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Go Home Mccain's Re-retooling

OCTOBER 13, 2008

Mccain's Re-retooling

BY NOAM SCHEIBER

What I love about the fact that McCain is officially "retooling" again after deciding not to retool after previously deciding to retool is that you know the proposals he finally trots out will have been deeply considered, painstakingly constucted, and elaborately fine-tuned.

It's not like he'd just pull a bunch of ideas out of his back pocket because people were disappointed when he didn't retool the first time.

--Noam Scheiber

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14 comments

To retool or not to retool?  That is the question.  Whether 'tis nobler in the mainstream media to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous liberal reporters, or to take arms against a sea of campaign stumbles and by opposing end them?  ...

To stump, to run - to run, perchance to win.  Ay, there's the rub.  For in that Electoral College, what swing states may come when we have shuffled off this campaign coil? ...

Lack of conscience does make cowards of us all.

- adaglas

October 13, 2008 at 11:44pm

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Adaglas,

Best. Comment. Ever.

- fong_ac

October 14, 2008 at 2:49am

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MCCAIN TRIES TO RE-REBOOT.... Consider a brief timeline of events. On Saturday, the McCain campaign leaked word that it would launch a new economic plan in response to the financial crisis, which "would amount to a do-over from the hasty...

- Anonymous

October 14, 2008 at 8:06am

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McCain needs a Brian Schottenheimer to fix things. Steve Schmidt? That other guy, the ex-lobbyist? They're no Schottenheimers.

- fougasseu

October 14, 2008 at 8:17am

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John McCain: the Madonna of American politics.

By the end of next week, I expect a final "retooling," in which McCain just says "screw it" and adopts as his campaign slogan, "A Reformer with Results."

- rhubarbs

October 14, 2008 at 9:06am

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adaglas: Two Thumbs Up, Way Up.  Worthy of a Kenneth Brannagh remake, I say.

I have to confess that when I saw the headline, "McCain's Re-Retooling", I thought that good old POWPOW had gone the way of the Dole and was going to hawk Viagra on cable.  Alas, no such luck.  Pity poor Cindy.

- icarusr

October 14, 2008 at 9:24am

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Few of us can appreciate the conflict in McCain's brain. He has three weeks to shine up his image as a candidate and a person but most of the fundamental repairs will be seen as an admission of failure. It isn't as though he's pulling his pitcher or firing a slacker. He knows shifting the blame won't fool anyone.

The finish line is less than a month away and he has to say, "Just kidding! Those weren't my convictions and in order to go out with my dignity you'll see the real me." His most glaring example of poor judgment was choosing Paling and she's not going anywhere. No fine tuning will mitigate how history judges that decision. I've seen candidates who reflect and admit where they could have done better. This isn't even over and since the primary few objective people give McCain credit for doing anything right. It isn't over and he could argue it's too late do anything. Kristol can vent and claim a too late 'I told you' but I haven't seen any advice that will change the dynamics in a constructive way for McCain.

- michael

October 14, 2008 at 10:42am

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"Few of us can appreciate the conflict in McCain's brain."

Count me among the few.  When I flushed the toilet this morning, it reminded me of the turmoil in John McCain's, um, "brain", as you call it.

- icarusr

October 14, 2008 at 10:59am

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While McCain will (we assume) produce his new economic plan today, it seems clear that he still has a struggle ahead of him.

- Anonymous

October 14, 2008 at 11:31am

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If McCain is going to go back in time to a past iteration of himself here, like a crashed computer being rebooted from an archived image of the hard drive, I propose that McCain go all-in, and announce that he has accepted John Kerry's offer to run on a joint ticket.

- rhubarbs

October 14, 2008 at 11:49am

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The man is a bigger fool than I thought possible.  This is the latest:

"In an interview on a St. Louis radio station, McCain said Obama's comments that "I didn't have the guts" to talk about William Ayers in the last presidential debate have "probably ensured" that the former 1960s radical will come up in Wednesday's debate."

I'd venture to guess that Obama was expecting precisely this kind of small-willied, petulant reaction.  And, yeah, this is the kind of temperament we want as Commander in Chief.  "Putin said I didn't have the guts to launch the Third World War; this probably ensures that I do so."

Oy.

- icarusr

October 14, 2008 at 11:53am

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adaglas, comment of the day for sure, what happened to that feature?

- blackton

October 14, 2008 at 1:04pm

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Exactly, ick, and McCain is still in the same quandary he was in last time out.  If Obama keeps his cool no matter what attacks come, it's likely that McCain will be even more rattled than he has been in the first two debates.  But if McCain goes on the attack with right-wing talking points, it'll get some cheers at home from the nativist resentment crowd, but could go even farther toward dismantling his reputation among independents while failing to win back the now changewards-shifting blue collar voters who are beginning to be ok with the thought of voting for BHO.

Maybe McCain should call in sick for this last debate -- it problably wouldn't help but it certainly wouldn't hurt his chances any at this stage.  Once he'd shot his bolt on the f-p debate (his ostensible great strength) at Ole Miss, he's been trying to play catch-up in areas where he's weaker, and watching while his numbers dissolve.

- ironyroad

October 14, 2008 at 1:09pm

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"If Obama keeps his cool no matter what attacks come,"

"If"?  Surely if there is one constant since last November is Obama's cool.  And to think so many people were faulting him for it!  The second-guessing never stopped but he went right on being cool.  And he will remain cool, probably the ironic smile or two.  He won't say, "there you go again" - the line has been sullied by the Palin - but he will have some variation of his, "you're still living in the sixties" riff, which is all he needs to do.  I'm willing to bet, however, that he has in his back-pocket two things: the list of Republicans on the Annenberg Board, and McCain's friendship for G. Gordon Liddy.

No, there is no "if".  He will stay cool, and he will constantly come back to the economy, and to the fact that one of McCain's own aides said that if the talk is of the economy, they will lose.

I wonder who they have standing in for POWPOW?  It has to be someone or something that would test Obama's grace under heavy fire; I'm thinking a rabid pit bull - without the lipstick - crossed with Sean Hannity.

- icarusr

October 14, 2008 at 1:33pm

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