Friendly Fire

This just in from Richmond: Sarah "I can see the Milky Way at night so I must be a confectioner" Palin just opened up on HER OWN SUPPORTERS at a rally.

As the great author once said, the difference between fact and fiction is that fiction has to make sense. One is unsure if this is sufficient evidence, but there is a compelling argument to be made about a campaign's defensive posture when the Vice-Presidential candidate mistakes supporters for protesters. Good grief, if Governor Palin is seeing protesters without knowing that they're there, what else is she seeing?

One fact of life: one seldom hears about the image of Jesus appearing on food outside of Latin America, or billboards in Atlanta. This suggests that while He may be showing up in some guy's Moo Goo Gai Pan, the observer is not necessarily so attuned to Christ as to notice His appearance in the observer's dinner.

Relating this to Governor Palin, if she is seeing protesters who are not there, then she is obviously concerned and reactive. This relates directly to the campaign's characterizations of Senator Obama with half-truths and innuendo, and Governor Palin's role. She opened the personal salvo about Obama's relationships without offering anything in the realm of policy.

The Republican Vice-Presidential candidate has made extensive crticism of Senator Obama's relationships and suggested that his discretion in not making his disputes public somehow proves poor judgement. However, Governor Palin's record indicates a pattern of very public and spectacularly petty confrontations which exhibit an imperious character. This character is also consistent with the failures of tact and diplomacy which have become the trademark of the Bush administation.

The imperious nature of Palin's governance, combined with the exposure of scandals which would have been gossip limited to an infinitessimal community in a remote state, plays upon her mindset. Whether or not she believes that she is wrong, she has begun some recognition that her views are less than consistent with the opinion of the mainstream. By moving to a campaign rooted in attempts to defeat Senator Obama by assaults upon the man's private life, Governor Palin must accept that she is now vulnerable to similar affronts.

Senator McCain has chosen to stay out of this fray. In fact, when a supporter expressed several hateful and baseless statements regarding the Democratic candidate, McCain showed a bit of the candidate which moderates and independents found so appealing. Indeed, by refusing to embrace a far-right monologue of paranoia and race-baiting, McCain the man, if not the candidacy, probably charted the best correction of course that his party could wish for.

It may not save Republican chances in 2008, but it may assure that the Republican party still exists in 2012. While one finds a profound question with Senator McCain's decisions in the campaign, one suspects a stewardship which guides his party away from the divisions and ideological exclusion that hallmarks the era of Gingrich and Bush.

The base which had time and inclination to vote based upon an agenda of controlling the behavior of others in times of prosperity now finds itself decimated by the policies of deregulation which have eradicated all of the gains and part of the principal promised by adherence to the tactics and strategies of the Republicans over the last twelve years.

To translate the last few paragraphs for those who are still under the illusion that Republicans are fit to lead: they can dish it out but they can't take it. They want you to worry more about a gay wedding than what's left of your 401(k), and then they want you to think that a candidate who has a plan to change the economy's direction (allowing a middle class voter to prosper) is actually going to be worse for you than the people who wiped out your savings.

With 48 hours until the last debate, this is where Obama is going to stick it in the Republican party, and one suspects that Senator McCain is going to give the opening.

1. The economy looks like what would happen if somebody got drunk and decided to rebuild a transmission on the kitchen table. The drunk individual would be devoid of talent, experience, a service manual or replacement parts. Does the transmission's owner say A.) Screw this, pack up all of the parts on a sheet and carry them over to Aamco, who presumably knows what they're doing, or B.) listen to the drunk who says "Hey, I took it apart. I can put it back together..." while he's opening another beer?

2. If Ayres gets brought up during the debate, look for Obama's vapor trail going after the Keating Five. Although one suspects that the Keating Five is a great name for a retro British Invasion style band, they are an extremely bad memory for Senator McCain. The perfect response would be brief, along the lines of "Senator McCain was involved with Charles Keating, and not only did not renounce his unethical behavior, but was cooperating in an event which cost Americans billions. Now if we are going to talk about our associations, let's get it on and bring up events in which we participated."

3. Obama isn't going to need a game changer. If one likes sports analogies, he just has to keep the ball out of McCain's hands. If one likes Football, as defined by North Americans, what Obama is looking for is a long, clock-eating downfield drive which will put him two scores ahead with no time to play. He's up by seven, 7:30 to go in the 4th quarter, 1st and 10 on his own 20.

In other words, he's winning, and in a good place, but there is time left for things to go very badly. However, McCain is out of time outs, and if the Republicans do not firmly have the ball by the two minute warning, it's going to be all Obama.

4. McCain not only needs a game changer, the more he tries to force a turnover the less prepared his team looks. There was no provision for the possibility of things not going their way. The Republicans did not anticipate the economic downturn (crashing and burning, really). There was no provision for a resurgent Russia on the international stage, nor was there any consideration that countries like Iran and Venezuela may collaborate to drive up crude prices.

Should Obama's team choose to dig in on the McCain team's lack of foresight, scarcity of vision, and frickin' myopia and start hammering, McCain is going to look like he just took on Muhammad Ali in his prime.

In 48 hours, the Obama campaign has a chance to put this away. This looks as if it is going to be very enjoyable for Democrats to watch.

From my lips to God's ear.