Who will be debating Joe Biden?

As we have now seen Palin's dismal interviews, and know that she does not have anything more than a cursory knowledge (or none at all) of the serious issues facing the country today, I'm starting to wonder who the McCain campaign will have debating Joe Biden on Thursday? Of course Palin will have to physically be present at the podium, but looking at McCain's strategy of accompanying her on interviews so that he can jump in and bail her out when she starts talking like South Carolina's Miss Teen USA contestant, I'm guessing he's not real comfortable with her going down in flames on her own. Accordingly, Palin will be wearing a wire.

Obviously it would be damaging if everyone knew she was cheating, so the receiver will be virtually impossible to detect. I'm not well versed in the state of the art of radio technology, but it doesn't seem too far-fetched to expect that a modern, tiny, "in-the-ear" hearing aid could be paired with a micro receiver, creating a nearly invisible "inner voice" to help her with those tough questions, like "name a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade".

Of course, this is all speculation, but look for her to wear her hair down, and watch her pause after each question, as if listening intently to her "inner voice" for guidance. You may think this makes her a sock puppet for the right, but in truth, she is really a sock puppet's sock puppet, as McCain is the one who has abandoned principle to spew Rove's talking points.

John McCain will be attending the debate tonight

No, I don't have any connections to anyone in the McCain campaign, nor has the campaign said that its candidate would be appearing. [edit: the campaign has now said he will appear] However, the consensus view emerging about his "suspending the campaign" is that it is nothing more than a crass political stunt, making a no-show at the debate a very dangerous proposition for McCain.

McCain's stunt began to go awry when he bailed on Letterman at the last minute in order to "fly back to Washington" to handle the crisis, but instead of leaving, went to the CBS studios to do an interview with Katie Couric. Letterman's cut to McCain having makeup applied as he sits in front of Couric exposed McCain's stunt, revealing him to be a liar concerned only about his political fortunes. Jump to about 6:50 on this clip and watch for yourself:



Moreover, the media has noticed this stunt, and made the connection to the last time McCain pulled a similar trick, back in 1999 by postponing the announcement of his candidacy because it was "not appropriate at th[e] time to launch a political campaign." Yeah, right. He scored a big win that time, dominating the media while appearing to put his country before politics.

This time, however, the gambit hasn't worked so well. 86% of Americans think that the debates should go on. Obama's response, that a president should be able to "do more than one thing at a time," was right on target, painting McCain as weak if he he can't handle it all. Although McCain will appear weak if he blinks and attends the debate, the alternative is far worse. The stage is set, the news media, and Barack Obama, will be in Mississippi, and if McCain is a no-show, the event will become a nationally televised campaign event for the Obama. For a preview of where this could go, one only need to look to this clip of Sen. Barbara Boxer bringing up McCain's experience with bank failure, ala being one of the Keating 5:



In fact, I'm surprised that every democrat isn't saying something like this every time a camera is present. Here's a quip that ought to be drummed into the heads of Americans: "John McCain has a lot of experience with banking failures; causing them that is. He was a member of the Keating 5, and his campaign manager is a lobbyist whose firm was on Fannie and Freddies' payroll right up until they were taken over."

Of course, if McCain shows, he will likely be eviscerated, but at least he has a chance to go down fighting.

UPDATE:

Looks like McCain recognizes that he has no good choice, and is going to honor his commitment: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/26/politics/p005508D02.DTL

Gold Rush!

Did anyone see the price of gold today? Judging from the graph, just before 10am Eastern this morning, gold started rocketing upward. My guess is that it is responding to the Fed's new strategy to "enhance liquidity," a euphemism for essentially printing (or otherwise creating) money. Maybe this will cause a flight to hard assets?

Obama calls Palin a pig [but with class, style, and plausible deniability!]

I saw this clip and nearly doubled over laughing! With McCain trying to sell himself as the "change" candidate, Obama slaps him down and backhands Palin at the same time, playing on the cornball 'lipstick' applause line from her convention speech. Hilarious!



The worst thing McCain can do is give Obama free airtime (exposing the farce of McCain's "change" schtick) by making a big deal out of this.



Update:

Looks like the McCain campaign has taken the bait.

How Long Until McCain Plays the POW Card on the Palin Pick?

Now that McCain's terrible VP pick is blowing up in his face, I thought I'd help out his campaign with some talking points to help them get over the media backlash. John, feel free to use these:

On Bristol Palin's teen pregnancy:

"Sarah Palin is a model of conservative family values: she is a strong supporter of abstinence only sex education, and is against abortion. Her teenage daughter's pregnancy is simply the natural outcome of these values."

On Bristol Palin's underage drinking:

"What the media has focused on is that she is drinking alcohol, which is legally consumed by adults all over America every day, and was not caught smoking pot. Yet."

On Palin's dream of having Alaska secede from the United States:

"America is becoming far too liberal, and Sarah Palin would rather not live in a country that recognizes the rights of its citizens."

And finally, on the Palin pick in general:

"When John McCain spent his years in a Vietnamese prison camp, he could only dream of standing next to a hot mom and her sexually active teenage daughter..."