OK, when I first heard that McCain was suspending his campaign I sorted through the pros/cons and something didn't quite add up. The timing of the thing just didn't make any sense, sure his poll numbers were sliding and all that. But they weren't sliding that bad and suspending your campaign based on a 1-2 point erosion just struck me as too over the top - even for big mac. However, I did however, remember that Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric was running the same night.
I walked into the house and one of the first things I told my wife was that I was worried McCain was suspending his campaign to generate a massive smoke screen because of Palin. Obviously, they knew what that interview was going to contain and if it was going to be a major disaster then they would obviously want to head that off ahead of time. Of course, just a minor disaster wouldn't be cause to suspend an entire campaign. But a major, almost disqualifying disaster would be. And it appears that the Couric interviews are bordering on disqualifying her from holding national office. So he suspends the campaign and what is even more suspicious is that instead of flying straight to DC he went straight to Katie Couric to give an interview. That is damn near a smoking gun. Why go to Couric when you know that your VP pick is being interviewed that same night? It makes no sense unless your purpose was to bump your VP's interview from the headline to possibly second billing (or even completely drop the interview from the broadcast).
So, has it worked? It certainly has taken some of the focus off of Palin, but I'm pretty sure this story has legs. McCain has to see this, has to know that the meltdown is inevitable and probably knows that he's only left with stalling actions while he plays for more time. Eventually this thing's going to come to a head and I'm guessing it's going to be the debate with Biden. Should be a train wreck of epic proportions.
So via Balloon Juice, I saw this:
Breaking News from Big Eddie:
McCain Camp insiders say Palin “clueless”
Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as “disastrous.” One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, “What are we going to do?” The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is “clueless.”
Looks like McCain is staring down an out of control locomotive with Palin written across the front. How awesome this is, he made this pick for pure political gain and it's the political aspect of it is going to bring him down.
Update: The facade begins to crumble.
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