Kathleen Parker at National Review Online, one of Sarah Palin’s most enthusiastic supporters, throws in the towel.

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

Of course Parker had to toss in that gratuitous – and completely unsupported – jibe at Biden. Perhaps it was an attempt to soften the blow; no matter. The claim that “Palin can save McCain” is purely wishful thinking: the damage is done, McCain’s desperation is revealed for all to see. Does she really think that people would be able to forget McCain’s colossal error of judgement in a few short weeks? Well, maybe she’s got a point… after all, McMightyMouse will have (or fabricate) plenty of opportunities to play the drama queen between now and the election.
UPDATE: Even the manic enthusiasm of the rabid NROer K-Lo is wavering:

I’m not where my friend Kathleen Parker is — wanting her to step aside to spend more time with her family and Alaska — but that’s not a crazy suggestion. She’s right to say that something’s gotta change.

Enter the (incompetent) drama queen: McCain makes it worse:

And so, a bailout proposal that once seemed likely to pass now is back to negotiations. In the process, Secretary Paulson was reduced to getting on his knees to beg House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to have her party members bail on the proposal; President Bush was forced to ponder a market meltdown on his watch; and Democrats were left fuming that in a bid for the leadership spotlight, John McCain may have simply gone and fouled things up.
“Bush is no diplomat,” said a Democratic staffer, “but he’s Cardinal freaking Richelieu compared to McCain. McCain couldn’t negotiate an agreement on dinner among a family of four without making a big drama with himself at the heroic center of it. And then they’d all just leave to make themselves a sandwich.

And what did McCain actually do with his carefully orchestrated appearance? Sat in silence for three quarters of an hour, uttered a few vague platitudes, and did nothing to support Bush, thereby encouraging the apres moi le deluge House Republicans to declare their independence.
Bush went along with McCain’s charade (inviting him to the White House and asking Obama almost as an afterthought), but he must be fuming right now. One more “maverick move”, and McCain’s only friend in the world will be the execrable Palin. (Even she must be wondering what the hell she’s got herself into.)

Quote of the day:

Letterman said McCain taking Palin to meet world leaders at the United Nations was like “take-your-daughter-to-work day.”

(Via Huffpo.)

TPM on the bizarre handling of Sarah Palin:

What’s really sobering is that the McCain campaign continues to block Palin from answering questions even though it’s now resulting in reams and reams of bad press for the McCain-Palin ticket. That suggests McCain advisers know that letting her answer even the most elementary questions in an uncontrolled environment is so dangerous that it’s worth weathering the current media drubbing they’re taking in order to prevent it from happening at all costs.

Of course there’s an alternative explanation: they’re worried that she will sound all too good, and will flip the ticket. I mean, she’s already on record as referring to a “Palin-McCain administration”….
No, no, no: I’m only joking. Really.

Andrew Sullivan becomes understandably apoplectic at this nonsense:

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

She’s “unblinkingly” ready to become President, but too delicate to handle a televised debate? My bullshit meter just went off the scale and exploded.
I liked the following comment by Skip Evans over at Dispatches From The Culture Wars:

Dear Mrs. Debate Holder,
Sarah will be absent from the debate today, because she has a tummy ache and is not feeling well. Please excuse her absence.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Karl Rove

A number of soi-disant “conservative” pundits have been blaming the sub-prime mortgage mess on “liberal political correctness”. Jim Lippard and Craig Cantoni provide facts rather than FUD:

LAS VEGAS – As part of President Bush’s ongoing effort to help American families achieve the dream of homeownership, Federal Housing Commissioner John C. Weicher today announced that HUD is proposing to offer a “zero down payment” mortgage, the most significant initiative by the Federal Housing Administration in over a decade. This action would help remove the greatest barrier facing first-time homebuyers – the lack of funds for a down payment on a mortgage.

Speaking at the National Association of Home Builders’ annual convention, Commissioner Weicher indicated that the proposal, part of HUD’s Fiscal Year 2005 budget request, would eliminate the statutory requirement of a minimum three percent down payment for FHA-insured single-family mortgages for first-time homebuyers.

“Offering FHA mortgages with no down payment will unlock the door to homeownership for hundreds of thousands of American families, particularly minorities,” said HUD’s Acting Secretary Alphonso Jackson. “President Bush has pledged to create 5.5 million new minority homeowners this decade, and this historic initiative will help meet this goal.”

Today’s snorting-coffee-all-over-my-keyboard moment was provoked by a beautiful fisking of the latest utterance from the woman who “knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America” by hilzoy. The comment thread is delightful! And aren’t you glad that “they don’t flag, you know, the molecules”? I know I am!

Scalzi on McCain.

When there is no real-world penalty for lying, distorting and demonizing, then the only thing to stop you is your own moral compunctions. However, if McCain actually had any moral compunctions on this point, he wouldn’t be running the campaign he’s running now. And I would suggest that a man who shows no moral compunction in pursuit of power is not a man who will suddenly find those compunctions once he has power. An election is a job interview, people. If someone lies to you during a job interview, and says to you “yes, I’m lying, what of it?” when you catch them in the lie, and you hire them anyway, well. You shouldn’t be surprised at what comes next.

McCain the liar:

Fallows on Palin

The truly toxic combination of traits GW Bush brought to decision making was:

1) Ignorance

2) Lack of curiosity

3) “Decisiveness”

That is, he was not broadly informed to begin with (point 1). He did not seek out new information (#2); but he nonetheless prided himself (#3) on making broad, bold decisions quickly, and then sticking to them to show resoluteness.

We don’ know for sure about #2 for Palin yet — she could be a sponge-like absorber of information. But we know about #1 and we can guess, from her demeanor about #3.   Most of all we know something about the person who put her in this untenable role.

As I quoted a couple of days ago, Palin is a master mistress of the decisive ignorance thing:

But notice that Palin didn’t dodge the question. She didn’t panic and say she’d need to check with someone, or that she needed more information, or skirt around it. She actually felt confident enough to answer, and lay it all out there – and be completely wrong. She had no clue.

Just like W.