Josh,

You wrote that John McCain is starting to blame Sarah Palin for his campaign's meltdown.  As many rookie mistakes as Palin has made, it's absurd for McCain to do this.  After winning his party's nomination, John McCain asked his own running mate -- someone new to the national scene -- to save his party.  That takes some hubris.  As the Presidential nominee, you should know that your party's primary voters entrusted you -- not your running mate -- to win the election.  You have to be incredibly politically unseasoned to ask a neophyte to save your party 60 days before an election.    Even someone as politically talented as Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton could not save the Democratic Party as a VP pick.  People vote for the top of the ticket.

Besides, the VP pick isn't responsible for the message, strategy, etc.  That is the Presidential nominee's job.

It wasn't Sarah Palin who decided that the way to win an election is to win every daily and weekly news cycle instead of establishing a coherent narrative of why you are running for President.  That was John McCain's decision.

It wasn't Sarah Palin who couldn't tie all her ideas to some overarching narrative.  That was John McCain.

It wasn't Sarah Palin who spent between February and June just trying to get in the news rather than quitely raise money and set up field offices.  That was John McCain's decision.

It wasn't Sarah Palin who chose to spend money running celebrity sneer ads during the summer instead of investing in a ground game.  That was John McCain's decision.

It wasn't Sarah Palin who picked herself without any testing of her political credentials, i.e., putting her on talk shows before being picked, warning party officials she was on the short list, etc.  That's was John McCain's decision.

It wasn't Sarah Palin who couldn't tie all her ideas together at her convention acceptance speech.  That was John McCain.

It wasn't Sarah Palin who made a total fool of herself during the financial collapse by careening from one position to another.  That was John McCain's decision.

Most important, it wasn't Sarah Palin's decision to vote with George Bush 90 percent of the time.  That was John McCain's decision.

I really can't believe that John McCain would lack the political maturity and seasoning to understand this.  Then again, that's why he's in the position he is.