Well, not surprisingly, slipping in the polls, even in the battleground states, and Senator McCain having not delivered a knockout in the first debate, or Governor Palin been particularly impressive at the VP debate... out come the knives. ANYONE surprised by this?
Palin says Obama pals with 'terrorists'
"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin slammed Sen. Barack Obama's political relationship with a former anti-war radical on Saturday, accusing him of associating "with terrorists who targeted their own country." Palin's comment delivered on the McCain campaign's announcement that it would step up attacks on the Democratic presidential candidate. ...."
— CNN.com
Fasten your seat belts and get out your raincoats... the mud is in the air. And the more the Republicans look like they're falling behind, the meaner and more outrageous the attacks will get.
This one is right out of the Karl Rove playbook. And if previous successes with these kind of attacks suggest, it doesn't even matter if their accusations, allegations and rumors are even remotely relevant, or even true. They just need to be put out into the media. Basically, it just need to be SAID, to make the impact. So long as they are able to create fear, uncertainty and doubt in the clump of "undecided" voters that will ultimately decide the election, slippery polls not withstanding. . You'd be amazed to see the longevity of the "Obama's a Secret Muslim" rumor,... Now didn't we just have an issue with his Cristian PASTOR? Of a church he attended since boyhood? But people are still buying into it. Morons. But apparently, the mudlsingers hope the citizens' memories are short.
And just for the record... that the McCain campaign seems to choose to ignore:
"... Palin cited an article in Saturday's New York Times about Obama's relationship with Ayers, now 63. But that article concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' "
Several other publications, including the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The National Review, have debunked the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship..."
But the Bullshit allegations made the headlines, the truth... not so much.
Bill Maher on his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher routinely snarls that the American electorate is stupid and easily led, deceived and bullied. I get annoyed by that, and hope he is wrong but fear that he may very well be right. We fell for the no-income verification adjustable rate mortgages for impossibly inflated homes, didn't we? I hope the Democrats can take the gloves off for the home stretch, AND still take the moral high ground.
* Sigh *
Banzai... One can only hope.