Author: Dan Oshinsky

In 2000, Al Gore lost the election. In 2006, he came out with “An Inconvenient Truth,” at which point the American people discovered that Gore’s advisers had muzzled him from speaking openly about the environment for fear of losing votes in industrial states like Michigan in Pennsylvania.

In less than two weeks, if current metrics can be believed, John McCain will lose this election. My question: when will McCain admit that — worn out from months on the trail — he relied too much on his advisers, strayed from his bipartisan message and allowed his campaign to make reckless choices in the quest for the Presidency?

There have been two excellent behind-the-scenes stories this week on the McCain campaign, including this from the New Yorker and another from the New York Times. Then, just this morning, comes news that makes me think that there’s even more behind-the-scenes chaos on the way:

Four Republicans close to [Sarah] Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image — even as others in McCain’s camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain’s decline.

“She’s lost confidence in most of the people on the plane,” said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to “go rogue” in some of her public pronouncements and decisions.

“I think she’d like to go more rogue,” he said.

I do not know what “more rogue” could possibly mean. More mavericky, perhaps? Or, perhaps, will she push for independence in unlikely places? I’m not sure. But any backstory involving Sarah Palin, the guys who’ve been advising the current, wildly upopular president and the spokespersons who slimed McCain in 2000 must be incredible.

No baseball tonight, but for those deprived seamheads, I want to pass along a funked out tune from Todd Snider about Doc Ellis, the pitcher who once threw a no-hitter while on LSD. My favorite line from the song: His sinker looked like it was falling off a table/ But nobody was hallucinating that.

Enjoy:

It’s not often that Missouri high schools make their way into the news. But this week, we’ve already had two remarkable incidents: a massive brawl at Hickman High in Columbia and an AIDS pandemic at Normandy High near St. Louis.

And then here comes the craziest one yet:

ST. LOUIS (AP) – At least four students from a suburban St. Louis middle school face punishment for allegedly hitting Jewish classmates during what they called “Hit a Jew Day.”

The incident happened last week at Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield.

District officials said Thursday they believe that fewer than 10 children of the district’s 35 Jewish students were struck.

To be fair, a 28.5 percent success rate at your local carnival’s Whack a Mole game probably still wins you an oversized stuffed gorilla.

As a longtime Maryland football fan — going back to the glory days when the team’s punter was considered one of the team’s “most potent defensive weapons” — I can tell you that Terps fans have long hated the team’s weak scheduling. In the last two years, when the Terps added Rutgers and Cal to the schedule, it seemed like a rare breath of legitimacy for the team.

And then head coach Ralph Friedgen has to go and say something like this:

Terps coach Ralph Friedgen said today that ACC coaches had discussed the possibility during spring meetings of adding a ninth conference game to the schedule and dropping one of the four non-conference games.

But the coach said the proposal was unpopular. ACC coaches like the flexibility of scheduling winnable non-conference opponents so they get enough wins to be bowl-eligible.

“Coaches were not for that because it would knock a lot of us out of bowl games,” Friedgen said.

Among recent Maryland cupcakes on the schedule: Delaware, William & Mary and Middle Tennessee State, who the Terps actually lost to this year. And around the ACC in 2008: Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern, James Madison, the Citadel, Rhode Island and Duke.

Tough to get any national respect with opponents like that. But when the goal is the blue turf of Boise’s Humanitarian Bowl^1., all that matters is the W and not the score or opponent (say, Georgia Tech over Gardner Webb, 10-7).

1. Post-season footnote: Funny how it ended up playing out exactly like that.

I can’t wait for McCain’s Spanish response ad:

To experience life on the campaign trail, it doesn’t get much better than this David Foster Wallace piece about the 2000 campaign. (This, however, is on my to-read list for holidays.)

But for a good look on the unending campaign — plus insights into how the Clinton campaign turned urinals into a press work room, the analogous nature of porn and presidential nominees and how Chuck Norris fit into the ’08 election — this mini-memoir from Newsweek‘s Michael Hastings is a pretty impressive read.

I suppose we now know how the Obama-Biden administration will react when Michelangelo’s David stops by 1600 Pennsylvania.

This quote isn’t from a journalist or about newspapers. But it might as well be:

“You cannot afford to say, ‘I don’t have the time to get out of my little circle here to understand what’s going on,’ ” Mr. Kimel said. “You can’t make the mistake of thinking the only place you’ll learn is from colleagues who are doing exactly what you’re doing.”

Will newspapers come around and figure this out before it’s too late?

A thought, watching the Backstreet Boys sing tonight’s national anthem before Game 1 of the World Series:

The national anthem should take no longer than 90 seconds, unless your name is Marvin Gaye or Bleeding Gums Murphy. Tonight’s anthem clocked in at 1 minute and 58 seconds. Future anthem singers: take note, please.

That being said, I’m not sure how to proceed with the acapella version that was presented to America tonight. I guess I really should leave the obvious Backstreet Boys puns to the experts.

Portraits of Cabinet officials: $50,000.

New wardrobe for VP candidate: $150,000.

Private makeup artists hired from TV dance show: $20,000 per month.

Extreme makeover, RNC edition, using public money: priceless.