Get Cynical

Update:

Thanks to everyone who participated in the live chat. We’ll do it again next Thursday for the VP debate.

I’ll leave this thread at the top as an open thread for those who want to vent.

(via Talking Points Memo)

And even conservatives are turning, or at least being honest on the record.

Palin has given virtually no free-form interviews, but her sit-downs thus far have provided critics with ample fodder. Until quite recently, those critics have been largely partisans. Republicans have not just stood by her — they have adored her.

Parker says: No more. She has declared her cringe reflex exhausted.

“Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League,” Parker writes.

(via Waxy)

Update:

YouTube keeps pulling the video but Waxy is streaming it from his site.

I for one welcome our time traveling republican overlords.

Although the fate of tonight’s presidential debate in Mississippi remains very much up in the air, John McCain has apparently already won it — if you believe an Internet ad an astute reader spotted next to this piece in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning.

“McCain Wins Debate!” declares the ad which features a headshot of a smiling McCain with an American flag background. Another ad spotted by our eagle-eyed observer featured a quote from McCain campaign manager Rick Davis declaring: “McCain won the debate– hands down.”

(Not Safe for Work…. Actually, Not Safe for People with Brain Cells or NSFPWBC)

(via Slog)

Who wants cake?

After seeing her last two interviews this isn’t really shocking.

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held
a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as “disastrous.” One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, “What are we going to do?” The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is “clueless.”

(via Balloon Juice)

Sound familiar?

With new polls showing his campaign dead in the water among California Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain has pulled out of a long-scheduled debate with Texas Gov. George Bush, set for Thursday in Los Angeles.

McCain campaign officials tried desperately yesterday to put the best face on their withdrawal, even as a new Field Poll showed Bush far ahead among likely Republican voters in the winner-take-all race for the state’s 162 GOP delegates.

Top campaign officials attributed McCain’s decision to Bush’s earlier reluctance to appear at the debate.

“We had agreed to do this debate a long time ago, and Gov. Bush said he wasn’t going to do it,” McCain spokesman Howard Opinsky said yesterday. “We aren’t going to hold our schedule together forever.”

But Opinsky said McCain will debate Bush on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, a national TV show that will reach millions of Americans.

Still, just last week, the McCain campaign was openly derisive of Bush’s reluctance to commit to a California debate — and promised its own candidate would be there.

From xkcd.

Part 1.
Is there going to be a debate tonight?

Part 2.
Should I open up a Cynichat for live discussion of the debate or just post an open thread?

Part 3.