There is still time for McCain to save campaign

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:

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... there is still time for him to make his move. The House Republicans bought McCain another shot by turning down the $750 billion bailout package on Monday. With no House vote scheduled until Thursday, McCain still has time to do the right thing.

He should publicly announce his support for the House Republican alternative package of insurance, loans and tax changes to deal with the financial crisis. He should attack Barack Obama and the Democrats for supporting the use of tax money for a massive bailout when the same purpose can be accomplished by other, cheaper means. McCain should draw a line in the sand and take a firm position.

The Democrats are not prepared to pass their bailout proposal by themselves. If they were, they would have done so on Monday. Instead, they withheld the votes of their most vulnerable congressmen and let the package fail. If the Republican Party poses a united front in the House, with McCain's leadership, the Democrats will have to fall in line. They cannot do nothing. By taking a firm line, McCain can turn the whole process around to his -- and his country's -- advantage.

Who would have imagined that John McCain would lose the election because he had a failure of courage at the last minute? Who would have guessed that he would choose not to stand on principle for fear of being criticized and fail as a result? If John McCain is to lose this election, let it at least be fighting for principle, as he has done throughout his storied career.

By backing an alternative, McCain forces Obama to defend the Democratic-Bush package. He can tie Obama to President Bush and to the Washington insider-Wall Street crowd. He can give his populism a programmatic reality and a topical relevance. Obama would have to spend the rest of the election defending the $750 billion turkey the length and breadth of the country.

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Morris is a brilliant tactician. His plan might work and the Republican House alternative might work, but it looks to me like the Senate is going with the original deal with the addition of the increased FDIC insurance. I think it would be difficult for McCain to pull off what Morris suggests.

The best thing for McCain's ticket is get the subject back on his turf.

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