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Reality is a Left-Wing Attack Ad

By Jack M. Balkin

One has to feel sorry for John McCain. He had a pre-packaged jingoistic presidential campaign he wanted to run and now he can't run it because the economy is dominating everything and the Republicans are getting most of the blame for the country's current economic condition. He had a series of focus-group tested Rove-style attacks on Obama that in an ordinary year would have scared the daylights out of the median voter, but sadly most voters currently think that a major economic meltdown is more worrisome than who Obama knows in Hyde Park. Over at the Corner Andy McCarthy is fit to be tied:

Memo to McCain Campaign: Someone is either a terrorist sympathizer or he isn't; someone is either disqualified as a terrorist sympathizer or he's qualified for public office. You helped portray Obama as a clearly qualified presidential candidate who would fight terrorists. If that's what the public thinks, good luck trying to win this thing.

How dare the public be more concerned about the current economic crisis than our allegations that Obama is a strange, nefarious, alien Other? How dare they yawn at the Karl Rove/Lee Atwater strategy that has successfully frightened the public over and over again and made Republicans the majority party? How dare they pay attention to actual conditions and real problems instead of the bright shiny objects we attempt to distract them with?

The world is not a fair place. It's just not a fair place.

Full post as published by Balkinization on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).