"Hey, Wait A Minute ... We're Not Your Friends!"

Leave it to the Dead Campaign Express, to generate more of those "final-week-of-the-campaign" headlines, just about all other campaigns would go out of their way to have spikes rammed into their eyes, rather than be humiliated as such.

Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama

Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.

Nina Williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake County, Indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger."

This worker, too, confirmed sacrificing pay to walk out, saying her supervisor told her: "If you don't wanna phone it you can just go home for the day."

The script coincided with this robo-slime call running in other states, but because robocalling is illegal in Indiana it was being read by call center workers.

Is the Stumblin' Bumblin' Fly Boy rewriting the GOP Playbook?

Already behind in the polls, with just about every pollster that steps on television, you can see the clothes pins through their shirts, attached to their nipples, to keep them from saying the word "landslide", and that the race is over, he wants to add to the long odds, offending people, forcing them to walk off their jobs, because they think he, and the campaign, is repugnant.

File that brilliant piece of strategy away, for 2012.

Steve Benen offers some potential hope;

Keep in mind, robocalls are illegal in Indiana, forcing the McCain campaign to rely on these call centers to spread their smears. If more states passed similar laws, maybe we'd have more call-center-worker rebellions? And ultimately fewer loathsome Republican attacks over the phone?

Now that would be some change to believe in.


Bonus McKKKain Repugnant Riffs

Melissa McEwan: It's a Motherfuckin' Walk-Off!

Wonkette: Indiana Telemarketers Walk Off Job Rather Than Read Anti-Obama Script

Kyle E. Moore: More Robocallers Stage A Walkout

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Real Virginia ...

Day Three of McKKKain Respecting Obama

"No Ma'am ... No ... I Can't Give You A Racist Pamphlet Right Now"

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons John McCain Didn't Look At Barack Obama During Debate

News Item: Seems everyone noticed McCain's sneers, anger and contempt

10. There was, just off to his right, a really hot-looking redhead in the third row he couldn’t stop looking at

9. It was a signal to House Republicans, to stay firm in their opposition to the Bailout Bill

8. Actually, it was part of the training for Sarah Palin, for her debate preparation

7. He's such a conservative now, he can't even bring himself to glance to the left

6. Just something a true maverick does

5. Because he hadn't officially unsuspended his campaign yet

4. Not something they covered in his own debate preparation

3. AP's Liz Sidoti promised him a box of donuts (with sprinkles) if he would diss Obama during the debate

2. His gambling habit - Bet a friend $10,000 he could go entire debate without looking at Obama

1. Got confused - Was thinking about Rick Warren's "Cone of Silence", and thought Jim Leher put up a "Cone of Blindness"


Bonus Stumblin' Bumblin' Debate Riffs

Joan Walsh: Cranky vs. cool

Tom Shales: McCain's High Horse Meets Obama's High-Mindedness

Attytood: McCain doesn't like Ike facts

No More Mister Nice Blog: WHAT KISSINGER SAID THEN AND WHAT HE SAYS NOW

Well, It Depends On Your Definition of Crisis ...

Top Ten Cloves: Ways John McCain Isn't Like Herbert Hoover

Debate Results ... The Flintstones vs. The Jetsons

Good Post Alert - First Palin, Then Campaign Suspension. What Now? ... Slate predicts McCain's next 10 Hail Mary stunts.

We took a different route the other day, but this is pretty good.

From Slate's "low concept: Dubious and far-fetched ideas";

First Palin, Then Campaign Suspension. What Now? ... Slate predicts McCain's next 10 Hail Mary stunts

Check it out!

McCain in Pottersville - All's, Hee-Haw, Hunky-dory

It's A Wonderful Life bank run



(Watch the full-version of the scene here)

If Stumblin' Bumblin John McCain lived in Bedford Falls, perhaps the town's Mayor (or, we can even keep him a Senator), no doubt he would be extolling the virtues of Pottersville, saying that things there were 'fundamentally sound" and that Mr. Potter "and his innovation and his entrepreneurship, his businesses, those are the fundamentals of America and I think they’re strong.”

He'd be doing this, having tossed away is first wife, and now toting around his second, Violet Bick.

His policies would have benefited Sam Wainwright, to move his business overseas.

His aide-de-camp, Sarah Palin, would have shuttered the library, banning virtually all of the books, leaving poor Mary Hatch unemployed.

Ernie and Bert would have been stop-lossed, and now overseas fighting in a 100-year war.

And, as he would be dead wrong standing in the middle of Bedford Falls' Main Street, he's as dead wrong today, standing on the main political stage, painting himself as the savior of the American way of life.

This morning, as Wall Street melted, like a Hershey bar lying on a dashboard in July (or, one of those American workers McCain once mockingly challenged to work in the hot Yuma summer sun - H/T The Jed Report), Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny stuck to his stump script and pronounced, that despite the troubles of the day, our economy was fundamentally sound.

By noontime, he was being, rightfully so, derided as woefully out-of-touch, and his talking heads were rushed onto the cable news sets to start spinning "what he actually said", which caused severe technical problems with the broadcasts, having the sets spinning so ferociously.

Then by late today, Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny was doing the spinning himself, offering “The American worker and their innovation and their entrepreneurship, the small business, those are the fundamentals of America and I think they’re strong.”

Nice, jingoistic compliment, but it doesn't address the reality, or have anything to do with what's going down with the economy.

Kind of an Economic POW-POW-POW story.

However, it's almost like gushing, glowingly, over the bin of bright, shiny colorful oranges, when the issue is the bin of rotten apples right next to them.

One has nothing to do with the other.

Paul Krugman, today;

The new system was supposed to do a better job of spreading and reducing risk. But in the aftermath of the housing bust and the resulting mortgage crisis, it seems apparent that risk wasn’t so much reduced as hidden: all too many investors had no idea how exposed they were.

And here’s the thing: The defenses set up to prevent a return of those bank runs, mainly deposit insurance and access to credit lines with the Federal Reserve, only protect the guys in the marble buildings, who aren’t at the heart of the current crisis. That creates the real possibility that 2008 could be 1931 revisited.

But Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary, was adamant that he wouldn’t sweeten the deal by putting more public funds on the line. Many people thought he was bluffing. I was all ready to start today’s column, “When life hands you Lehman, make Lehman aid.” But there was no aid, and apparently no deal. Mr. Paulson seems to be betting that the financial system — bolstered, it must be said, by those special credit lines — can handle the shock of a Lehman failure. We’ll find out soon whether he was brave or foolish.

Hmmm ... Sounds like there was no oversight, or regulatory process in place.

Whether it be Krugman, or any other analyst today, I didn't see any vibes, any allusions, any blame been plastered on the worker bees of Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch, or that other teetering elephant in-the-room, AIG.

McCain is desperately, to the point of looking utterly foolish, of trying to rip off his Republican suit, as if he (and, specifically, his prime financial advisor, Phil Gramm, he of "Mental Recessions" and "Whining"), had nothing to do with the melting economy.

What's going down now is the direct result of the Republican administration, and rubber-stamp Congress for six-of-the-past-seven-years.

Let the free markets be free, and not burdened with the government looking over their shoulders and everything will take care of itself.

Policies that will continue in a McCain-Palin administration.

Hee-Haw!

Bonus McCain's Economy's Strong Riffs

BusinessWeek: Wall Street's Perfect Storm - Investors deal with a Lehman bankruptcy, the sale of Merrill Lynch to BofA, and a possible AIG restructuring

Joe Klein: Their Brand is Collapse

No More Mister Nice Blog: CHANGE? McCAIN CAN'T EVEN CHANGE HIS CATCHPHRASE

Space Cowboy: McCain: Economics Supergenius in Training

Chris In Paris: The Sunday night Wall Street tsunami, Part I: What happened?

Hilzoy: Donald Luskin Reclaims His Title

Pam Spaulding: Greenspan's "once-in-a century" financial crisis counters McCain's economic hallucinations

NYT Dealbook: Counting the Cash for Lehman’s Chief

McCain Admits He's "Divorced from day-to-day challenges people have"

Well, Well, Well ...

Isn't this a fine mess you've gotten yourself into Johnny?

At last evenings snoozer, The Candidates’ Forum on National Service, we had Stumblin' Bumblin John McCain concede one of the main points aimed at him by Barack Obama.

That being, he is out-of-touch.

It came late, during his segment (he lost the coin toss and had to go to bat first - at least, that eliminated any "Cone of Silence" controversies), at a point where he was trying to pump up his selection for Vice President, Sarah "I'm not really a Vice-Presidential candidate, I just play one on the campaign trail" Palin, burnishing her experience credentials, extolling on her mayorship.

WOODRUFF: Senator, at the Republican convention, a couple of speakers, most notably your running mate, vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, made somewhat derisive comments about Senator Obama's experience as a community organizer. I've heard you say you haven't taken that tone. So I guess my question is, are you saying to others in your campaign and your supporters that that's not the kind of language you want to hear?

MCCAIN: Well ...

WOODRUFF: How do you -- how are you approaching that?

MCCAIN: First of all, this is a tough business. Second of all, I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America, the same way Jack Kennedy and Barry Goldwater had agreed to do so. I know that, because I've been in enough campaigns.

Look, Governor Palin was responding to the criticism of her inexperience and her job as a mayor in a small town. That's what she was responding to.

Of course I respect community organizers. Of course I respect people who serve their community. And Senator Obama's record there is outstanding. And so I praise anyone who serves this nation in capacities that, frankly, we all know that could have been far more financially rewarding to individuals, rather than doing what they did.

WOODRUFF: Less significant than the work of a small-town mayor?

MCCAIN: I think a small-town mayor has very great responsibilities. They have a responsibility for the budget. They have hiring and firing of people. They have great responsibilities. They have to stand for election. I admire mayors.

I'm -- listen, mayors have the toughest job, I think, in America. It's easy for me to go to Washington and, frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.

WOW!

He admits that he's out-of-touch!

And notice, in that same exchange, how he blames Obama for his pathetic, scurrilous, gutter--based, insultingly negative campaign?

First of all, this is a tough business. Second of all, I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America, the same way Jack Kennedy and Barry Goldwater had agreed to do so. I know that, because I've been in enough campaigns.

So it's Obama's fault the Rove Rats, and signed off by Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny, have been outright lying about Obama in their campaign ads and charges.

Being that Obama is running for President for the first time, apparently he wasn't aware that he was supposed to allow his competitor to dictate his own campaign strategy.

Because Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny wanted to get away from his weakness - prepared speeches, using teleprompters - be blames Obama.

There's another nugget in there, that blows the Right Wing Freak Show out-of-the-water, of using the "Community Organizer"to smear Obama.

Of course I respect community organizers. Of course I respect people who serve their community. And Senator Obama's record there is outstanding. And so I praise anyone who serves this nation in capacities that, frankly, we all know that could have been far more financially rewarding to individuals, rather than doing what they did.

Michelle "Stalkin' Malkin, for one, was upset McCain threw that one away.

So, for one evening, in a less then two-hours, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain submarines his own campaign.

• He compliments and endorses Obama's Community Organizer work
• He admits that he is out-of-touch, "divorced from day-to-day challenges people have"

Go to work there, Obama Campaign, you should be able to generate a bevy of ads and talking point from this!


Bonus McCain Out-of-Touch Links

Steve Benen: MCCAIN RATIONALIZES HIS CAMPAIGN STYLE...

CBS News: McCain, Obama Sound Call To Serve; McCain Says He Would Have Pressed Americans To Serve After Sept. 11, Addresses Palin Comments On Community Organizing

We Told You He Was Just Like Bob Dole

Does The Palin Truth Squad Get Per Diems Too?

Is John McCain Buggering Little Boys?

No, he isn't, but that isn't the point.

With the brouhaha this past week, over the negative, and outright false, charges in Stumblin Bumblin' John McCain's campaign ads, particularly attacking Barack Obama for not visiting troops in Germany, and then defending the ad, and the lies, as "creating a narrative", Jill, over on Brilliant at Breakfast takes the SB McCain gameplan, and extends it out.

"Narrative." Even if it isn't true, even if it's utter horsepuckey, they believe that outright "lies" constitute a legitimate "narrative."

I propose we create a "narrative" in which John McCain has a habit of buggering little boys in the choir loft in the Baptist church he makes a point of saying he attends.

So what if it isn't true. It's a "narrative."

Well, like we stated the other day, "Why Do You Think We've Been Calling Him "Stumblin' and Bumblin"?"

Why Do You Think We've Been Calling Him "Stumblin' and Bumblin"?

I've been taking it easy the past week, or so ... Partly due to the flow of things on the homefront, and also, kicking back a bit, an unannounced venture into "summer hours", and to catch a rest before the busy August on the horizon, with the Olympics and both conventions.

And, what do you know, all hell breaks loose!

WTF is going on with Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain?

Jesus, he might as well just start walking around in a bathrobe, like that old Mafia guy did, to play out that he was crazy.

Just ride around in the Dead Campaign Express, make some stops (kicking away the empty beer bottles to exit), shuffle around in the robe and slippers, shake a few hands, maybe pick up a few Slim Jims at a convenience store ...Toss out a few bon mots on his heroism, his POW days, as he rips off a piece of Slim Jim, perhaps dribbling some of the dark juice on his bathrobe.

I mean, he's down to just makin' shit up now ... Seemingly not caring what he says, how it sounds, what it looks like ... Just blathering on like ... Well ... Like an old guy shuffling around in a bathrobe, muttering incoherently

He couldn't do much worse than he has for the past two weeks.

And I am too tired to break down the multitude of faux pas, errors, lies, and the Stumblin' Bumblin John McCain campaign version of their kitchen sink, they've been tossing overboard.

So, rather than wax on, we'll keep it short and simple.

First, a tune that is likely to be playing by the time the Dead Campaign Express hits Minneapolis, and will grow louder and louder as we hurtle towards November.

The bonus of it, it is being sung by a good, staunch Republican - Sammy Davis Jr.

Sammy Davis Jr. - Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)




So You Can Catch Up With Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain

There are three great posts out on the World Wide Web that can give you a good running start in, knowledgeably calling McCain's bluff, and tracking the death of his campaign.

1. TPM Election Central's exhaustively-researched "Critic or Cheerleader? The Definitive McCain Iraq Timeline" ("A comprehensive time-line of John McCain's statements on Iraq, from the inception of the conflict to the present")

2. The Carpetbagger Report's Steven Benen's "Jukebox John keeps changing his tune" (72, and counting, flip-flops)

3. The Jed Report's Jed Lewison's "John McCain's Neverending War" (McCain "in his own words -- the lie behind his claim that he was the war's "greatest critic." It demonstrates his chilling commitment to fighting this war no matter what the people of America -- or Iraq -- want.)

John McCain's Neverending War




From here, to November, whatever Stumblin Bumblin' John McCain does, well, it's just icing on the cake.


Bonus Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain Riffs

Things Younger Than McCain

Jon Perr: McCain Fails McCain’s Commander-in-Chief Test

The Bob Dole For The New Millennium