All About McCain

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

And make no mistake. I know it's a ploy on behalf of McCain. I don't think McCain is fearful at all, though.

It may have been a "foreign policy" debate but there is no way they were getting out of there without the economy being brought up. And the perception among the viewing audience is that McCain is stumbling on handling the crisis. He was most certainly fearful. Fearful of the reality that 99% of the time, debates don't change anyone's mind they just reinforce whatever opinion trends are happening. An on air confrontation about the financial crisis would not have gone in McCain's favor. So he tried the nuclear option, bail out and make it look like he's pulled himself together and is all over this financial thing. It's not a surprising move, it's even an understandable move, but it was not a move done with particular cleverness or subtlety. Pretty much everyone has seen right through it for what it is, a last ditch attempt to fix his image on the economy and, if he was lucky, dodge being put on the spot at the debate.

But it's going to backfire. Where before he could easily have taken control of the debate by keeping it on the official topic of foreign policy, where he for no good reason maintains his advantage of perception the same way Obama maintains his advantage on economic issues. But now that he'll likely put his tail between his legs and show up for the debate having declared from the hilltops that the crisis is the most important issue since 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day, he won't be able to dodge it.