History is replete with instances of poor choices and bad decisions: the Maginot Line, Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, Vietnam. Today John McCain is committing another great blunder, which will go down in tactical history as perhaps the worst campaign mistake since Giuliani’s Florida Folly.
McCain is making a last minute push into the Keystone State of Pennsylvania. Hoping to turn around the polls, he is placing all his bets on the state of 11 million people. An amalgamation of Rust Belt and Northeastern state, the birthplace of the nation is an unusual creature. Pennsylvania has had Republican senators and governors in the past, but has not supported a Republican for President since 1988.
The second oldest state in the union, not by entry date but by mean age of it’s citizens, Pennsylvania handed Clinton a win in the primary. But now the state is favoring Obama over McCain by 10 points in most polls. Turning around such a deficit with just 10 days until the election is not only daunting, it is impossible.
McCain’s gamble is to turn one blue state red to compensate for losing three to four red states to Obama. But the choice of Pennsylvania is odd to say the least.
Hoping to pull 21 electoral votes from Obama, McCain believes he can stem the rising tide for Obama if he pulls off this Hail Mary pass in the fourth quarter. The problem is that McCain is ignoring states he might be able to defend with such a ridiculous strategy.
Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, and Florida are now going for Obama. Even if McCain pulls off Pennsylvania, he will still be far short of the 270 needed to win. Instead of going on the offense in a state he cannot possibly win, McCain needs to play defense with the states he might have a chance to hold and to possibly keep Obama to 269 and force a divisive vote in the House and Senate–forever sealing his legacy as the worst presidential candidate in history.
McCain will lose. But his selfish actions, attempting to lose by less, are going to cost his party dearly. The brand is already damaged, but McCain is doing all he can to make the party not just an anathema but also a pariah this election.
The McCain campaign pushed a story to the media this week about a student attacked and beaten for displaying a McCain bumper sticker in her car. She became a cause célèbre, brandishing the B “scar” she said her attackers carved into her cheek. But the woman lied, and her story soon collapsed and became a critical liability for the McCain campaign.
McCain has already decided to appeal to the basest and most destructive element in the Republican party. Feeding the rabid masses red meat at his Nuremberg rallies, McCain and Palin are fomenting hate in a political pact with the Devil with no hopes of Victory on November 4.
Instead, McCain should be focusing on stumping these final days for his friends in the Senate who are now endangered. Just as Dole did in 1996, McCain could face reality and accept his defeat while protecting the filibuster in the Senate. But McCain, as always, puts not country first but himself.
Like his petulant brother who called 911 to complain about traffic, McCain is tying up valuable resources in this final 10 days to feed his ego, hoping he can win one last victory before he fades away like all good soldiers do. McCain could choose to devote his monies to protect McConnell or two open seats in Mississippi, but that would require selflessness, and McCain only understands selfishness.
So on November 4, when McCain goes down for the count, he may drag along with him the filibuster and at least 30 seats in the House. If George W. Bush killed the Republican party, John McCain is burying it, and Palin is defiling its corpse.
The Party of Lincoln is now being tied to the party of “off with his head,” “kill him,” and “terrorist.” While McCain and Palin could not have done it alone–Michele Bachmann and Jean Schmidt have had a great hand in destroying the party–they are the main culprits in the party’s demise.
What emerges from this party could be a reinvention, where the religious and intolerant forces are expelled, or it may be carved up into other parties. There are many unknowns about Election Day, but one thing is certain. November 5 will be the first day of a new Republican Party, no matter what form it finally takes. And four people will become personae non gratae: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Sarah Palin.
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