Things are looking worse and worse for McCain. Even North Dakota is slowly turning blue. It seems likely that he'll suffer an impossible defeat: not just against a Democrat, but against a black guy. In America. Oh my god.
Nobody's been saying it so I will: I don't think McCain can win with Palin. I think it's a longshot but his only chance is to dump her now, explain that he chose her based on bad advice and that he recognizes the error and is making an adjustment.
This week we learned that she's not just dangerously incompetent; she's dangerously incompetent at best. She's even turned off Christopher Freaking Hitchens, a man who refers to Obama's anti-war supporters as "the surrender faction" and who, as one of maybe three atheists who are more annoying than me, I find it very confusing to always disagree with.
Palin's multitude of truly bizarre interview gaffes, disturbing scandals, and hilarious soundbytes have added up to the point where conservative pundits can't even plausibly complain about sexism anymore, and liberal pundits (well, Bill Maher anyway) have become comfortable referring to Palin as a "bimbo" or a "stewardess" without repudiation. Or maybe it's not that the conservatives aren't able to defend Palin -- maybe they're unwilling.
So that's my advice, McCain: one last Hail Mary pass. Dump Palin, pick up Huckabee even though you can't stand him, and you might get the conservative base back. You don't have much hope with independents either way at this point, but an audible couldn't hurt. Yes, you'll look even more "erratic," but then as a losing campaign you can't really help but scramble.
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