. Only in Bush-Cheney America could we applaud someone for being in over their head and pretending that they're on top of the world, ready to lead, you betcha.

[iceman66]

12. Maybe he has a health issue.

He looked pretty haggard in his last few appearances.

It is very unusual for a candidate to take time off this close to an election.

[speedoo]

13. McCain has been unusually unstable this week.

Compare his nastiness in the DesMoines Register interview with his idiotic, dribbling delirium at the Colorado rally yesterday.

I expect his moods to swing in an extreme manner in the last month of the campaign.

It will be interesting, to say the least, to watch his behavior Tuesday night, as he attacks Obama even more. Will he be able to actually look at Obama?

[MNDemNY]

14. The old man is falling apart. Mentally and physically.

I'm not sure he will emerge from the "ranch" Jeb to the rescue!!!!!!

[Ernesto]

15. The man is OLD & TIRED!

Hell, I'm 62, in good health and there is NO way that I'd even consider trying to kill myself on such a campaign trail!

[OmahaBlueDog]

16. It's smear line practice

You saw a preview during the Palin debate:

He's going to say that Obama advocates surrender and isn't qualified to be Commander in Chief

He's going to try to drag up Rev. Wright and Rezko and Ayers

Hell, he might even accuse him of secretly being a Muslim (OK --he won't do that)

If he has any unknown dirt, he's goin to bring it out here

McSame is losing, and he can't run on the Bush record. The Campaign suspension stunt didn't work. He's going to go to a no-holds-barred smear campaign for the last 30. It's all he has left.

[salonghorn70]

17. Move Along, Nothing To See Here

It is just days before the Tuesday debate. Debate preparation. I believe Obama is in Chicago this weekend.