Wow! In an article to appear in tomorrows Washington Post, the McCain Campaign said they are going to shift their tactics. Instead of focusing on the issues, they are going to go back to the Lee Atwater/Karl Rove school of political drudgery.
Wasn't McCain supposed to run an "honest and positive" campaign? Apparently not.
I just hope the people of this country are not taken in by the negative and personal attacks.
In a new piece, to be published later today in the Washington Post, McCain advisors have said they are going to start shifting their tactics from talking about the issues to talking about Barack Obama's character and honesty.
Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said
This makes me sick. When the country is on the brink of the worst financial disaster in nearly 70 years, McCain believes that issues are not important. Who cares about jobs and health care and education and national security? Let's just drag everyone who does not agree with us through the mud. Let's not answer the public's questions about how we are going to leave Iraq.
The Arizonan's campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.
It never fails to amaze me how Republicans, when they get scared they are going to loose, switch to the politics of personal destruction. But my question is: Does McCain really want to get into a character debate with Barack Obama? All of the reading I have done about McCain and Obama show me that McCain has a lot more to hide from than Obama does. If they want to bring up Tony Rezko or William Ayers, let's talk about The Keating 5. Let's look at McCain's adultery and leaving his first wife becuase she was in a horrific car accident. Why don't we look at McCain's temperment? Is that someone we want to have the nuclear codes?
Oh and if McCain wants to talk about judgement, then I think the decision to select Sarah Palin as his Vice President needs to be brought to the table. He says that he puts "Country First" yet, if he puts his country first, then why select one of the least experienced politicians in the country.
A senior aide said the campaign will wait until after Tuesday's debate to decide how and when to release new commercials, adding that McCain and his surrogates will continue to cast Obama as a big spender, a high taxer and someone who talks about working across the aisle but doesn't deliver.
I am curious though how they are going to pull this off, considering that it was McCain's party and President Bush who doubled the national debt. They tend to forget that it was under President Clinton where we had balanced budgets and surpluses. And, if they want to talk about the "Rescue Plan", it McCain voted for it, along with Obama.
To say that I am not nervous about these turn of events is an understatement. I remember back in 1988 and how Bush 41 unveiled the "Willie Horton" ad. Dukakis' numbers went downhill after that. I remember back in 2004 how Kerry's numbers never recovered after the "Swift Boat Vetrans." But, what really scares me is that there is going to be racial undertones to this new line of attack. That they are going to play on people's fears and ignorance.
I hope, for all of our sakes, that Senator Obama has learned from Dukakis and Kerry and goes "balls out" for the next 31 days. If McCain does the character attack, then Obama counters harder, but continues to talk about the issues. We cannot afford another President elected on false pretenses.