As anticipated, the McCain campaign is now focused on four weeks of negative, vicious attacks in an attempt to save John McCain from defeat. The pit bull in lipstick has all weekend been trying to resurrect the Bill Ayers/Wheatherman line of attack -- which failed for Hillary Clinton because there's ultimately no there there -- saying Obama is hanging around with "terrorists."
Everything the McCain campaign has done in its negative ads had a racist tinge to it, even while they can claim they don't know what people are talking about and how dare anyone call them racist. This new attack is meant to revive the "Muslim" rumors and paint Obama as a shady (read: black) character who, as Palin says, doesn't see America the way "we" do. There's an interesting piece by Tim Noah on Slate about how they've glorified white, Republican Alaska as the real America -- the "we" she is talking about -- while Hawaii, where Obama grew up, is actually demographically much more like America, and yet is demonized even by some in the media as "exotic." That's all about race. It's going to get uglier, so get ready for it, and get ready to hit back.
The Obama campaign is not taking it lying down. They're releasing an ad meant to preempt McCain's attack, showing him as losing it and lashing out any way he can to change the subject:
Branding his opponent as “erratic in a crisis,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is preempting plans by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to portray him as having sinister connections to controversial Chicagoans.
Obama officials call it political jujitsu – turning the attacks back on the attacker.
Check out the ad.
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