'Don't Say Obama Beats His Wife'

The headline is, in a nutshell, John McCain's apparent strategy against Barack Obama going forward, and a prime example of why the Democratic frontrunner should not even think about opting into federal campaign financing. Fox News reports:

McCain has asked the North Carolina GOP not to run a television ad that brings up Obama's controversial retiring pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The ad shows Obama and Wright together and features a clip of Wright cursing America. Earlier this year, Obama was forced to disavow some of Wright's more incendiary comments about race and American "terrorism."

...North Carolina Republicans say they won't pull the ad, arguing that it's about a statewide race and not the national election. The ad actually targets Democratic gubernatorial candidates who have endorsed Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

See, McCain is a good guy who really, really, really doesn't want the NC GOP to remind voters about Reverend Wright, and he's not afraid to tell reporters all about it. He even dashed off an email to the naughty GOPers. If only he had some sort of influence over them.

Barack Obama's response should be to say that Democrats shouldn't run ads highlighting McCain's weak grasp of the economy, inability to distinguish Sunni from Shia, and idiotic comparison of Iraq to Japan and South Korea. His real reaction?

Responding to the comment, Obama said the Republican National Committee and McCain have both called the North Carolina ad inappropriate, and the presumptive GOP nominee should have the authority to get the ad pulled.

"I take them at their word and I assume that if John McCain thinks that it is an inappropriate ad then he can get them to pull it down since he is their nominee and standard bearer," he said.

See, "I take them at their word"is politicspeak for "Bee-frickin'-Ess!"

Some hold out hope that McCain's effort is sincere, and not just a ploy to simultaneously get credit for denouncing the attack while amplifying it, but I think this will be the shape of things to come. In fact, this isn't McCain's first use of the "apolattack," and it damn sure won't be the last. From my Feb. 27 story:

A great way around this is the "apolattack", showcased in yesterday's denunciation by McCain of comments by a radio host at a McCain event. Whether deliberate or not, McCain gets a powerful double-dip here. In apologizing, he gets to repeat the charge, or get the media to, and he looks like a good guy for "taking responsibility", a phrase that used to mean you would accept some sort of consequence. Hillary Clinton has used this to lesser effect, but McCain is more believable. He can only go to this well a few times, though, so he should use this judiciously.

It's nice to have a candidate take your advice, but I wish it had been Hillary Clinton instead.



Since the media's new standard for reporting is not, "Is it news? Is it factual, verifiable, and newsworthy?" but rather, "Is it something people wonder and talk about?" you can expect these attacks and McCain's "rebuttals" to be disseminated for free by the news media, with Fox News leading the way.



Still think McCain's a good guy? Google "john sidney mccain," you'll find that over 80% of the entries of that exact phrase are from the past year. Hmm. Why is that? Did McCain just make confirmation or something?

This is exactly why Obama should remain outside the public financing system, and why politicians shouldn't sign idiotic "pledges." I could easily sign a pledge never to eat pig liver, but you never know what will be on the menu in the middle of the desert.