Friday, July 25, 2008

Please McCain, Keep At It

St. John McCain has announced today that he has a secret plan to capture Osama Bin Laden. McCain refuses to disclose why he has withheld this knowledge from President Bush these past seven years. McCain did say, "Look, I know the area, I've been there." McCain proved his unique knowledge of the region recently when he disclosed that Pakistan borders Iraq when less knowledgeable people had been deluded into believing that Pakistan shares a border with Afghanistan.

Also today, his staff is rumorizing that McCain will be announcing his vice-presidential pick in the next couple of weeks in a desperate attempt to get some press between now and September. Let's hope he does. If he does he will be playing one of his few trump cards too early, during the dog days of summer when most voters are barely paying attention and only developing vague impressions of the candidates. Rolling out him or her (I still say it will be Carly) this early makes the veep choice non-news when the election finally reached the voters radar. Also, shortcutting the vetting process makes it more likely they will miss a significant skeleton in the choice's closet that will make a juicy disclosure in October when people are watching.

These dog days were the perfect time for Obama's foreign trip. He could have delivered his Berlin speech in Pig Latin and few people would have noticed. What voters got was the general images - Obama being received as an equal by every head of state he meet, Obama being cheered by enough Europeans to fill the Rose Bowl twice. These are the kind of images that won't register immediately in polling data but will have a lingering positive impact on people's perceptions.

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