How many more points do these advisers want McCain to sink?

I read recently, don't remember where, that a secret deal might have been struck betw Colin Powell and McCain:  if McCain doesn't make Wright an issue Powell won't endorse Obama...  have no idea if there's any truth to this..  just reporting what I read......;)

Maya: what you read was the speculation of a Talkbacker.  There is no reason to believe the Powell would make such a deal; none that McCain would honour it; none to think that Obama needs it.  McCain does not want to bring up Wright because he and the Palin have skeletons of their own. (Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Hagee, the Kenyan witch-doctor, you name it.)  It is also possible - just possible - that POWPOW knows in his bones that if he brings up Wright, he will be known forever as the Presidential candidate who brought back the Burning Cross - for he must know now, if he did not know already, how riled up, angry and lunatic his supporters are and what Wright would do to all of that.

Jason: you're right.  It's amazing that after "terrorit" and "kill him" and now the Pitbull Palin saying that "I have nothing to lose" in attacking Obama (how about your dignity?  or right), after questioning Obama's patriotism, that the Right still thinks they should get nastier.  That;s OK.  Let them.  One thing we know now - we knew it all along - Obama is not above matching every blow with another, while still somehow staying above the fray.

There was never a chance that Powell would endorse Obama.  It would mean repudiating the invasion of Iraq, which he is still defending (albeit sheepishly).

Remember that the modern movement conservative is just an authoritarian who read Ayn Rand in college. So of course failure in an election or government is by definition not proof of any inherent flaws in the Great Man of the moment or the movement's ideology. Failure is always attributable to insufficient will, and in particular the unwillingness of the Great Man or his minions to act with sufficient ruthlessness in devotion to the movement's ideology.

Thus we'd have won Vietnam if only we'd have tried harder. Thus Bill Clinton only became president because Republicans didn't attack him mercilessly enough in 1992, a fault they worked mightily to correct over the following eight years. Thus the only problem in Iraq is that we didn't send enough troops and keep them there long enough and with fewer constraints. And thus McCain would surely win if only he hadn't failed to throw that last punch, whatever that last punch turns out to be. (It won't be Wright; McCain or Palin will surely go there, probably starting on October 30.)

Endorse? Powell is saying he hadn't locked into McCain. When he's ready to commit I doubt it will be a secret.

RE: Powell on Obama ----- 2-10-08 CNN with Wolf Blitzer:

POWELL: Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years. I'm going to be looking for the candidate that seems to me to be leading a party that is fully in sync with the candidate and a party that will also reflect America's goodness and America's vision.

And I will be looking for the candidate that I think will be the most competent candidate, the one who can deal with problems and bring the government together with the Congress to solve these problems.

And so I know them all. I am a Republican, but I am keeping my options open at the moment, and I'm in touch with the candidates. And anybody who wants to talk to me about an issue, I'll do so, but sooner or later, as any other American, I will make my choice.

BLITZER: Are you leaving open the possibility, and you said you are a Republican, that you might not vote for the Republican nominee this time around?

POWELL: I have voted for members of both parties in the course of my adult life. And as I said earlier, I will vote for the candidate I think can do the best job for America, whether that candidate is a Republican, a Democrat or an independent.

BLITZER: Because you said really nice things about Barack Obama in that interview you did last month with Tavis Smiley.

POWELL: I think that Mr. Obama has done an incredible job in coming to where he is now on the Democratic side of this campaign, and I think he's been an exciting person on the political stage. He has energized a lot of people in America. He has energized a lot of people around the world.

And so I think he is worth listening to and seeing what he stands for. There are some positions he has that I wouldn't support, but that's the case with every candidate out there.

And I think every American has an obligation right now at this moment in our history to look at all the candidates and to make a judgment not simply on the basis of ideology or simply on the basis of political affiliation, but on the basis of who is the best person for all of America, and which party, and what does that party look like?

And how does a candidate relate to that party and the different wings of the party? And which party and which candidate is best able to take America in a positive direction over the next four years?

Tonight will define where McCain intends to tack for the final three weeks. Before McCain can start winning he has to stop losing and that means stepping away from his loser behavior of the past month. Anything in the final debate that is not pure focus why his direction is better is wasting time and a reminder of why Obama is succeeding. Barack's reaction and the public's evaluation over the next 48 hours will tell us whether McCain has any hope. Barack only needs to throw water on any sparks and he should be able to halt a McCain revival. He doesn't need to use the word erratic, it shouldn't be tough for him to show that McCain lacks stability.

After the early and wall to wall dose of negative against Obama I haven't seen any good come from attacking Obama on character-values. Every poll over the past month proved that McCain's numbers suffered as he increased the heat and putting Wright back in the mix wasn't the solution. Sure, the reaction from the nutball base suggests they did better with the "palling around with Ayers" rather than Wright and the net was still counterproductive. McCain's positives fell through the floor, Obama's positives went up and McCain won't gain injecting it into the debate. He'll have enough trouble finding a position that isn't Bush's from the first eight years while addressing the radical responses in the past month. McCain never had a plan to win, he's been trying not to lose for a year. His plan focused on not losing the GOP base and by chaining himself to it they may pull him down. Dancing to their tune? No, probably not a good idea for awhile. The GOP needs to head toward the center, in the future, if Obama wins.

If they are determined to take the wrong message from this campaign, that's OK with me. The real reason he won't do it? I don't know. He might have some actual scruples, but he has plenty of skeletons in his own closet, and I think he knows Obama will hit back if he goes there. Starting with Keating (the documentary was a warning, not an attack), connecting seamlessly to McCain' transition team head having lobbied for Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, then if necessry Hagee, Muthee, and so on.

For what it's worth, Lawrence O'Donnell insists that Powell is set to endorse:

www.huffingtonpost.com/.../colin-powell-is-ready-to_b_134777.html

Some interesting comments from Sarah Palin on the subject of those McCain robocalls: "If I called