Just As I Thought

They’re not gonna talk about it

The doublespeak and lies from the McCain camp are so ridiculous and transparent, one can only wonder: even with evidence from the last decade of a less than scholarly electorate, can people really believe this crap? Every question deflected and left unanswered after minutes of rambling propaganda that never nears the subject at hand. Vile attempts to associate the opponent with domestic terrorists from 40 years ago. Hamfisted yet subtle strategies to stoke racism. People basing their voting choice on how “American-sounding” the candidates names are. And the McCain campaign slings all this mud while its leader, boldly and to our faces, pretends as if he is not involved.
Just yesterday I heard him — not a spokesman and not his VP candidate, but McCain himself — repeat the new strategic line wherein he says with his first breath that it is inappropriate to link Barack Obama to a terrorist, and then on the next breath explain who the terrorist is and why he is a bad man and gosh, he lives in the same neighborhood as Obama. We’re not gonna talk about it, but let me tell you all about what we’re not gonna talk about.
That’s an honorable man, there.
McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace, on Thursday’s “Today”:

Wallace: Nobody in America sitting around the kitchen table this morning, trying to figure out if their jobs are going to be there, if they’re going to be able to afford their mortgages, healthcare, college, cares about Barack Obama working with a former washed-up terrorist. And that’s what Mr. Ayers is. He’s a former domestic terrorist who targeted, in a group called the Weathermen, the Pentagon and the Capitol.

Vieira: But if they don’t care, Nicolle, why is your campaign bringing it up?

Wallace: I was getting to that before you interrupted, Meredith. The point is Barack Obama lied when he was first asked about his association with Mr. Ayers. He called him a guy in the neighborhood. He’s a lot more than a guy in the neighborhood. And why we can’t have a calm, honest discussion about who Mr. Ayers was and then move on to the things people really care about. But here’s why it matters Meredith, if you don’t tell the truth about your associations, if you don’t answer the question honestly the first time you’re asked, not the second, third or fourth — nobody knows when he found out that he was a domestic terrorist. No one can explain to me why he lied and said he was just a guy in the neighborhood … If Barack Obama had answered honestly about his association with Ayers, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation.

And by God, they’re successful at this strategy. I mean, I’ve reprinted their slanderous comments right here on my blog.
But here’s what I wonder: does this have any effect at all? It seems to me that all their strategies have done nothing but hold on to their wacko, insane, believe-anything base [See the entry below.] These tactics haven’t changed the mind of anyone as far as I can tell; are they just designed to stop the bleeding — or slow it? At this point, if polls are to be believed, we’re going to see just what we have been hoping for for years: a huge swing away from the red, even in states formerly thought to be safe Republican territory. Talking dirty isn’t going to help McCain. So I have to wonder, in my conspiracy-addled brain: what sneaky, underhanded, fraudulent tactic do the Republicans have up their sleeve to steal this election at the last minute? Even in the face of overwhelming evidence of an imminent Obama win, I am worried.

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