Conservative and neoconservative alike are stepping up to explain the demise of McCain’s candidacy - it’s the candidate himself.

George Will belives McCain is careless and shows poor judgment:

Call Him John the Careless

From the invasion of Iraq to the selection of Sarah Palin, carelessness has characterized recent episodes of faux conservatism. Tuesday’s probable repudiation of the Republican Party will punish characteristics displayed in the campaign’s closing days.

Some polls show that Palin has become an even heavier weight in John McCain’s saddle than his association with George W. Bush. Did McCain, who seems to think that Palin’s never having attended a “Georgetown cocktail party” is sufficient qualification for the vice presidency, lift an eyebrow when she said that vice presidents “are in charge of the United States Senate”?

And for former leading neoconservative Francis Fukuyama, it is not only McCain’s “irresponsible” choice of Palin for VP, but his ties to Bush and unwillingness to stand for any principle during his ill-starred candidacy:

I’m voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don’t work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.

McCain’s appeal was always that he could think for himself, but as the campaign has progressed, he has seemed simply erratic and hotheaded. His choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate was highly irresponsible; we have suffered under the current president who entered office without much knowledge of the world and was easily captured by the wrong advisers. McCain’s lurching from Reaganite free- marketer to populist tribune makes one wonder whether he has any underlying principles at all.

. . . . Obama is much better positioned to reinvent the American model and will certainly present a very different and more positive face of America to the rest of the world.

A lot has happened in the last 8 years for Will and Fukuyama to repudiate McCain a few short days before the election. Even as McCain tries to paint Obama as the more dangerous choice, his former political allies are making the case that it is McCain, not Obama, whose prospective presidency would pose the far greater danger.

MORE: It seems even Joe the (sort of) Plumber blew off McCain yesterday.

Per Talking Points Memo:

John McCain’s Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established — and even told reporters outright that the “B” carved into the victim’s cheek stood for “Barack,” according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain’s Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, “You’re with the McCain campaign? I’m going to teach you a lesson.”

Verrilli also told TPM that the McCain spokesperson had claimed that the “B” stood for Barack. According to Verrilli, the spokesperson also told KDKA that Sarah Palin had called the victim of the alleged attack, who has since admitted the story was a hoax.

This is a new low in scumbaggery, for an already scummy McCain campaign. When did making up bullshit and trying to blame a fabricated racial attack on your political opponent become Mavericky?

And just yesterday, McCain accused Obama of saying anything to get elected.

Per the Associated Press: McCain says Obama will ’say anything’ to win

Republican John McCain, taking a cross-state bus tour aimed at keeping vote-rich Florida from swinging to the Democrats, on Thursday accused rival Barack Obama of saying “anything to get elected.”

You mean like making crazy statements about ACORN stealing the vote for the GOP and McCain palling around with terrorists? Like claiming his clueless Vice President Candidate who doesn’t know what the Vice President does or what constitutes the Bush Doctrine is ready to be President? Like suspending his campaign to save the world and claiming credit for passing a finance bill that doesn’t pass, only to later claim he killed it? Like telling Dave Letterman he has to cancel his appearance to return immediately to Washington, then going to an interview with Katie Couric — which Letterman can see via internal feed?

What next? Maybe McCain can accuse Obama of being a rich elitist with 8 mansions and a beer heiress wife? Or complain about how Obama grimaces and grunts while he’s speaking during a debate? Or rudely refers to his opponent as “that one!”

Or maybe McCain will call just Obama short, old, and ill-tempered.

Anything can happen once a candidate crosses the rubicon of batshit-crazy.

During a conference call today, Politico’s Ben Smith reports that McCain Campaign Manager/fannie mae cashbox/revisionist historian Rick Davis made the following claim:

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis also credited McCain with “blowing … up” the first bailout package when he suspended his campaign to come to Washington, something McCain’s campaign had heatedly denied at the time.

Davis expressed outrage that, “in the middle of the greatest disaster in our financial system that we’d had in our lifetime, that the Democrats in the United States Senate would actually link payments to ACORN in the bailout package that they promoted — prior to Sen. McCain coming to town and actually blowing that package up. So we can actually say that in addition to saving taxpayers millions of dollars, and we’re very happy that no more taxpayer dollars were added to the pile of money going to ACORN.”

Which is interesting because, as Smith points out, at the time McCain blamed Obama for the failure of that bailout package — but only after claiming credit for providing the leadership to forge the bipartisan compromise to make the deal, in advance of its failure.

So, at the time, he claimed to have brokered the deal and blamed Obama for its failure; now he claims he torpedoed the bailout and takes credit for its failure.

What a maverick.

John Cole, writing about John McCain’s descent into nasty gutter politics:

John McCain may have bear-hugged George Bush in the past, now he is passionately tongue-kissing Karl Rove.

According to a McCain ad running on the WSJ’s website today, hours before the debate even began.

Maybe what McCain meant when he claimed that he was going to “suspend his campaign” was “I’m going to suspend the Time-Space continuum” thereby permitting himself to view the results of the debate in advance. Pretty heady stuff for Mr. World Saver.

This Johnny McStraighttalk is a volatile guy. Yesterday, he wasn’t going to the debate, but pledged to stay in Washington until bipartisan legislation addressing financial failures was passed. No deal was reached, and McCain proved at best useless in reaching a consensus between the parties, and at worst injecting his political ambition into the negotiations contributed to a total breakdown after a deal had reportedly nearly been reached.

Now, he’s not only going to Mississippi without accomplishing a fucking thing in Washington and without “suspending” his campaign (despite his vows to the contrary), he’s also declaring victory in advance, like some kind of Conjurer or Crystal Ball Gazer.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that McCain will proclaim himself the winner tonight, no matter how indifferently he performs. More, he’ll run an ad that looks exactly like the one above! Then maybe he’ll “suspend” his campaign again, and go on 4 or 5 talk shows and talk about what a piker Obama is.

Steve Benen writes:

. . . . So, what does a “suspended” campaign look like? As it turns out, it’s eerily similar to a regular ol’ campaign.

What have we learned since McCain suspended his presidential campaign?

* McCain campaign offices in battleground states are open and operating, just like yesterday.

* McCain’s television ads are on the air, just like yesterday.

* McCain media flacks are all over the news networks, just like yesterday.

* McCain’s campaign staffers are working, just like yesterday.

* McCain’s campaign website is up, soliciting contributions and promoting McCain’s message, just like yesterday.

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I get the sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe, the “suspension” announcement was some kind of (gasp!) gimmick, and that nothing has actually changed at McCain Campaign HQ.

I’d just add that Johnny McSuspension is appearing on Three Talk Shows tonight, presumably to talk about how his maverick-dom and selflessness in announcing an ersatz suspension of his campaign shows leadership rather than the ability to lie through his teeth.

And Palin is continuing to make scheduled appearances, and continuing to add appearances to her schedule.

Apparently, all that McCain meant by “suspending” his campaign is he’s rolling out a new campaign theme — suspending the campaign for the good of the childrenz — and shifting his campaign activities to Washington DC, where he can try to soak up some credit for either opposing or facilitating a deal that apparently was 95% done before he got off his campaign plane and wiped off the make up from yesterday’s TV appearances.

Via Atrios, while McCain accuses Obama of “doing nothing” he is un-busy establishing his bona fides for total legislative inertia on finance:

Republican presidential nominee John McCain has not introduced any banking or housing bills in the 110th Congress, while Democratic rival Barack Obama has proposed five.

Both candidates are traveling to Washington on Thursday to meet with President Bush and congressional leaders to build support for a massive rescue plan for the nation’s ailing economy.

Neither Sen. McCain (Ariz.) nor Sen. Obama (Ill.) sits on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which is taking the lead in the upper chamber of molding the bailout plan.

No wonder Sarah Palin had trouble identifying any pieces of financial regulation proposed by Senator McMaverick. They ain’t there.

Clearing through my inbox, I found this message from McCain Campaign Manager/Fannie Mae Lobbyist Extraordinaire Rick Davis dating back a week or so:

The First Debate

Team,

Last week, John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin gave two electrifying speeches at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota - the most watched convention speeches in history! Thousands of you attended McCain Nation convention-watching parties all across the country in support of our ticket and we thank you for your support.

We’re in the midst of a busy fall season with just over 50 days left until Election Day. The first presidential debate will be held Friday, September 26th, at the University of Mississippi. And after months of running away from John McCain’s joint town hall meeting invitations, Senator Obama will finally have to face John McCain one-on-one.

So Obama will have to face John McCain mano-a-mano at last!

Unless, of course, McCain decides he’s not ready and succeeds in weaseling out of the debate.

Stunning admission yesterday:

Senator John McCain says he has not decided whether or not to support the Wall Street bailout package now being reviewed by Congress.

The price tag is $700 billion, but could run higher.

In an exclusive interview he told Tom Beres,”I have not had a chance to see it in writing. I have to examine it.”

So. . . . this issue is so important he decides to suspend his campaign, and tries to dodge a debate . . . and he hasn’t even made time to read the fucking proposed bill?