Best schadenfreude day ever as a proud, unapologetic liberal

Where to begin? This morning I read on CNN.com that Campbell Brown is calling for an end to the sexist treatment of Republican VP-nominee Sarah Palin ... on the part of John McCain's campaign handlers. Brown asserts that by shielding Palin from virtually all media interviews, they are disrespecting her years as governor. As Brown says more eloqeuntly than I ...

I call upon the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower who will wilt at any moment.

This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong, she is tough, she is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heartbeat away from the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff.

Well, then I read the transcript of Sarah Palin's interview with CBS's evening news anchor Katie Couric.



The final question and answer in the interview:

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

When you watch it, she doesn't come across quite so teenager-making-an-excuse-for-not-doing-homework as she does in the typed transcript, but she still comes across as unprepared for the interview, at best, and Greek-tragically unprepared to substitute to lead the world at worst.

But wait, just when the campaign was going Hindenberg there's more, courtesy of John McCain's lie to David Letterman. McCain was scheduled to appear on tonight's show, but called Letterman personally to cancel saying he was rushing back to Washington, D.C. to assist in the negotiations for the Wall St. bailout. He might have fudged his timetable a little.

From the LATimes' Matea Gold: After Letterman learned that McCain was sitting down [while Letterman's show was taping] with Katie Couric, he had this to say:

I don’t want to keep beating this thing, but it just really is starting to smell now. Because he says to me on the phone, I took a phone call from John McCain – a lot of senators don’t call me – and so I felt like OK, as part of the national good, I understand and I said good luck and thank you for being attentive to the cause. And he said maybe next time I’ll come in and I’ll bring Sarah Palin. And I said, fine, whatever you need to do, that’s just fine. And he said, yeah, we’re going to go save the country. And then it’s like we caught him getting a manicure or something! [as video showed him getting powdered before the cameras started rolling for his interview with Couric.]

Letterman also says regarding McCain suspending his campaign and calling for a delay to Friday's scheduled first presidential debate to head to Washington to work on the bailout negotiations:

Sure, there’s an economic crisis. And here’s what you’re do if you’re running your campaign in the middle of an economic crisis and its about to crater…You’re a fourth term senator from Arizona. You handle what you need to handle. Don’t suspend your campaign. You let your campaign go on, shouldered by your vice presidential nominee. That’s what you do…

You say, I gotta get back to Washington to save this country. Good for you. And while I’m gone, campaigning in my stead will be my great running mate from the state of Alaska, Sarah Palin. And she comes out and campaigns. What happened there? What’s the problem? Why isn’t she doing that?

So what's happening to the McCain campaign? Seriously? The Washington Post's poll noted that Obama is starting to increase his lead over McCain. That's not unexpected as the RNC/Palin bounce is feeling gravity's pull.

And regarding McCain's call to cancel Friday's debate ... I say this not as a partisan, but as an American concerned about the faltering economy: I want that debate this Friday. I want to hear what the candidates have to say. They should recast the debate theme to the economy and domestic issues and let's hear what their proposals are. Let's make this about the issues, and stick a hot pitchfork in McCain campaign manager Rick Davis's eye who said that the campaign is NOT about the issues. And for the record, I felt this way before Barack Obama essentially said the same thing.

News outlets are reporting basically that Barack said that unless personally told his presence would be essential to finalizing an agreement he thinks it best to stay away from Washington so as not to inject politics/campaigning into the solution.
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Spending blog note: $3 for caramel iced-blended from Coffee Bean.