"She's breaking up! She's breaking up!"

Remember "The Six Million Dollar Man" TV series? I keep hearing the opening to that show in my mind whenever I see headlines like this (and we're seeing more of them now, aren't we! The InSane campaign is in deep Bandini) --

Worries In G.O.P About McCain Camp Disarray

Selected excerpts from the NYT article {my observations in fancy brackets; any emphases are mine}:

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign is in a troubled stretch, hindered by resignations of staff members, a lagging effort to build a national campaign organization and questions over whether he has taken full advantage of Democratic turmoil to present a case for his candidacy, Republicans say.

(...)

More than that, they said, Mr. McCain organizationally still seems far behind where President Bush was in 2004. Several Republican Party leaders said they were worried the campaign was losing an opportunity as they waited for approval to open offices and set up telephone banks.

“They finally assigned someone to West Virginia three weeks ago,” said Doug McKinney, the state Republican chairman there. “I had a couple of contacts with him and I e-mailed him twice and I never heard back. I finally called and they said that the guy had resigned.”

(...)

Mr. McCain’s campaign has transmitted conflicting messages in recent days about how he would present himself, as he has sought to reassure conservatives nervous about his ideological consistency even as he has tried to expand his appeal to moderates and liberals.

{Make up your mind, InSane! Quick; find a message to stand for! And try to stick with it!!}

Last Sunday, he invited Mike Murphy, his longtime friend and political adviser, who (...) urged him to (...) stop coming across as so angry. (...) Some of Mr. McCain’s associates said that Mr. McCain might be interested in bringing Mr. Murphy back on board, but that his current circle of advisers was resisting that.

(...)

“The race changes the moment [Clinton] drops out and [Obama] emerges as the official nominee,” said Charlie Black, a senior McCain adviser. “Then the focus becomes on a two-person race and that leads to us getting more equal treatment in terms of getting airtime. We’ve had to fight with one hand tied behind our back.”

{Heh...sound familiar?}

“I think any Republican who doesn’t say panic is in the wind is lying through their shirt,” said Ron Kaufman, who was a senior adviser this year for Mitt Romney.

(...)

But Mr. McCain’s associates said the campaign had failed to anticipate the extent to which the news media would use the policy to examine Mr. McCain’s staff. The result was a run of damaging stories and resignations that highlighted not the policy itself but the backgrounds of top campaign officials, including Rick Davis, the campaign manager, and Mr. Black, both of whom have long lobbying backgrounds.

(...)

Discussing what Mr. McCain needed to do, Mr. Nelson, another veteran of the Bush 2004 team, said: “Step No. 1 would be finding a compelling message that excited Republicans, and Step No. 2 would be having the ability to turn your voters out. From what I see, in both respects, they have a long way to go, but they have time.”

{Go, John! Go find that compelling message! Now! And once you do, maybe you'll be able to turn your voters out!!

Say, McCain...if you're having so much trouble turning your voters out...how are you "winning" all those primaries??}

(...)

But if he is going to rely on turnout in the Republican base more than on winning over independents and disaffected Democrats, there is evidence that he has not gone as far as he needs to — particularly given how energized Democrats appear to be.

“He is going to need extraordinary participation of Republicans if Democrats continue to flock to the polls the way they have,” said Kris Kobach, the Republican Party leader from Kansas. “It’s critical that he use this period to generate enthusiasm from his base.”

{Bet you're beginning to wish your party hadn't disenfranchised all those fresh, new RP Republicans now, eh, Johnny?}

(...)

“But it doesn’t matter what we think — Senator McCain goes his own way,” [West Virginia Republican Chairman] Mr. McKinney said. “Always has and always will.”

{And there you have a perfect campaign slogan for InSane. Except replace the words "his own" with "the CFR's".}

:: ignite launch sequence ::

:: explosion ::

"She's breaking up! She's breaking up!!"...