McCain's Unforced Error

Incredibly, McCain declined tonight to appear on the softball Larry King Live apparently as punishment for Campbell Brown's takedown of McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

Campbell Brown's interview was reasonably tough, but in no way unfair. Certainly not as unfair as most high-profile Senate Subcommittee inquiries. Whining about the media, in my opinion, makes a candidate appear weak and cowardly anyway.

But, even if McCain's faux indignation be ever so deserved, it's a stupid, self-destructive move on his part. McCain needs the media exposure very badly....more badly than CNN needs him. Does he think the questions from MSNBC will be softer? Will PBS be gentle? If McCain wants to be a long-running FoxNews exclusive, I guess that's cool with me. But he might as well concede the election now, if that's the case, and take his super-hot wife on a well deserved vacation. Of course, that's what I would have done in the first place.

McCain transformed defeat into victory so well during his primary race that I had become really impressed by the savvy of his campaign. Then he inexplicably did virtually nothing while the Democratic primary raged on. After Obama's trip abroad he seemed to come alive again and actually picked up some runs. Now he's back in his slump with only two months to go. Obama's almost a fucking machine at this point, so I don't see him making too many mistakes from here on out. Obama can't quite run the clock yet, but he may be there soon. If McCain has game left, this would be the time to whip it out.