In 2000, the Bushies decided to use any tactic available to stop Sen. John McCain in South Carolina. American politics reached a new low as the hate spread. During that smearfest, a flier that included a photo of McCain's adopted South Asian daughter circulated. The implication, of course, was that McCain had a mixed race child. The target audience was Republican racists, but I repeat myself.
Today, we see Sen. Hillary Clinton has ripped a page straight from the Rovian playbook. Her rival Sen. Barack Obama, clad in traditional Somali wear, is splashed across the Drudge Report.
The innuendo is quite clear. Obama, who wears a turban, is a closet Muslim. Obama has African heritage. Hence, Barack Hussein Obama (the middle name is used more and more in Ohio and Texas) is a black Muslim. Even if it mattered, that of course is false. The problem is the tactic itself.
Even Bushco had the good sense to deny any involvement with the flier. The Clinton staff admitted it supplied Drudge with the photograph.
Lest anyone should forget, McCain lost South Carolina to Bush. There were other reasons, of course, but the flier and racist tenor of the campaign speeded along W's slither to the White House.
At some point, the Clinton campaign had to make a choice. It could either dirty itself and use Rovian, racist tactics. Or it could run a campaign of ideas and possibly if not probably lose.
It chose poorly.