Posted by Jed Lewison on Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 5:46 PM Pacific

A seismic collapse of McCain's attack?

Is it just me, or does it seem like the Republican noise machine has all but given up on John McCain's dishonorable attack on Barack Obama?

I've now watched all four morning talk shows, and the only full-throated embrace of McCain's attack came from McCain himself (recorded yesterday) and John Thune (who wants to be McCain's VP).

When Stephanopoulos brought it up on This Week, George Will gave gave Obama a light slap on the wrist, but quickly moved onto a new topic. On FOX News, if the panel mentioned it at all, they barely dwelled on it. Karl Rove muttered a couple of the talking points, but moved right along, clearly more interested in talking about other issues. And on Face The Nation, Chuck Hagel ripped McCain in the most personal terms that I've yet heard from him. (I wouldn't have expected Hagel to defend McCain, but there's a big difference between being supportive of Obama and attacking McCain.)

I've seen nothing new from the GOP supporting the attack on The Corner, First Read, NYT's The Caucus, Halperin's site, or on Politico. That's unusual -- if the GOP noise machine thought they were onto something good, they'd be firing away right now.

It sure seems to me like they are running away from this one, and fast, and Obama didn't even need to take a swing. Anyone else see anything out there to confirm or disprove my hypothesis?

Net/net, this has the feeling of a rather pleasant surprise. Perhaps we're seeing the start of yet another really bad week for John McCain?

p.s.: Not to offer the GOP any free advice, but wouldn't McCain have been far better off if he'd been able to use a VP candidate to make this attack rather than make it himself? When is his campaign going to get it's act together?

Update: Just to be clear here, nothing in this post is a suggestion that the GOP is "doing the right thing for the right reasons." Hell no. My point is that John McCain's attack = EPIC FAIL. And even his own party is running from him. Pronto.

A seismic collapse of McCain's attack?

Is it just me, or does it seem like the Republican noise machine has all but given up on John McCain's dishonorable attack on Barack Obama?

I've now watched all four morning talk shows, and the only full-throated embrace of McCain's attack came from McCain himself (recorded yesterday) and John Thune (who wants to be McCain's VP).

When Stephanopoulos brought it up on This Week, George Will gave gave Obama a light slap on the wrist, but quickly moved onto a new topic. On FOX News, if the panel mentioned it at all, they barely dwelled on it. Karl Rove muttered a couple of the talking points, but moved right along, clearly more interested in talking about other issues. And on Face The Nation, Chuck Hagel ripped McCain in the most personal terms that I've yet heard from him. (I wouldn't have expected Hagel to defend McCain, but there's a big difference between being supportive of Obama and attacking McCain.)

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