OOPS

Yeah, this hasn't worked out well for John McCain -- Bobby Jindal has taken himself out of consideration for VP (was that because of the flurry of exorcism posts on the Internet after the VP rumor surfaced? was the rumor just a trial balloon meant to sample potential negative reaction to Jindal? and did Team McCain really not know we'd react this way?). And now John McCain's real secret plan for Thursday -- or Plan B, perhaps -- has also had to be canceled: because of Hurricane Dolly, McCain can't fly over oil rigs on the Gulf Coast to promote coastal drilling. Oh, and there's an embarrassing oil spill in the Mississippi. D'oh. Time for Plan C, which involves not stopping in Louisiana at all.

But I have to say I disagree with Digby:

CNN is now reporting that this spill is up to 400,000 gallons of fuel oil and the Coast Guard has closed 29 miles of the river. This could effectively end the "drill now" campaign.

That's hard to imagine -- an unintended consequence of Obama's trip is that most Americans won't even notice that the spill took place, and now they won't connect it to McCain. Domestically, the GOP has put all its chips on "drill now," and it jibes perfectly with the Republicans' view of the dichotomy between the parties (real men who get their hands dirty vs. prissy virtuecrats). So don't blow "Taps" for coastal drilling just yet.