Something Someone Else Said

"If John McCain has a better set of plans to deal with the immediate crisis, and the medium-term real-economy fallout, and the real global problems of the era -- fine, let him win on those. But it is beneath the dignity he had as a Naval officer to wallow in this mindless BS. I will say nothing about the dignity of a candidate who repeatedly winks at the public, Hooters-waitress style. A great country acts great when it matters. This is a time when it matters -- for politicians in the points they raise, for journalists in the subjects they write about and the questions they ask of candidates. And, yes, for voters." -James Fallows at The Atlantic.com, on the McCain campaign's recent admission that they're going to focus less on the failing economy and more on Barack Obama's "character" and "association" questions.

I hope you're ready for the mud to start flying this next month from not just McCain and Sarah Palin but also from every surrogate and 527 group allied with them. This is the pattern we've come to expect from McCain: they've assessed their chances as not too good so they're throwing Hail Mary after Hail Mary, hoping that his lies and smears result in some kind of miracle catch in the November end zone but Obama has stayed cool in the pocket and stuck to his game plan and it's resonating with the American voter (tired of the football metaphors yet)?