I've been doing this in the comments and now it's time to do it as a diary.
Leave. John. McCain. Alone.
He's not even the nominee yet and we don't want to risk any chance he might not be. It's up to us to stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. More below the fold.
There is no weaker republican candidate than McCain. Not even in 1932 did the Democrats have a better chance of defeating the Republican candidate because as bad as it was under Hoover, he was an incumbent running against the guy who'd been the Democrats' VP nominee in the previous cycle. Despite massive corruption and three years of the Depression, Hoover still managed to pull in almost 40% of the popular vote.
We do not want to destroy McCain until the GOP is fully committed to him after the convention. At this point we'll be safe as long as he remains alive and legally capable of taking office. Huckabee, Romney and Paul all still have a chance should anything cause McCain to leave the race. None of them is as weak as McCain and Paul's supporters are just as savvy as we when it comes to using the intarwebs.
Obama is using a strategy made famous on October 30, 1974. On that day one man allowed his opponent -- whom all thought stronger -- to pummel him. The opponent was able to prevent exit and escape from attacks and so a different strategy was used: take the hits where you're less vulnerable and let your opponent weaken himself for you.
The place was Zaire, the opponent George Foreman, the man Muhammed Ali. The strategy was Rope-a-Dope, a rather dangerous tactic which can be deadly for all but the best of fighters. Rope-a-dope received first notice when Muhammed Ali used it in his first fight against Joe Frazier. It became famous after the "Rumble in the Jungle". The strategy calls for the boxer to more or less lie against the boxing ring ropes in order to conserve energy. It allows the opponent to strike him repeatedly but can work to the initiator's benefit if the opponent tires himself and opens himself up to exploitable weaknesses.
It was Floyd Patterson who first commented on how no one could sit there and absorb abuse like Ali. After taking punch after punch from an opponent Ali stood there unscathed, and then destroyed his competition. The hits all came to his arms, shoulders, gloves, occasionally to his body, and he expended barely more energy than was necessary to remain standing. Through all that he was still able to get some good offensive shots in while apparently being dominated.
Take the punches, block what you can, let your opponent wear himself down, and get a good shot in only when it's available. We're not even in the second round. Both Obama and McCain are still only the presumptive nominees. There is little chance that Obama won't be the Democratic nominee but McCain is not the final contestant until September 5. He could have a stroke. He could have a heart attack. But what really concerns me is that one too many lies of flops or scandals could convince the Media -- or worse, the Republicans themselves -- to drop him and take someone not necessarily better but at least not as vulnerable.
It's imperitive that John McCain remains the Republican candidate. There will be a lot more dyed-in-the-wool Republicans holding their noses when voting than there will be Democratic purity trolls like me. More importantly, a lot fewer of them will bother showing up on Tuesday. Republicans have little to be excited about.
Once McCain is the nominee it's open season. I expect less money should flow to Obama and the DNC directly and rather, funding should be targeted to a group of x527s which can run targeted TV ads in local markets in the style of bravenewfilms, each market getting an ad which shows his lies and doublespeak on the issue(s) most affecting that area. Military towns? Nail him to a cross for his position changes on the war being easy/hard and how long we ought to stay there. Manufacturing town? McCain's support for NAFTA (and we need Obama to get back on track with that one).
And there's so much more. For some reason the NRA is backing McCain so we need to show that McCain thought the NRA should not have a rôle in policymaking (he believes they should now). Bible belt? He's endorsed and condemned creationism. Florida? McCain flipped on normalising relations with Cuba (he's agin it, but he used ta be fer it.
Obama's national ads should either stay with positive messages -- ignoring McCain completely -- or continue only with rebuttals, offering hope and change in the trailing 10 seconds. Anything else goes off-message.
We can't do this nearly as easily with any other Republican nominee. We must play Rope-a-Dope. We take the punches, brush them off, conserve our strength, take a shot only when safe to do so. We let McCain's campaign tire itself out. In mid-September we can attack but for now, we rest on those soft, comfortable ropes.