McCain's Possible Campaign Pitstop

Here’s a theme I’ve been hearing from despairing Republicans, something they think that McCain should be laying out for voters, since his other attacks don’t seem to be gaining much traction. Bill Kristol today:

And he can point out that there’s going to be a Democratic Congress. He can suggest that surely we’d prefer a president who would check that Congress where necessary and work with it where possible, instead of having an inexperienced Democratic president joined at the hip with an all-too-experienced Democratic Congress, leading us, unfettered and unchecked, back to 1970s-style liberalism.

I actually do think this is a solid argument for people with a rightward tilt to their politics. Or, at least, it would be, if we hadn’t just lived through eight years of the Bush administration and six years of “conservative” governance in the Congress. Whatever conservatism means – and I’m content to leave it up to others to dish that out for themselves – we certainly haven’t seen any of that from the current crop of Republicans in Washington. Which, of course, includes one John McCain, Maverick. McCain lacks the judgment and temperament to be any sort of check on anyone, as his campaign this far has made perfectly clear. At some point or another, the public in this country is going to have to wrap their heads around just how far to the right the entire body politic has drifted since Goldwater. It’s been a long time since Reagan put on the “no vacancy” sign on the Great Society and even longer since the Roosevelt coalition held sway.

In another election cycle, that kind of advice might have gained some traction. I think the last month or so of McCain’s antics, starting with his selection of Palin as his running mate, has more than amply demonstrated McCain’s unfitness for the presidency in specific and for national office in general. It just goes to show you how far a great background story and a winning way with reporters can get you, even if you are temperamentally unfit to be in charge of nuclear weapons.

Nate Silver thinks that this might be Kristol laying the groundwork for McCain to radically shake up his campaign. Perhaps, but I honestly can’t imagine a worse campaign strategy. Ditching your entire campaign staff three weeks before the election? Maybe, if McCain is running for “most unstable candidate for high office.” If McCain and company spend a whole week trying to link Obama to terrorists and then to simply say, “Hey, look over there! A blimp!” and run away would be a pretty shocking turn of events.