Clear Republican Stu Rothenberg usually directs his snide, catty remarks at congressional Democrats. But seeing his clear preference, John McCain, wilt and flail under the pressure of the campaign, he reverts to a "damn them all" approach (unfortunately behind Roll Call's paywall):
I’m tired of the bizarre distortions and half-truths, and of the endless platitudes. McCain, the straight-talker, isn’t doing that anymore, and Obama is equally bad. Both are running blatantly misleading campaigns.
"Equally bad". Right... But that would've been standard boilerplate for that crank. This, on the ther hand, is new insight into his mind:
Voters shouldn’t judge a candidate by his skin color. Maybe, but is it any more unfair than, for example, saying that because McCain and President Bush are both Republicans that a McCain administration would produce a third Bush term? No, it isn’t.
Really? Being racist is no more unfair than saying that McCain, by agreeing with Bush on every major issue (demonstrably so), will just extend the Bush reign? An opinion based on demonstrable fact (that McCain and Bush differ on no major policy issues) is just as "unfair" as racism? Even if it wasn't true, it wouldn't be remotely similar.
Let me put it this way -- is being racist more unfair than McCain claiming that Obama wants to teach kindergartners about sex?
Yes, yes and yes. No policy-based political attack, no matter how untrue, is more unfair than judging someone solely by the color of their skin. Period. That Rothenberg doesn't grasp that says more about his own moral character, than about the current state of the race.