McCain Having Buyer's Remorse Over Palin Already?

Some McCain staffers, though certainly not Steve Schmidt, who wouldn't think twice about ripping apart the social fabric that binds the country together if it got "him" 3 electoral votes, are already talking about McCain accepting an "honorable defeat" and not further destroying his reputation and dragging his own integrity through the sewers of right-wing extremism that the GOP has become.

I don't know if they make this stuff up or get inside dope from McCain ally Lady de Rotheschild, but this morning's London Times is reporting that McCain wants Palin to stop acting as if her campaign appearances were KKK rallies.

McCain has become alarmed about the fury unleashed by Sarah Palin, the moose-hunting “pitbull in lipstick,” against Senator Barack Obama. Cries of “terrorist” and “kill him” have accompanied the tirades by the governor of Alaska against the Democratic nominee at Republican rallies.

...Palin, 44, has led the character attacks on Obama in the belief that McCain may be throwing away the election and her chance of becoming vice-president. Her supporters think that if the Republican ticket loses on November 4, she should run for president in 2012.

A leading Republican consultant said: “A lot of conservatives are grumbling about what a poor job McCain is doing. They are rolling their eyes and saying, ‘Yes, a miracle could happen, but at this rate it is all over.'

“Sarah Palin is no fool. She sees the same thing and wants to salvage what she can. She is positioning herself for the future. Her best days could be in front of her. She wants to look as though she was the fighter, the person with the spunk who was out there taking it to the Democrats.”

She's been second-guessing campaign decisions-- like pulling resources out of Michigan-- and she has been publicly complaining that the campaign isn't using enough of the good old fashioned GOP smear and fear, let alone too much of it. And although normal Americans have an unfavorable view of Palin and she isn't helping him attract women or independents to the ticket, she is much, much more popular with what's left of the Republican base. McCain "regularly has to endure the spectacle of members of the audience leaving for their cars when it is his turn to speak at joint rallies." If she isn't the ultimate example of bad judgment on his part, I don't know what is. She's exactly the kind of choice that would have made an earlier version of John McCain say he couldn't support this ticket! Or some of the kooks and nuts who are running it.


UPDATE: PALIN ON THE ICE

Scott Ostler summed up Sarah Palin's disastrous foray into the Philly ice hockey world-- without even ever mentioning the word "booed":

-- Sarah Palin, what a great idea having her drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' home opener Saturday. I hear the fans loved it when she chased the Zamboni and tried to bite the tires.

-- Palin was the Flyers' second choice. Their first choice was to have John McCain drop his dentures.

-- Palin is a hockey expert, of course, because she can see Canada from her backyard.

h/t: Harry