McCain Manager: 'Not About Issues' Updated

Update: Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responds to Davis after the jump.

He hopes.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis made the rather stunning pronouncement in an interview with the Washington Post:

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

OK, what the hell does that mean? Is it like one of those "magic eye" pictures that you have to be stoned to see?

Davis added that issues will no doubt play a major role in the decisions undecided voters will make but that they won't ultimately be conclusive. He added that the campaign has "ultimate faith" in the idea that the more voters get to know McCain and Barack Obama, the better the Republican nominee will do.

What he means is that if voters keep buying the false "moderate" and "maverick" tags that the campaign is feeding them, and ignores the issues, McCain has a shot.

To put it another way, it's like my joke about the "Protect Yourself From John McCain" rubbers Planned Parenthood was giving away in Denver; It's full of holes, but if you don't look too closely at it, it makes you feel safe.

Time will tell if Americans will vote for a guy who comes right out and says he thinks they're too dumb to notice.

The Obama campaign released this memo at 6p.m.:

In response to the McCain campaign manager's assertion that 'this election is not about issues,' the Obama campaign released the following statement from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

"We appreciate Senator McCain's campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change. Senator Obama will continue to make this election about the big issues: whether tax breaks go to big corporations or middle-class families, whether we hand out giveaways to oil companies or invest in renewable energy, and whether we continue to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq or finally put an end to this war," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.