McCain faces dilemma––lose big or lose bigger

John McCain is facing a huge dilemma, the likes of which have never been witnessed in presidential politics.

Besides having a tough few weeks, he’s having a tough campaign overall.

He’s been on the wrong side of public opinion for more than a year when it comes to the illegal war and illegal occupation of Iraq.

He’s been on the wrong side of public opinion about that same amount of time on the prospects of the U. S. attacking Iran (which, of course, would be illegal because it would be an international war crime).

On those two issues, he’s been swimming against the current for some time. He calls going the opposite direction of the general public being a maverick. It’s not. It is only evidence that he’s not too smart.

By his own admission, he knows next to nothing about economics. That was proven weeks ago when the nation’s economy was collapsing and this genius proudly declared that the “fundamentals of the economy are sound.”

That same day, his campaign issued a press release declaring the economy is in crisis. I guess McCain didn’t receive the memo.

He had to face reporters again and “clarify” his fundamentally-sound-economy statement of a couple of days earlier. What he said he meant by those earlier remarks was that American workers are fundamentally sound—”the best in the world,” I think he said.

What he failed to add is that unemployment is officially above 6 percent (and unofficial unemployment numbers reach into near-Depression percentages––12 to 15 percent). I question how American workers are “fundamentally sound” when they are staring into certain soup lines for the unemployed.

But it wasn’t just one misstatement. The entire month of September went south for ol’ John McCain––beginning with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

The convention began on Labor Day and had scheduled speeches by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Of course, because of the holiday weekend, few people would be home to watch the Republican extravaganza (not a good omen). Also, it didn’t bode well that the country’s two least credible and most unpopular politicians would be leading off McCain’s so-called Straight Talk Express.

By a stroke of good GOP luck, hurricane Gustov bore down on the Golf Coast, giving McCain good cover for canceling the opening night of the convention and, in effect, uninviting the sitting president and vice president.

A few days prior to the convention McCain dropped the Alaskan Bombshell by announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate––a surprise to everyone, including himself.

Palin was dubbed “a babe” by Republican shill Rush Limbaugh.

She was perky, looked fetching on camera and could read a prepared speech off the TelePrompTer. But what McCain didn’t count on was that without a script she was helpless and hapless.

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