WSJ ad: McCain declares debate victory, outs himself on political stunt!

This is just frackin' unbelievable.  Was the whole debate stunt a scam?

It would appear so.  According to the Washington post, the ad below ran TODAY in the Wall Street Journal on-line.  TODAY, paid for by John McCain.  He never intended to skip the debate!  The whole thing was a ruse designed to add drama and garner publicity.

See the offending ad below the fold-

Here it is, in all its smarmy glory:

MC CAIN WINS DEBATE
Paid for by McCain Palin 2008

What a sham!  Country first?  It was clearly a planned feint - designed to distract attention from Palin's horrendous interview and the ticket's failing poll numbers.

The only problem is, WSJ jumped the gun, and outed the whole deal.
Hilarious!  This makes the current administration look like the paragon of virtue and competence - and that's not an easy task!

Go McCain, Go!

Update:  brcd4 also has a dairy up on this.  Go give him some love so we can get the word out on this transparent stunt.  If everyone knows the McCain camp declared victory before even committing to the debate, such claims after the fact will be much less credible.  Not that the campaign has much cred now...