Politically speaking, I want to see this happen to John McCain
Because part of the GOP strategy is emerging: Good cop, bad cop. The GOP will run smear ads, outside organizations will run push polls and fuel email rumors, and McCain will feign indignation, even as the message is reinforced by his supposed negation of it. We already have to play catch up thanks to Sen. Clinton (R) New York. But some groundwork has been laid for us by George Bush’s 2000 campaign of all things.
... the stories of his abuse of alcohol, his womanizing, his divorce, his affair with a Florida stripper.
...his explosive temper that verges on mental instability.
...those Manchurian Candidate allegations. Just what did they do to his mind when he was a POW?
How about siring children with prostitutes?
Then there is the betrayal of America and its POWs as outlined by Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain.
(These sites aren't bad for offering fodder either http://themccainmutiny.com/
http://therealmccain.com/...
Of course, there's Cindy McCain's drug addiction, which led her to steal from a charity to support her habit.
Divide and conquer
Target the fault lines in the Republican Party.
Religious Right organizations actively opposed McCain's campaign-finance reform efforts. Americans for Tax Reform, the National Rifle Association, anti-abortion groups... they all have axes to grind with McCain. We need to hammer on those fault lines.
... how McCain attacked Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and is now flip-flopping. As he said:
Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.
The Obama campaign and the Democratic Party can and should trumpet the McCain record that fundamentalists and conservatives are disgusted by. Of course, mind you, he's turned his back on all that or never meant it in the first place--which makes him a hypocrite and a liar. You can't trust someone who's "liberal" one day, conservative the next just because it suits his ambition (I mean who does he think he his, Hillary Clinton?) Maybe it's that mental instability...
What will not work
Defending Obama or attacking McCain by talking about "issues." It didn’t work for Kerry in 2004, and it won’t work now. Voters don't respond to or remember lists of issues or policies, especially when the national discussion is dominated by conservative frames. Voters aren’t persuaded by arguments that are bullet points of facts. Paul Krugman recently wrote that Obama needs to start talking specific policies like Clinton. One word on this strategy: Loser. God help us if Obama's message becomes a ten-point plan. A laundry list of policy proposals is the traditional Democratic tactic--look how well it's worked!
Voters are moved by how strongly they identify with a candidate, whether they trust him, and whether they believe he has a set of consistent values that are the foundation for his policies. Obama is and can continue to be strong in these areas. And they are more important than policy proposals and laundry lists of issues. GOP attacks are/will be aimed at undermining voter trust and identification--e.g. Obama is "elitist," Obama is a radical/socialist/terrorist, Obama is not "patriotic."
According to Raw Story, reporting ahead of an upcoming Newsweek story,
The Obama campaign is planning to expand its research and rapid-response outfit to repel planned "Swift-Boat" like attacks.
Unfortunately, if Obama's appearance on Fox is any indication, the rapid-response is going to be rather limp. (I hope I'm wrong.)
Regardless of what Obama can or will do to handle attacks, people outside the campaign need to take the offensive. Slash and slice until only a pulpy pool remains.