Palin on Michigan: 'I wanna try!'

Blown out by Obama's attack ads in Michigan -- see here and here -- the McCain campaign hoisted the white flag Thursday, a move that I argued amounts to concession of Republican defeat nationwide Nov. 4. Sarah Palin offers to fight it out in Michigan:

Sarah's a gamer, but McCain's high-profile support of the unpopular bailout bill has doomed him. He performed poorly in the Sept. 26 debate, and even if he were to perform better in Tuesday's debate, his bailout stance turned independents decisively against him.

There simply aren't enough undecided voters left to persuade. Of 11 national polls published since the first debate, five show Obama at 50% or better, including both the Gallup and Rasmussen tracking polls -- and none show him below 48%. John McCain has been weighed in the balance and found wanting.

This election is over and, despite my profound respect and deep admiration for Mark Levin, denial is not a strategy:

"If we don't engage now, four and a half weeks out, then when are we going to engage? When it's too late?"

Mr. Levin, sir, "we" are not responsible for the blunderheaded peregrinations of a candidate whose response to the mortgage crisis was to suggest that SEC Chairman Chris Cox be fired and replaced with Andrew Cuomo (who has "respect" and "prestige").

Good candidates win elections. Bad candidates lose elections. If conservatives are to be true to their rhetoric of responsibility and accountability, then we must agree that John McCain is responsible for his own campaign.

The McCain campaign has spent something like $200 million to lose this election. If you're going to insist on blaming someone other than the candidate for his defeat, why not start by blaming the advisers, consultants and top staffers who've enriched themselves as architects of this debacle?

Don't blame me for being the bearer of bad news. I'm a journalist, and it's not my job to pretend that a train wreck is anything other than a train wreck.