In today's NYT, Tommy Thompson provided his assessment (and the assessment of everyone he knows) of the sputtering Republican nominee:
Asked if he was happy with Mr. McCain’s campaign, Mr. Thompson replied, "No," and he added, "I don’t know who is."
Thommy Thompson, an otherwise loyal GOP tool, had a moment of Feingoldesque honesty and clarity common among Wisconsinites when he revealed what the average GOP troll won't: John McCain's current strategy of stoking the lowest common denominator in the GOP base is a shitty one.
Someone must have smoked out the GOP troll bridge, because their concern trolls are out in full force:
Again and again, party leaders said in interviews that while they still believed that Mr. McCain could win over voters in the next 30 days, they were concerned that he and his advisers seemed to be adrift in dealing with an extraordinarily challenging political battleground and a crisis on Wall Street.
The expressions of concern came after a particularly difficult week for Mr. McCain. On Friday night, new questions arose about his choice of Ms. Palin as his running mate after an investigation by the Alaska Legislature concluded that she had abused her power in trying to orchestrate the firing of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.
Remember the Obama concern troll's popular chant? It went something like "Why can't he close the deal?" McCain's concern trolls have a different one. Their's goes: "He doesn't have a chance in Hell!"
The Republican Michigan Chairman jumps into the fray and throws a wet blanked on the Sean Hannitys of the world (i.e., those few dim bulbs lit by the delusion that enough active, voting klan members exist to cinch their victories):
"I think you’re seeing a turning point," said Saul Anuzis, the Republican chairman in Michigan, where Mr. McCain has decided to stop campaigning. "You’re starting to feel real frustration because we are running out of time. Our message, the campaign’s message, isn’t connecting."
Another GOP tool worried about the Southeast part of Pennsylvania. And worry he should. The SE part of PA will reject the race bait like a bad organ:
In Pennsylvania, Robert A. Gleason Jr., the state Republican chairman, said he was concerned that Mr. McCain’s increasingly aggressive tone was not working with moderate voters and women in the important southeastern part of a state that is at the top of Mr. McCain’s must-win list.
"They’re not as susceptible to attack ads," Mr. Gleason said. "I worry about the southeast. Obama is making inroads."
Earth to McCain! Earth to Steve Schmidt! It's 2008, and your Palin rallies come across as the freak shows and trainwrecks they are. Your strategy is so 20-40 years ago, and, unlike you, America has stopped fighting the battles of the sixties.
But McCain just doesn't get it:
"I’d like to remind you that the political pundits have been wrong several times," Mr. McCain said, "and they’re wrong because we will win the state of Iowa in November."
He is so far out on the fringe, tone deaf and divorced from reality, he doesn't realize that his "rally the Klan" strategy is political suicide in 2008. Again, we are not fighting the battles of the 60s, because the racists lost that fight a long time ago.
At least a few concern trolls in his campaign understand this. They'll probably be disappeared Carli Fiorni style if McCain reads this:
Yet there were continued signs of confusion and turmoil in the McCain campaign, as his aides wrestled with conflicting advice, daunting poll numbers and criticism from state party leaders increasingly distressed with the way the campaign has been run.
Republicans said he had been damaged by several rallies last week in which supporters shouted insults and threats about Mr. Obama, prompting Mr. McCain on Friday night to chide audience members. His aides suggested that they were trying to find a balance between attacking Mr. Obama and painting him as untested and risky without stirring unruly crowd reactions.