Paul Mirengoff on the 'rout'

Ten days ago, when I saw an admission of defeat in John McCain's decision to pull out of Michigan, that was decidedly an unpopular view among conservatives. (See the angry responses to my Oct. 7 American Spectator column, "How John McCain Lost.")

Now, the brutal reality is starting to overcome denial, and Powerline's Paul Mirengoff writes:

[T]he McCain brand has been damaged, with the assistance of the MSM, by Obama’s relentless attacks. In addition, Obama has done a pretty good job of conning voters into believing that he is, precisely, a generic Democrat.
Accordingly, the possibility that Obama will win by 10 points or more cannot be ruled out.

Not discounting the effectiveness of Obama's attacks or the MSM's role, I think Paul understates the degree to which McCain's defeat has been self-inflicted. To reiterate:

• On Sept. 16, John McCain said the cause of the financial crisis was "reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed . . . on Wall Street."
• On Sept. 18, John McCain said the cause of the financial crisis was SEC Chairman Chris Cox.
• On Sept. 21, John McCain said he would replace Cox with Andrew Cuomo.
• On Sept. 24, John McCain suspended his campaign, called for postponing the first presidential debate, and said he would go to Washington to push for the the bailout bill.
• On Oct. 7, John McCain proposed a $300 billion plan to buy up bad mortgages.

The man is amazingly consistent in some ways.