Lots of good stuff in the editorial sections this Sunday morning. Predictably, many are still analyzing the debate, but there are lots of other interesting topics, including the religious right's attempt to influence church-goers this Sunday.
Several editorials also call out McCain and Palin's bad week. I can't help but wonder how they turn this around without another surprise move. If so, what would it be?
See below the fold for more Sunday editorials...
The Los Angeles Times editorial skewers President Bush, reflects on Palin and McCain's bad week and questions Obama:
Questions about McCain's judgment in recent days have only been deepened by the performances of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She has struggled in her rare public appearances, and her selection risks appearing all the more reckless and cynical when held against the seriousness of this financial crisis. Even McCain's campaign "suspension" seemed like gamesmanship. He said he was rushing to Washington, but took his time, and the talks derailed soon after he arrived. He proclaimed that the situation was so dire he would not return to the stump until an agreement was reached, then did precisely what he said he wouldn't. It was not an impressive week for the Straight Talk Express.
Still, Obama has hardly run away with this issue, and the economic news exposes his weaknesses as well. He is, after all, untested by executive crisis and a freshman senator of limited achievement in government. Voters may well blanch at his relative inexperience, given the gravity of these times. Indeed, it is telling that in a week when his opponent flailed, Obama made scant headway in the polls.
The Canton Repository (OH) endorses Obama:
The events of the last two weeks have provided another telling contrast between the two candidates. Obama has stressed the need for a bipartisan agreement on a financial bailout and reform package that includes strong accountability measures. McCain has indulged his penchant for drama. He declared that if he were president, he would fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission — action that a president doesn't have the authority to take. Then he abruptly refused to debate Obama on Friday — at a time when Americans need to hear directly from both men about their reaction to the financial crisis — but, fortunately, McCain changed his mind again.
We believe that Obama's intellect, caution, levelheadedness and calm demeanor make him better suited to lead a nation that must respond to many unwelcome changes with yet more change. The Repository endorses Sen. Barack Obama for president.
The Akron Beacon Journal (OH), decries McCain's media strategy in McCain has own version of free press:
That sound you heard coming from the Cleveland area last week was the Straight Talk Express, John McCain's campaign bus, backfiring. McCain had employed a curious media strategy that included a 41-day stretch dating back to Aug. 13 in which he did not hold a single news conference to answer questions.
Upon venturing into various towns for campaigns stops, the traveling press and the local reporters were allowed to look, listen, but not ask.
This is a workable plan if you have already taken the oath of office, are ensconced in the White House and know it takes a constitutional crowbar to be removed. But McCain is running for president and that means answering questions from the media.
Frank Rich at the New York Times calls out McCain's suspension bridge to nowhere, arguing that McCain's campaign suspension was merely an attempt to distract us from a plethora of bad news:
It’s not hard to guess why McCain had blown off Letterman for Couric at the last minute. The McCain campaign’s high anxiety about the disastrous Couric-Palin sit-down was skyrocketing as advance excerpts flooded the Internet. By offering his own interview to Couric for the same night, McCain hoped (in vain) to dilute Palin’s primacy on the "CBS Evening News."
There are also many articles this Sunday on Palin's horrible week. David Goldstein at McClatchy has the simple headline - Palin meets the press, and the reviews are not good:
Sarah Palin finally fielded some off-the-cuff questions from the media this week - a campaign first - but it was her interview with CBS's Katie Couric that drew the attention, and the reviews weren't good. One conservative columnist suggested she should do what's best for the country and resign from the campaign.
Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker wrote, "No one hates saying this more than I do," but Palin's "clearly out of her league" and should "bow out." Broadway shows close after friendlier reviews.
If you're John McCain, is this the headline you want to see mere weeks from election day? Michael Shear of the Washington Post details For McCain, days of chaos, improvisation and drama:
The decision to confront the economic crisis with a dramatic gesture was vintage McCain -- bold, swaggering, surprising -- and held out the possibility of a game-changing moment as a political byproduct. But it also highlighted the differences with Barack Obama's calm and steady campaign. McCain seemed to be lurching from one strategy to the next, defensively reacting to events while trying to regain his footing on a subject that had been difficult for him.
It was as if all of his election-year demons were haunting him at the same time: more attacks on his top aides, bad poll numbers that drag down enthusiasm and a return to a subject that has bedeviled him.
Peter Gelzinis of the Boston Herald thought Dissing Barack Obama made old John McCain look mean:
It might be useful for one of those lobbyists running John McCain’s campaign to remind him that Barack Obama is his opponent, not his jailer. Refusing to extend the simple courtesy of eye contact only makes this 72-year-old man look than much older . . . and angrier.
And, on another note, several editorial boards are condemning any attempts by church officials to endorse from the pulpit. The Nashua Telegraph (NH) says Pulpits not the place for endorsements:
In a flagrant challenge to existing IRS regulations, federal tax law and Supreme Court rulings, pastors across the nation will endorse Sen. John McCain for president today and advise their congregations that, in the words of one pastor, "No person who calls himself a Christian can vote for Barack Obama."
This nationwide "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" is the latest initiative from the Alliance Defense Fund, which in announcing the effort had the audacity to state, "ADF is not trying to get politics into the pulpit."
Pulpit Freedom Sunday has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with politics. It's a power grab by the religious right, pure and simple. If this occurs in your church, please walk out or protest later.
So what do you think we will be talking about next week at this time? Predictions for Thursday's VP debate? And, what do you think of this "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" - do you think it will have any impact on the race?