You Can't Be Me, I'm a Rock Star

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Aren't you fed up with that presumptuous candidate who can't work without a teleprompter and turns down offers for town halls? Yeah, that one.

The Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees will spend most of the day in Lancaster County… Originally scheduled to be a townhall-style event where audience members could ask questions, campaign organizers changed today's appearance to a rally after it was announced Palin, the governor of Alaska, would attend. No audience interaction is expected to take place.

"Coming off the convention, there's this almost rock star sort of an enthusiasm which is out there," said Dave Dumeyer, chairman of the local GOP. "You try to maximize that the best you can. A townhall-style meeting matches McCain's personal style, but with her on the ticket, the throngs just want to hear her, just want to see her."

The Obama flack in the next graf says it, but I'll have to agree: Coming after two months of ads mocking Obama for offering substance, it's rich to hear Team McCain tittering about the "throngs" who "just want to see" their ticket.

There's a positive case for the McCain people to make about this strategy. If McCain believes that total Democratic control of Washington would tempt civilizational collapse, and that the co-author of Why Courage Matters can save us, then anything he could do to bring victory, he should do. Select a likeable lightweight who cuts into Obama's support from white women and independents? Cut! Print! The problem is that McCain won't admit he's doing that, and we're told that Palin really is a hyper-competent hockey mom reformer who destroyed the Bridge to Nowhere with one well-timed karate chop.

It's having the effect of making Obama seem stronger, actually. His interview with Bill O'Reilly was more adroit than you'd expect after all the spin about him being an empty suit who crumples when the teleprompter breaks.

We don't know if he's experiencing the typical slump that hits after a rival's convention or a long-term screwing, but this suggests that the zombie who showed up at Saddleback has been replaced by an actual politician. "I don't like payin' taxes. You think I like writin' a check?"