It looks like October will be a very, very ugly month, politically speaking. McSame's obviously willing to dive into the slime pit, and Obama is fortunately willing to respond forcefully. I'm certain Obama is going to end up winning this election--but it isn't going to be pretty, and may be downright painful to watch. But I think the whole process could be short-circuited tomorrow, if Obama will seize the opportunity provided by tomorrow's town hall-style debate.
Proper utilization of political slime requires some sort of insulating buffer for the candidate, so they don't get it all over themselves. This typically involves the use of third parties like 527s, campaign surrogates like Palin, Fox News, etc., or of course the use of advertising. We all know that McSame will be putting out swiftboat-style campaign ads, and will "approve this message" in faceless voiceovers, limiting his exposure. But tomorrow's debate offers Obama a priceless opportunity to grab the Golden Snitch of all presidential debates, that quintessential "gotcha" moment that puts the game away once and for all. Here's how I see it happening....
Basically, Obama needs to wait for McCain to provide an opportunity for Obama to take on the Ayers issue. I doubt that McCain will be dumb enough to bring Ayers up himself, but if he does it's fine. And if he doesn't, it's still fine--all Obama has to do is to find the slimmest thread to grab on to. Then it plays something like this:
Obama: Senator McCain, lately you've taken to bringing up my alleged "association" with Bill Ayers, which seems to me to be a transparent effort to distract the American people from the fact that you have absolutely nothing to offer them regarding the issues that matter in this election. But I'd still like to know what you think the significance of this alleged association might be. After all, you've had plenty of dubious associations as well, including the relationship you had with Charles Keating which led to investigation and criticism by Congress. But this Ayers issue seems to be of peculiar interest to you, and I'd like to know why.
(McCain begins to look down, and mumble some sort of talking points bullshit about "associating with terrorists"....)
Obama: So, Senator McCain, are you saying that I am a terrorist sympathizer?
(McCain squirms, says, "Well, no" and mumbles something else...)
Obama: Are you saying that I am not patriotic? Are you saying I don't love my country as much as you do?
God knows what McCain would be doing by now, but I double dare him to say that Obama IS a terrorist sympathizer, or unpatriotic, or doesn't love his country--because there will be a hall full of witnesses, at least half of them Obama supporters, who will bury him in jeers if he doesn't back down. If he doesn't say that, and instead backs down mumbling and dissembling all the way, he is publically humiliated. Either way the campaign will be over, once and for all.
Like many of you, I am utterly convinced that McCain no longer has a shred of guilt left in him. But McCain is a vain man, which leaves shame available for exploitation--and a town hall meeting is a perfect place for Obama to do so. Obama will have courageously stood up for himself and his honor, and earned the profound respect of just about anybody watching who has half a heart left--i.e. all the independents, and even some of the Republicans.
BTW, I don't think I'm any kind of genius for thinking this up. The Obama campaign seems to always be at least one step ahead of all of us, and probably have something like this or better already planned. I'm just playing armchair quarterback here, and wondering what the downside to such an approach might be.