RNC: Man the Lifeboats!

With falling McCain poll numbers and 9 days until election day, the Republican National Committee is caught in the swells of a dilemma.... should they don their Navy whites and pour more wardrobe-money into McCain's leaking national campaign, or abandon the Straight Talk Depress and focus on Senate and House races that might yet be salvaged.

David Frum, former "axis of evil" Bush speechwriter, advises in his Sunday op-ed, "Sorry Senator, Let's Salvage What We Can." (WaPo)

McCain has captained what must be one of the worst-managed campaigns in recent memory.

He gave policy control to lobbyist campaign managers who crafted a ditto-Bush far-right corporatist message, picked a Moose-hunting creationist as his "anti-elite" partner (you really thought Hillary supporters would take to You Betcha' Palin?) and hired Rovian thugs to Swiftboat Obama as a pal of terrorists who is "not like us," not a part of "real America" where the campaign burrowed for votes.

And presto! McCain energized the most radical element of the GOP base and chased off the great moderate center of the electorate.

So.... well, duh.... McCain's losing.

"There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him" Frum moans.

Frum offers this save-what-you-can advice.... "In these last days before the vote, Republicans need to face some strategic realities. Our resources are limited, and our message is failing. We cannot fight on all fronts. We are cannibalizing races that we must win and probably can win in order to help a national campaign that is almost certainly lost. In these final 10 days, our goal should be: senators first."

In self-preservation, the GOP should pull-anchor on their McCain-campaign life-support. To accomplish this successfully the flagship commander should sublimate his ambition for a cause greater than himself. But it seems McCain's ambitions are greater than his grasp of such a cause.

Besides his erratic campaign efforts, a crippling blow was dealt to McCain's hopes at the meltdown of Wall Street and the Bush-Paulson-declared economic emergency... just hours after McCain had serenaded "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Still, the RNC and McCain stubbornly clung to his backward-leaning campaign even though he was listing badly. He resorted to easily-seen-through staged responses like "suspending my campaign" and "Joe the Plumber" who isn't a licensed plumber and doesn't pay his taxes.

And, it's not working.

The pivotal moment for the GOP is now.... will they man the lifeboats or go down with McCain's unseaworthy ship?

McSame's Tax Cut and Palin Pipeline Myths

The Washington Post published a chart that was widely circulated showing the difference in the tax cuts or increases between the Obama and McCain Tax Proposals.

On it's face, it shows how McCain's plan gives huge breaks to the wealthy, while Obama's gives bigger breaks to the up-to-$111,645 income taxpayers. But this chart doesn't really tell the true story because the bottom two-thirds of the population are given only a third of the space on the graph, while the top 0.1% of the population - one in a thousand people - gets almost 10%.

Thanks to the blog site chartjunk, here is the weighted chart giving a truer picture of the tax plans:

This weighted chart factors population distribution which depicts even more clearly that Obama's tax plan is the most beneficial to two-thirds of the population.... lower and middle class taxpayers.

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And, while we're on the subject of clearing up the record, let's address the outsiders-against-greed-and-corruption campaign blather about "maverick" Palin's touted Alaska pipeline.

As spelled out in "Palin pipeline terms curbed bids" (AP-USA Today) "Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.

"Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.

"And contrary to the ballyhoo, there's no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles."

And, just what kind lobbying influence was at play?...."The leader of Palin's pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin's pipeline team.

"Under a different set of rules four years earlier, TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under Palin, the company could receive a maximum $500 million."

Does this sound like a reformer?.... an outsider who will come down hard on lobbyists and insiders, a maverick who will cut costs? And, Palin's fellow "maverick" McCain has a campaign, Senate office staff and policy advisers rife with lobbyists or former lobbyists.

The "maverick" campaign lingo is just more Rovian McSame-Bush say anything truth-be-damned tactics.

They're aimed at trying to convince the majority of Americans who think the country is going in the wrong direction that the McSame ticket is the agent of change.... to once again lure them with empty words to vote against their own best interests when in fact the McCain-Palin ticket is intent on continuing The Decider's power-grabbing corporatist ways.

Vote! It matters!