Flabbergasted!

That’s what we were! Imagine our surprise when we read this from Bill Kristol, the Ultimate Republican Death Beast:

“ Fire the Campaign!

It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign. He has nothing to lose. … What McCain needs to do is junk the whole thing and start over.
At Wednesday night’s debate at Hofstra, McCain might want to volunteer a mild mea culpa about the extent to which the presidential race has degenerated into a shouting match. And then he can pledge to the voters that the last three weeks will feature a contest worthy of this moment in our history.”

The reason for our astonishment? (No, it’s not because he looks like an Alan Jones clone)

Days earlier we had written,

“ Voters are not attracted to this desperate man at a time when they need someone strong, balanced and dependable. He may be firing up committed supporters but he is alienating the rest … What he really needs is to look presidential.”

McCain’s only hope now, we said, was to say to the American people,

“ I apologise for the way this campaign has been run. I am unwilling to sacrifice America to my ambition, because I know that if I continue this way, whether I win or lose, I will have caused terrible harm to the nation … Therefore I have sacked my campaign advisers … Mr Obama and I differ on serious questions of ideals and of processes and I will argue those differences as forcefully as I am able in the remaining days of this campaign … From now on I will debate the issues and that is all.

So cheers, Bill. You could at least have given us a link or something!

And on another note, (remembering that George Bush presided over

• the unprofitable Arbusto,
• the collapsed Spectrum 7 Energy Corp.
• and Harken Energy, with it’s Saudi links
• and Bush’s claimed multiple violations of federal securities law,
• (and noting that he is screwing America with the same level of incompetence)

one of our favourite comments on US politics in the last few years, from an American interviewee on tonight’s Foreign Correspondent:

“ Right now, George Bush is about as popular as Anthrax.”

We think that makes Anthrax look like a wonder cure.