McCain's choice of Palin instead of the candidates he wanted shows that McCain is a prisoner of the Republican Right Wing.

As I have been writing, McCain's choice of the Alaska beauty queen and ultra right wing social conservative reflects his own desperation and impulsiveness. But I missed this.

Digby points to the statement that John Kerry made on Stephanopoulos' weekly show this morning:

KERRY: What John McCain has proven with this choice -- this is very important, George. John McCain wanted to choose Tom Ridge. He wanted to choose Joe Lieberman. He wanted to choose another candidate, but you know what? Rush Limbaugh and the right wing vetoed it.

And John McCain was forced to come back and pick a sort of Cheney-esque social conservative who's going to satisfy the base.

What John McCain has proven with this choice is that John McCain is the prisoner of the right wing, not a maverick.

Yep. Kerry is spot on.

It's been a rough week for the Republican Party. They are clearly dispirited by the outstanding reception that the American public has given the Democratic convention, followed by the disaster that was McCain's impulsive decision to take the obviously inexperienced and ultra-right-wing Palin on as his Vice Presidential nominee.

It is true that the choice of Palin as McCain's Veep upstaged the weekend media coverage of Obama's great acceptance speech, but that's like creating a massive train wreck to distract the media from reporting on an opponent's successful political event. Now the Republican pundits and the media are forced to defend McCain's intentional train wreck.

That's why the right-wing pundits and noise machine have been throwing out a lot of verbiage this weekend in an attempt to cover up their disappointment, but the problems for McCain and the Republicans are building. Now they have had to announced that they are cancel the first night of the Republican Convention in St. Paul, MN because Hurricane Gustave is going to hit the Gulf Coast 1200 miles. the total cancellation reflects what they are really feeling.

Canceling the first night of the convention is probably a good idea. That's when George Bush was scheduled to speak. They couldn't snub the President, but they really want to distance the McCain campaign from any connection to the toxic Bush. By cancelling Monday night they get to distance McCain from Bush by sending Bush to Texas "ahead of the Hurricane." That is, itself, a mixed blessing for the Republicans. Hurricane Gustave is going to make a lot of news and keep reminding Americans of the earlier disaster that was the way the Bush administration failed to handle the challenges of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

This has already been one bad week for the Republicans and McCain, and appears likely to be followed by another. I wander what kind of "bounce" the Republicans will have after their abbreviated Republican Convention?