McCain/Palin Ramp Up Attacks On Obama And His Terrorist Pals

Lots of interesting bits today on where the presidential race is heading with less than a month to go.

Today’s Washington Post has a story quoting campaign sources as saying McCain is going to focus more on Obama’s liberal policies and questionable (to say the least) associations.

A senior aide said the campaign will wait until after Tuesday's debate to decide how and when to release new commercials, adding that McCain and his surrogates will continue to cast Obama as a big spender, a high taxer and someone who talks about working across the aisle but doesn't deliver.

Two other top Republicans said the new ads are likely to hammer the senator from Illinois on his connections to convicted Chicago developer Antoin "Tony" Rezko and former radical William Ayres, whom the McCain campaign regularly calls a domestic terrorist because of his acts of violence against the U.S. government in the 1960s.

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. appears to be off limits after McCain condemned the North Carolina Republican Party in April for an ad that linked Obama to his former pastor, saying, "Unfortunately, all I can do is, in as visible a way as possible, disassociate myself from that kind of campaigning."

Sarah Palin certainly got the memo. After saying yesterday that Obama isn’t qualified to be the Commander in Chief because of his statements on the conduct of US military actions in Afghanistan, she ups the ante today by going after Obama’s good friend, unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

There's been a lot of interest in what I read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man who, according to The New York Times was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol.’ These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes. This is not a man who sees America as you and I do - as the greatest force for good in the world. This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country. This, ladies and gentlemen, has nothing to do with the kind of change anyone can believe in - not my kids and not your kids. The only man who can take on Washington is John McCain.

Let Sarah be Sarah indeed.

For a more complete take down of that NY Times article, see Stanley Kurtz in The Corner. He calls it a ‘Whitewash’ of the Obama-Ayers relationship (which though accurate, may in fact be racist).

All in all I’m glad to see this move by the McCain camp but it makes me a little worried. Going negative like this is necessary because they are behind and most likely because between the economy and fallout from the bailout plan they need to change the subject quickly.

I know McCain didn’t want to run a “Rovian” base election but you know, it did work. Twice. Given McCain’s apparent abandonment of Michigan, it’s hard to see what states McCain is going to flip from blue to red. In fact, he’s got a fight on his hands to keep states like Florida and Virginia in his column.

The conventional wisdom has always been if the election is about McCain/the last 8 years, Obama wins. If it’s about Obama, McCain wins. I think that’s right. I just hope McCain hasn’t waited too long to hit him hard without it being seen as desperation.

posted by DrewM. at 04:23 PM

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