In the last 10 days, polls have been hard to swallow for Republicans. Nevertheless, it's remarkable that many right-wing commentators already start to accept the obvious: McCain will lose, and lose badly. A few excerpts from what was published last night immediately after the debate in Nashville:
"If McCain were running in a year when his party wasn't getting crushed by a series of calamities, he might be winning this race. But tonight obviously wasn't enough. Obama, meanwhile, just has to appear plausible and he did" (Rich Lowry at National Review).
"John McCain had a very strong debate tonight. It's too bad for him that it came on a night when Barack Obama was nearly flawless. The debate began with questions on the economy and for thirty minutes Obama answered those questions with the kind of substance that I suspect anxious voters wanted to hear and with exactly the right tone--empathic, aggravated, and determined. Most important, he spoke to voters in their own language." (Stephen Hayes at the Weekly Standard).
"Does any of this change the fundamentals of the presidential race? Probably not. Those fundamentals are being determined in a global financial crisis that neither candidate did anything to cause or prevent. (...) Sometimes being in a presidential campaign is like trying to steer a glacier. You do what you can, but you are mainly along for the ride. Tonight, McCain did what he could. But the party with executive power – the party more closely identified with banking and Wall Street – is being blamed for the current crisis." (Michael Gerson at Washington Post).
"With due respect, I think tonight was a disaster for our side. I'm dumbfounded that no one else seems to think so. Obama did everything he needed to do, McCain did nothing he needed to do." (Andy McCarthy at National Review).
And among the rank-and-file the spirits are quite low as well:
"The debate was a draw. It seems that both candidates are willing to play it safe -- surprising, at least, for McCain, given that he's behind. (...) McCain was effective, but there were many missed opportunities and anyone hoping this debate would be a game-changer is bound to be disappointed. (Carol Platt Liebau at TownHall.com)
"Well I have gone outside and pulled up my Mcain/Palin sign. This election is over. I will vote for Mcain but I know that come Nov. 5 Obama will be our president-elect. I feel sorry for Sarah Palin. A once promising career will be permanently connected to the landslide loss of John McCain." (email message to Mark Steyn at National Review).
A final comment by a TPM reader:
"My intuition is that McCain conceded tonight. Sure, he shot a few across the bow but he did not go nuclear. He did not engage Obama in the way Palin does on the stump with her references to Ayers, Rezko and Wright. It's as if McCain couldn't bring himself to do so. All his attacks were kind of half-hearted. He's given it his best shot, but when the time came to go for the killer punch, or at the very least, attempt one on prime-time national TV, he blinked."
