As long as no handouts are in the bill I think you may be right. McCain still needs to take the free market and talk about what led to this mess. There is one thing about not wanting to be partisan but their is nothing wrong taking credit where credit is due and John McCain saw this mess coming and he needs to let everyone know this and then go into how to fix it. The one benefit is that the Republicans opposed the bill by large. They will benefit from this. I think this is something that Morris and others are missing. The GOP is seen as positioning themselves against Bush and the Democrats are being seen cozying up to him. They are not blaming John McCain and Republicans unilaterally especially in Battleground states.
I hope he has one more "surge" left in him in order to get this gap closed and have a fighting chance at the Presidency. Nothing he is doing right now is helping at all, but there is still some time left.
Pray for a miracle.