GOP: Hail Mary Pass or Go Home

I took a quick turn through the ‘sphere and at my email and saw a lot of frustration from Republicans, who are getting fed up with the double standards that are standard for the media and the left.

Yes, it’s there; yes, it’s every day. Yes, Gwen Ifill is a dreadful choice, a Obama-enthralled partisan moderating a debate, and she should be replaced. Go ahead, make the phone calls, make a stink – try to get her replaced. Whoever they replace her with will be just as “in the tank” so it seems pointless to me. It seems like a means of throwing off some restless energy for the people who need to “feel like they’re doing something and making a difference.”

It feels false. It feels like a distraction. Like we’re all busily trying to patch a few mouseholes, while behind the wall lurks something much more destructive and threatening than a few mice. Fixing the hole of Gwen Ifill might make us feel like we did something “today” but tomorrow or the next day, the whole wall is going to tumble, and we’ll understand that our efforts were misdirected, futile and ultimately pointless.

Kathryn Jean Lopez actually bothered to make the point that Gov. Palin has been Governor of Alaska for a month or two longer than Nancy Pelosi has been House Speaker! I read that and I just thought: that’s desperate. And it is totally besides the point.

The GOP, for the GOP Punditry and the GOP ticket all keep acting like the political and media rules today are the same rules by which the games were played 50 years ago, and that if they just sit on the curb saying, “hey, guys, play fair! Hey guys, here’s the rulebook, play fair!” the left and the press will suddenly pull back and say, “hey, wow, you’re right! We haven’t been holding to the precepts of honest governance or ethical journalism! Thanks for pointing that out, and by Jove, we’re going to do better! We’re going to stop lying about Sarah Palin and those rape kits! We’re going to go ahead and ask those questions about Bill Ayers and we’re going to report on those Obama’s questionable tolerance of free speech! We’re going to demand for accountability from the Democrats and even be fair once in a while!

It’s not going to happen. It’s time for the GOP and people on the right to realize that – for now – the rules have changed. There is a whole ‘nother rulebook being used, and sitting around flapping the old rule book and whining “c’mon, guys, c’mmmmmmon,” is not going to get the game back on track.

John McCain needs to realize it today. So does Palin. We need to recognise it and begin to compete under these new rules, or just concede the game. John McCain needs to stop trying to act like a referee and start acting like the quarterback.

By the way, we’re outnumbered. Team Mainstream has all the heavyweights, the guards, the tackles and the microphones, too – so they call the plays the way they see them, regardless of what is actually happening. The spectators are eating pretzels and wondering if they’ll win the office pool, but they’re busy listening to the color commentary rather than watching the game with their own eyes.

How do we win? Maybe we can’t. Maybe things are too far gone. But I’m thinking McCain needs to make a very aggressive play, here – right now – to do or die.

The steamroller media is about to sack McCain – to flatten him before he ever gets the ball out of his hand – and Palin, the wide receiver, has a whole pack running right along side of her; they’re effectively blocking her from all sides.

McCain needs to make a Hail Mary pass, if he can, if he has one up his sleeve. I don’t know where the opening is, but someone on the team must be able to see it.

Fretting about poll numbers a month out is pointless; things can turn on a dime. But nothing is going to turn as long as McCain keeps trying to wear the stripped shirt, and the rest of the team keeps pointing out dirty plays that – in the new rulebook – are no longer considered dirty, in hopes of coaxing a ruling in their favor.

We’re looking at an Oval Office occupied by the most extreme leftist ever to make a credible run for it, a Pelosi-controlled house, a Reid-occupied Senate and as many as 3 comfortably-left leaning SCOTUS justices immediately escorted (nay, carried on shoulders) to their bench seats.

The Hail Mary pass is about doing something bold, impossible and full of heart – something that is against all better judgment and rides high on the air of faith. If McCain hasn’t got one to make, or if Palin is not prepared to jump through the guards and make the catch of her life, then the rest of us had better haul out the rosaries, or we may not ever see another game.

For my part, I’m praying that the American voters are guided in wisdom, and I’m remembering that John Paul II made Our Lady of Guadalupe the Patroness of the Americas just before the 2000 presidential elections, so I’m asking her to intercede for us with prayer. My own prayer is “Lord, let us know your will; lord, guide our nation in this election and help us to discern your meaning in its outcome.”

If there are lessons to be learned, I’m just praying we learn them, and grow through them. And survive. I’m also fasting through October to election day, not a full-on-low-blood-sugar and passing-out fast, but I’m doing a Lenten-ish fast – penitential and focused – no sugar in my coffee (you KNOW what that means to me), no bread, no snacks, and one meal on Fridays.

Some entities can only be defeated through prayer and fasting. Anyone care to join me?