NOT THE BEST WEEK FOR MCCAIN

Things aren't looking so good for Senator John McCain. A state investigation found his interview-challenged choice of a running mate, Sarah Palin, abused her power as Alaska's governor and violated state ethics law.

Oops.

As we all know, the McCain strategy as of late has been to attack attack attack Obama. McCain and Palin have tried to put extreme doubt into voter's minds by saying Obama and Ayers are BFFs and asking "Who is the real Barack Obama?" They've even called him "too risky for America."

And it has gotten ugly.

At recent Republican rallies, people have yelled "terrorist," "treason," and "kill him."

Some audience members are openly hostile to members of the traveling press covering Palin; one crowd member hurled a racial epithet at an African-American member of the press in Clearwater, Florida, on Monday.

And at a McCain rally in New Mexico on Monday, one supporter yelled out "terrorist" when McCain asked, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" McCain didn't respond.

So now, the Republican anger is boiling over onto McCain.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain was booed at his own rally on Friday as he tried to rein in increasingly raw anger among supporters stunned by Democrat Barack Obama's lead in the polls.

That's right. McCain was booed at his own rally when he said

"I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments."

The attacks haven't help McCain in the polls. In fact, they've hurt him so far. But he and Palin (who seems to revel in the attacks) now have to back-peddle because too many people, Democrats and Republicans, say it's getting out of hand.

Former Michigan Gov. William Milliken, a Republican, told the Grand Rapids Press he was "disappointed in the tenor and the personal attacks on the part of the McCain campaign."

"He is not the McCain I endorsed."

McCain's big ground-breaking bailout plan seems to be a bust.

Jared Bernstein, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said he finds the proposal "quite unsettling."
"Under this plan, there's no quid pro quo between lender and taxpayer," Bernstein said. "When I first heard it, I was underwhelmed. Now I'm actively nervous."

And there was a time when McCain refused to talk about his son.

“It goes to the character of McCain that he typically does not exploit his familial connections,” said Jim Pitts, co-founder of Navigators, a Washington lobby shop. Pitts is a McCain supporter and fundraiser.

McCain’s spokeswoman, Brooke Buchanan, said that his sons’ military experience will be off-limits.

But I guess when you're behind in the polls nothing is off-limits.


So let's recap:

• Choice of running mate? Bad choice.
• Choosing to go negative in the campaign? Bad choice.
• Bailout plan? Bad choice. Economists think it's scary.
• Talking about son of-limits? Strike that. Reverse it.
  

Not the best week for McCain.