I’ll probably be annoyed with myself for this post-title when this campaign tightens up, but it’s looking a lot like McCain has jumped the shark.
Just think that a couple weeks ago the entire campaign was engulfed by scrutiny of Obama’s suggestion that he might be “refining” his plan for a 16 month timetable for withdrawal — a twitter, if that, on the seismograph of campaign course corrections. Now consider that over the span of a few weeks Sen. McCain has gone from predicting a decades long presence of American troops in Iraq and attacking any discussion of timetables for withdrawal to endorsing Maliki’s push for a 16 month timetable and tying himself in knots trying to explain why what Maliki’s endorsing is any different from Obama’s.
When confronted with Maliki’s own words saying that he supports what Obama supports, McCain now falls back on that last redoubt of philanderers, asking the American people, “Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin’ eyes?”
McCain’s rhetoric towards Obama has really become harsh and unstatesmanlike . Whoever is helping McCain frame his message is not doing McCain any longterm good.
Obama would rather lose in Iraq than lose the election,and Obama can find time to work out in gym but not find time to visit wounded soldiers? This is awful stuff coming from a candidate for president.
That the gym was filled with soldiers is a fact that McCain seems to have not noticed.
Of course, if McCain read what I just wrote, he would complain that I just made an attack based on his age.