McCain camp to propose postponing VP debate

[Brittain33]

At risk of your first predictive error, we'd still love to hear

I don't have any interest in taking down Sam's reputation... I am curious to hear any potential positive explanation for McCain that could possibly apply here. Is he "crazy like a fox"? Did he lower Palin's debate expectations so low that she can't help but succeed?

[Eraserhead]

Fascinating...  I think I see what's going on now.

Do inform us

Please do.

Not yet.  When I say "I think I see", I'm not 100% sure yet.  When I will, I'll tell.

You are thinking the thing this morning was a trial ballon, correct?

[JohnCA246]

LMAO  Poor McCain/Palin, they need more time to prepare. Seriously now, what about being prepared on Day one?

[Sam Spade]

Fascinating...  I think I see what's going on now.

Do inform us

Please do.

Not yet.  When I say "I think I see", I'm not 100% sure yet.  When I will, I'll tell.

At risk of your first predictive error, we'd still love to hear

The first basic question I will ask is:  Do you think there's any chance that the Obama campaign accepts these conditions?

More questions after I come back from dinner...

[Sam Spade]

Fascinating...  I think I see what's going on now.

Do inform us

Please do.

Not yet.  When I say "I think I see", I'm not 100% sure yet.  When I will, I'll tell.

You are thinking the thing this morning was a trial ballon, correct?

Which "thing this morning"?

[Eraserhead]

Fascinating...  I think I see what's going on now.

Do inform us

Please do.

Not yet.  When I say "I think I see", I'm not 100% sure yet.  When I will, I'll tell.

You are thinking the thing this morning was a trial ballon, correct?

Which "thing this morning"?

The whole idea of McCain pushing his debate back...

[pragmatic liberal]

Obama Landslide?

Seriously. I'm not predicting one, but I think the odds are now 50-25-25 (Obama landslide/Obama wins close race/McCain wins close race).

McCain's campaign is a joke and an insult to the American people. From their blatant and unbelievable lying and their terrible staging to McCain's jump-the-shark VP pick (and yes, it looked like a jump-the-shark pick at the time and despite initial good polling she's an insane choice for VP and turning into a net negative)). NOW, there's McCain's headless-chicken response to the financial crisis and now this debate kerfuffle.

What the McCain campaign is good at doing is driving the coverage and winning the news cycle. But you can only go so far with that and the wheels are coming off the bus.

Seriously, at this point, I honestly wonder if Romney would have been a stronger nominee. He always polled horribly and came off as phony. But he's smart and telegenic and can speak intelligently about the economy. And he wouldn't have made these bizarre, "maverick" (re: crazy) moves. The Obama-Romney spread would probably have closed. At this point, I think the Obama-McCain spread might approach 10% or more.

[Brittain33]

Obama Landslide?

Seriously. I'm not predicting one, but I think the odds are now 50-25-25 (Obama landslide/Obama wins close race/McCain wins close race).

I wouldn't go that far. This is still meddling at the margins.

[Meeker]

The McCain campaign is trying to massively lower expectations. They know damn well that there's no chance in hell the VP debate will be postponed.

Very clever of them though.

[daboese]

Well, if she is "as good" as in the Katie Couric interview, she will even fail these expectations.

[Eraserhead]

The McCain campaign is trying to massively lower expectations. They know damn well that there's no chance in hell the VP debate will be postponed.

Very clever of them though.

I'd say that this goes well beyond "lowering expectations".  This just comes off as looking pretty pathetic. But then again, MSM isn't giving the story much play so far, for some reason. So maybe it doesn't matter that much anyway.

[pragmatic liberal]

Obama Landslide?

Seriously. I'm not predicting one, but I think the odds are now 50-25-25 (Obama landslide/Obama wins close race/McCain wins close race).

I wouldn't go that far. This is still meddling at the margins.

All right. But a serious possibility?

Obama seems to be about 4-5 points ahead right now. And given these ridiculous events, that margin could easily grow. 7 points? 8 points? I think a 52-44 Obama win is possible.

[Likely Voter]

OK this is now just getting silly

[Eraserhead]

Obama Landslide?

Seriously. I'm not predicting one, but I think the odds are now 50-25-25 (Obama landslide/Obama wins close race/McCain wins close race).

I wouldn't go that far. This is still meddling at the margins.

All right. But a serious possibility?

Obama seems to be about 4-5 points ahead right now. And given these ridiculous events, that margin could easily grow. 7 points? 8 points? I think a 52-44 Obama win is possible.

Where did the other 4% go?

[Lunar]

Either Palin's debate prep is going poorly (and thus the 100% blackout of media access except on carefully chosen situations) and McCain is hoping that he can force some kind of VP debate delay, even if Biden doesn't agree,

or it's a trap.

[pragmatic liberal]

Obama Landslide?

Seriously. I'm not predicting one, but I think the odds are now 50-25-25 (Obama landslide/Obama wins close race/McCain wins close race).

I wouldn't go that far. This is still meddling at the margins.

All right. But a serious possibility?

Obama seems to be about 4-5 points ahead right now. And given these ridiculous events, that margin could easily grow. 7 points? 8 points? I think a 52-44 Obama win is possible.

Where did the other 4% go?

Oh I don't know. I just figure there may be a 52% ceiling on both candidates -- and if there's a clear McCain collapse, maybe that would result in an uptick for both Barr and Nader.

Of course this is all very speculative. It probably won't happen.

But instinctively I can't help but feel that McCain's joke of a campaign isn't going to give way to a relatively comfortable Obama win.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

At risk of your first predictive error, we'd still love to hear

I don't have any interest in taking down Sam's reputation... I am curious to hear any potential positive explanation for McCain that could possibly apply here. Is he "crazy like a fox"? Did he lower Palin's debate expectations so low that she can't help but succeed?

If Palin shows up to the debate, she wins, thanks to the stupid expectations game. You know the debates must be coming up when the Republicans are in full expectations game bullsh**t mode.

There is a lot of political bullsh**t coming out of the McCain campaign today for having "suspended" their campaign. What HP.

[Sam Spade]

The McCain campaign is trying to massively lower expectations. They know damn well that there's no chance in hell the VP debate will be postponed.

Very clever of them though.

Yep.

[Alcon]

Is Joe Everyvoter really going to connect this to a conspiracy to change the VP debates, decide Sarah Palin is underprepared, and then be surprised?

That seems like kind of a convoluted gamble.

[Nym90]

Is Joe Everyvoter really going to connect this to a conspiracy to change the VP debates, decide Sarah Palin is underprepared, and then be surprised?

That seems like kind of a convoluted gamble.

The average voter who Sam likes to imitate isn't likely to think that deeply about it; I agree.

Would be interesting if Obama were to bring up that McCain was the one who wanted to debate once a week all summer, time that he could have instead spent on trying to get this crisis fixed before the bailout was necessary rather than waiting until now.

[Zarn]

This is genius.

[cinyc]

Is Joe Everyvoter really going to connect this to a conspiracy to change the VP debates, decide Sarah Palin is underprepared, and then be surprised?

That seems like kind of a convoluted gamble.

The average voter who Sam likes to imitate isn't likely to think that deeply about it; I agree.

Would be interesting if Obama were to bring up that McCain was the one who wanted to debate once a week all summer, time that he could have instead spent on trying to get this crisis fixed before the bailout was necessary rather than waiting until now.

And McCain would probably say the offer still stands, Senator Obama - I'll debate you anywhere, any time in town hall meetings once our work in Washington is done.

[Sam Spade]

Is Joe Everyvoter really going to connect this to a conspiracy to change the VP debates, decide Sarah Palin is underprepared, and then be surprised?

That seems like kind of a convoluted gamble.

The average voter who Sam likes to imitate isn't likely to think that deeply about it; I agree.

Would be interesting if Obama were to bring up that McCain was the one who wanted to debate once a week all summer, time that he could have instead spent on trying to get this crisis fixed before the bailout was necessary rather than waiting until now.

Yep.  The average voter will simply conclude - 1) maybe they (McCain camp) don't think she's ready - or 2) won't conclude anything at all because they won't hear it.

The move is probably more for the media and the internet sites than anyone else.

[Brittain33]

If Palin shows up to the debate, she wins, thanks to the stupid expectations game. You know the debates must be coming up when the Republicans are in full expectations game bullsh**t mode.

I'm sorry, I have to disagree that this is some game-changing masterstroke for the VP debate. This maneuver does not innoculate her from any consequences should she say or do something stupid, as she is likely to. If she shows up and doesn't screw up, she's met the same low expectations that applied a day ago. People will make up their mind regardless.

Expectations already were rock-bottom.

What I see is McCain making another erratic decision and people hoping that there's a strategy behind it that will have a huge payoff. We saw the same defense of the Palin pick when it first happened, and when it seemed, a few days later, to have had only an upside.

Sometimes a pig is a pig.

[cinyc]

What I see is McCain making another erratic decision and people hoping that there's a strategy behind it that will have a huge payoff. We saw the same defense of the Palin pick when it first happened, and when it seemed, a few days later, to have had only an upside.

Sometimes a pig is a pig.

The Palin pick worked for what it was really meant to do - energize the base, put some states in play (what Barone calls the Frozen North - MN, WI, MI and maybe even ME - though ME's a huge stretch and McCain probably won't win any of the 4), and put other supposedly close states off limits (AK, MT, ND).  It was never really meant to win over every Hillary Clinton supporter or liberal woman - to the extent that it does, it's gravy.