McNasty: Not This Time!

We have all heard John McCain and Sarah Palin's personal, scurrilous attacks against Barack Obama.... trying to tie him to terrorists, accusing him of being somehow not like us. You know, the usual GOP Swiftboat Rovian tactics of personal destruction that have scarred the presidential-campaign landscape the last eight years.

Obama asserts in his campaign speeches that those tactics will no longer work with American voters.... "Not this time." Seems as though he is right. "Poll Says McCain Hurts Bid By Using Attacks." (NYTimes)

"The McCain campaign’s recent angry tone and sharply personal attacks on Senator Barack Obama appear to have backfired and tarnished Senator John McCain more than their intended target, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll has found.... Over all, the poll found that if the election were held today, 53 percent of those determined to be probable voters said they would vote for Mr. Obama and 39 percent said they would vote for Mr. McCain."

And, something else those sharp personal attacks of McCain's have done, they have sobered the former fawning soft-ball journalists who rode the Straight Talk Express who hadn't really vetted McNasty and caused them to look more deeply into McCain's own relationships.

For example, today the Huffington Post reports that "McCain Transition Chief Aided Saddam in Lobbying Effort." Now this goes way beyond an Obama acquaintanceship with someone who has no input or influence on his campaign. THIS IS McCAIN'S CHOSEN TRANSITION CHIEF!

In an exclusive, the HP explains: "William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.

The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein's government."

Yes, McCain is pointing fingers when in reality he should be questioning his own judgment when it comes to those with whom he surrounds himself.

But then McCain evidently is staying true to his real nature.... at his campaign stop in Virginia a couple of days ago before he started his stump speech he recognized a couple of people in the crowd, including, to quote: "My dear friend George Allen is here today."

That's right. His dear friend George "Macaca" Allen who was caught on tape a couple of years ago ridiculing someone in his audience who looked different, to him, than a real American. Allen lost that campaign.

Evidently McCain didn't learn a thing from what happened to his dear, dear, friend.

November 4.