Obama Spokeswoman: "John McCain himself calls himself a fundamental deregulator... What do you think he's deregulating? The rules that could have averted this crisis. There's a reason John McCain doesn't want to discuss the economy."

Stephanie Cutter on FoxNews now.

Now that the Obama camp knows that they not only won't have to worry about an attack from McCain, but also won't even have to worry about a defense, they're just running with it.

Before they might have been defensive and hesitant about this line of attack, given Obama's responsibility for the bailout. No longer.

Character, integrity, patriotism. Incompetence.

John McCain is determined to run on the second and third most important issues in the country right now, while conceding the very most important issue completely to Obama.

In other words, McCain's letting Obama score touchdowns every drive while hoping he himself can get a field goal every once in a while.

How this math could possibly work -- especially given that Obama is already up by 7-10 points -- is utterly beyond me.

Incidentally, McCain does have some negatives on this issue -- several of his advisers, etc., lobbied on behalf of Freddie and Fannie. Rick Davis most prominently among them.

Here's the difference: McCain pays those guys.

Jim Johnson and all the Fannie and Freddie execs paid Obama, through huge campaign donations.

Now: Who is beholden to these guys? McCain who's paying them for their services, or Obama who was paid lots of money by these guys for his services?

This is why, I'm pretty sure, McCain doesn't want to get into this.

While conceding the argument is harder to make than I have suggested, it is not impossibly difficult.

And further, difficult or not, it's absolutely necessary. If McCain loses on this issue -- as he has been for three weeks -- the election is over, anyway.

Actually... I was too glib there. I'm sure someone associated at one time with Fannie and Freddie raised money for McCain at some point.

McCain worries that he'll just be muddied further if he does this. But he can't be muddied further. He's covered in mud. And Obama is spotless.

Whether this is an easy case to make or not does not change the fact McCain will lose unless he changes the momentum on this issue -- and, alas, he's let it go so long I don't even know if the Mighty Media Narrative can be altered anymore.

I also am guessing that McCain doesn't want to get into the white/black thing regarding the CRA. He doesn't want to be painted as Wille Hortonizing Racial Demogogue.

Well, you don't have to Willie Horton it. You just have to note that Obama sought freer loans for credit-poor buyers of all races (and certainly more credit-poor whites took advantage of this, simply because there are so many more whites than blacks). And if you want t o avoid CRA altogether --fine, focus on Fannie and Freddie.

Once again we see Obama's -- and the media's -- use of the race card. Now McCain can't even mention that Obama engineered this crisis for fear of being called a race-hater.

McCain has to nut up and realize he's being called a racist for whatever he says anyway. Mention Bill Ayers? Racist.

There's a reason John McCain doesn't want to discuss the economy."&bodytext=Stephanie Cutter on FoxNews now. Now that the Obama camp knows that they not only won't have to worry about an attack from McCain, but also won't even have to worry about a defense, they're just running with it. Before...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 12:40 PM

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