MAYBE PALIN'S CBS INTERVIEW IS REALLY BAD

I'm trying to figure out why the hell John McCain is suspending his campaign and proposing a postponement of Friday's debate. I assume it's just another high-risk move from a guy who may or may not be overly fond of gambling. But I wonder if the decision to propose this, or at least propose it this afternoon, also at least partly a way to reduce the attention given to Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric tonight, especially given Palin's plummeting approval ratings.

(I'll grant that the brief excerpt that's been released looks unremarkable, if a bit vacuous.)

Funny -- I was watching the cone-of-silence shenanigans yesterday by Palin's handlers and wondering what the odds were of her declaring that she'd have to take a rain check on that Biden debate next week, probably with an explanation involving "family matters." I wasn't expecting McCain to be the one to go AWOL.

Or maybe the campaign is hoping this crisis will drag on and let them back out of both Friday's presidential debate and the (only) VP debate -- and hell, if Obama maintains his lead in the polls, maybe the McCain campaign will keep this farce going and ask for an incomplete on the whole voting thing in November.

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UPDATE: Look, I'm only half-serious about what I wrote above -- although with this campaign, you never know. Meanwhile, via The New Republic, there's this from National Review's Corner:

Since Obama Seems to Want to Go On with the Debate

Many readers relay that they'd like McCain to just offer Palin step in for him.

Ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleeeease.....

Obama should propose that -- right now. She is ready to step in for him at a moment's notice ... isn't she?

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AND: As phleabo says in comments, now really might be the time to subject the McCain campaign to the people in chicken suits.

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MORE: Pollster.com has this sidebar headline:

17:42 Breaking: Fox News; McCain camp wants to shift VP debate

The link goes nowhere, however, and I can't find the story elsewhere. Meanwhile David Letterman is mocking this, according to Drudge (and proposing Palin as a substitute). Not good, Johnny Mac.

But here's something Fox does have up, in a desperate attempt to change the subject:

Biden Dropping Out? Rumor Thrives on Internet

It's almost certainly just a case of the telephone game gone high-tech, but there's an Internet rumor surging through inboxes and discussion boards that Joe Biden will drop out as Barack Obama's running mate after his Oct. 2 debate with Sarah Palin -- and that he'll be replaced by Hillary Clinton on the Democratic presidential ticket.

The story line goes as follows: John McCain's selection of Palin has generated so much interest in the Republican ticket that Obama needs to make a radical move to regain momentum....

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don't care how many gaffes Biden is responsible for, that's just ridiculous.

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AND: I love it that while McCain was allegedly Putting Country First™, he was meeting today with the zillionaire queen of the PUMAs, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild.