Whither Daniel Zubairi?

Back on October 18, Senator John McCain held a rally at Woodbridge, Virginia. In the course of that rally, a group of McCain supporters led by a Muslim named Daniel Zubairi confronted another McCain supporter who was spewing the usual anti-Muslim hate. Two days later, the incident made the front page of the Daily Kos. Now from the Daily Kos comes word that the McCain campaign is keeping Zubairi from being interviewed by CNN's Rick Sanchez. As Daily Kos diarist Jed L puts it:

It turns out that Sanchez asked Zubairi if he'd be interested in appearing on air to discuss the incident and to help make it clear that the McCain campaign does not condone hateful rhetoric. Zubairi agreed to come on the air -- but just before airtime, he suddenly notified CNN that the McCain campaign had put a muzzle on him, and told him not to discuss the incident.

Sanchez initially noted this on Monday, saying he would try again. Then on Tuesday, he once again tried to get Zubairi on air -- and once again was rebuffed.

Now, a cynical person might think that the reason the McCainiacs are keeping Zubairi off the air is because they're relying on anti-Muslim xenophobia to help them win, and they're afraid they'll offend some xenophobes if they let it become widely known that there are actually some Muslims out there who support McCain. Fortunately, I am a stranger to cynicism, so I'm going to assume that the McCain people are simply trying to protect Zubairi from the sort of media overexposure that has plagued Joe the Plumber since the third presidential debate.

Yeah, I'm sure that's why they're doing it. To protect Zubairi.

Two Scenarios

Scenario One: the Sunday before the election, Barack Obama is seriously injured in an assassination attempt. There is a very good chance he will not live to see inauguration day.

Is Joe Biden ready to lead the nation on January 20, 2009?

The question answers itself.

Scenario Two: the Sunday before the election, word leaks out that John McCain is undergoing extensive treatment for cancer. There is a very good chance he will not live to see inauguration day.

Is Sarah Palin ready to lead the nation on January 20, 2009?

The question answers itself.

Negotiations

It seems the wingnuts are throwing a fit over the fact that the moderator of the vice presidential debate, Gwen Ifill of NPR, has written a book about Barack Obama, and that this disqualifies her for the moderator role. Given that Ifill's book has been in the works for months, this is kind of late in the game to get all huffy about it. What's going on here?

This is how the McCain campaign plans to get Sarah Palin out of the debate. The conversation between the campaigns will go something like this:

McCain: She wrote a book about Obama! Bias! Bias! New moderator or we walk!

Obama: Okay, fine with us. Got anybody else in mind?

McCain: Bill O’Reilly. The moderator has to be Pappa Bear or we walk!

Obama: Welllllll, okay. We can live with that.

McCain: What? No! Did we say Bill O’Reilly? We meant Dana Perino.

Obama: What, Bush’s press secretary?

McCain: Yeah, it’s Dana or nothing.

Obama: Sigh. Okay, Dana Perino.

McCain: No! Wait! We meant to say, uh, uh, uh, John McCain. Yeah! John McCain’s gotta moderate the veep debate or we walk!

Obama: Heavy sigh.

If McCain's people decide that Palin isn't ready for her debate, this is how they'll get her out of it.