Newsweek's Andrew Romano pens an incisive article that lays the blame at the feet of the McCain camp. While it is not nearly as critical as the NYT editorial, I think therein lies it value. Its analysis is sufficiently non-inflammatory to become the accepted media CW, while still being incredibly damaging to McCain.
Please rec/digg to give the article more coverage.
Team McCain is actively characterizing Obama as another Al Sharpton--a "divisive, negative" Black Politician with vocal grievances who uses race as both shield and sword. This strikes me as too convenient to dismiss as a coincidence.
McCain's previous silence proves that when playing the "playing the race card" card, the impression you create--an impression of your rival saying something racially outrageous that benefits you politically--is far more important than whether or not you actually think he said something racially outrageous.
It's too bad. Until now, McCain has honorably avoided the tricky pitfalls of race.