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Middle Names

By wt

Some left-leaning bloggers are using, and suggesting that the candidates use, John McCain's middle name so as to insult him -- Sidney.

This tactic was used, apparently, to great effect, in 2006 during the Virginia Senate race between Jim Webb and George "Felix" Allen.

Here are a couple examples of what I'm talking about. First here, then here.

But if you're going to use John McCain's middle name, that makes it a lot harder to argue that Republicans can't use Obama's middle name, if he gets the nomination.

I suppose Dems could argue we're just using the middle name to feminize and insult McCain, while McCain would be using Obama's middle name to stoke the fires of racism. But once the die is cast, and middle names are fair play for political gamesmanship, it's a tough argument to holler that only some political games are acceptable, while others are off limits.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on April 22, 2008 (boomark / email).