I hope I'm wrong

Maybe Karl Rove is just giving McCain sound advice when telling him to stop lying so blatantly, but Mr. Rove never does anything because it is right or just. Nobody that has worked so tirelessly to slander all who oppose the neocon worldview would suddenly develop a conscious.
Rove knows this negative campaign has only served to tarnish McCain's rep as a "straight talker".
McCain is as much a straight talker as Larry Craig is a straight man.
Rove knows that if McCain keeps feeding these lies to the media (many of which, I'm sure, have come straight from the turd-blossom's mouth), then the backlash will become much more severe, and people will begin to see their campaign as one big lie.
Now, on a seemingly unrelated note, there are numerous cases of voter caging and fraud already being recorded in various swing states throughout the country. From pulling people with foreclosed homes off the voter rosters in Michigan, since they technically no longer live in their foreclosed homes, to the millions of absentee ballots being sent to possible Obama supporters that have a false return address, the republicans are doing their best to steal this election, just as they did in '00 and '04.
Rove knows this, he's one of the most powerful forces behind the neocon election riggers. He knows that if McCain's credibility as a straight talker keeps declining, then people would be more likely to believe that the republicans are actually capable of such a severe crime as stealing an election.
The only hope they have left is to try to reinstall McCain's straight talk mouth and keep his temper-filled lie spewing mouth sealed and out of the public's earshot. If they can keep the campaign civil and follow Obama's lead, then they can continue caging voters and rigging electronoic vote machines under a much larger shroud of secrecy.
They need credibility. They need people to trust them. You can't trust a liar, and luckily this liar has been discovered by the media before it was too late. But it's not too late for McCain to again reshape himself as an honorable candidate, and allow his minions to continue their destructive practices and policies.

Of course, there's no need to steal an election if said election is suspended due to war with Russia. There's a reason we don't hear much about Iran anymore. Remember, Russia and Venezuela are conducting joint maneuvers near the Carribean. THE CARRIBEAN. Russian bombers comparable to the venerable B2 have been deployed to these maneuvers. And we're concerned with Sarah Palin. Oh, and did I mention the depression looming around the bend?

We need to regain our country, before it's too late...