The Ineffable Reverend Jeremiah Wright

Michael Goldfarb? Dude looks like one of my meathead fraternity brothers from Auburn who used to light his farts on fire and kick the crap out of pledges for "eye-ballin' him." Is McCain resorting to interns as mouthpieces? Where have all the GOP cowboys gone? Iron your shirt, Goldfarb. Anyone have a comb?

On the other hand, the pathos of McCain's loyal, tongue-tied abettors is palpable. "We both know who the number 2 guy is" - i.e., the other radical besides Khalidi finding no favor with the state of Israel under the auspices of the United States.

If McCain is vanquished on Tuesday, the political post mortem has to begin with the campaign's peculiar decision to leave the most demonic toy in the trunk when so many other diabolical action figures came out to play with the electorate.

Oh, since I'm not bound by the strictures of the ticket, allow me to present "the Number 2 guy":

Probably my biggest criticism of Senator Obama. The guy McCain won't talk about.

***UPDATE**: . . . McCain won't talk about and now won't have to. As reported by Talking Points Memo:

Get ready for a deluge of Wright rantings.

The National Republican Trust PAC, which has been airing an ad attacking Barack Obama's association with Reverend Wright in three battleground states, has now put down for a national buy on five networks that will last from now through election day, a consultant with the group confirms to me.

The ad will run nationally on Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC for the next five days, the consultant, Rick Wilson, says -- "all the way until election day."
The ad, which you can watch here, features the now-infamous footage of Wright's livelier sermons, and intones that Obama "never complained" about Wright "until he ran for President," adding that Obama is "too radical, too risky."

Previously, the ad was only running in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, as Ben Smith reported the other day.

Now, however, the ad will run nationally, Wilson says, adding that the group just got through getting the spot vetted with network lawyers and is good to go.

I mean did you really think you would get through this election cycle without the Wright hobgoblin striking fear in the hearts of "Real Americans?" It's Halloween. We're supposed to be fearful.

Works out nice for McCain too. Plausible deniability. If he loses the election, but the Wright ad airs on a continuous loop, he maintains the moral high ground and can live with himself as he blithely enjoys dinner theater and early bird specials in Fort Myers, Florida. If he wins, same difference - I wouldn't expect a principled stand by the McCain campaign against a PAC's infection of this race with Wright in the gloaming hours. John's scruples only extend so far and only to whom he can justifiably call "his people."

So begins the 72-hour Republican blitzkrieg. The bottom-of-the-ninth GOP scare-a-palooza. In 2004, it was an audio tape from Bin Laden. Just reminding us to "gird your loins" as the terror alert level was raised to a new Crayola color: "We're F**ked Red."

Obama has endured the political maelstrom for two years and still sees clear skies. Chin up, liberals. If he does manage to survive one more weekend, think what a free pass he'll enjoy on character issues in 2012. Obama's gang of cruddy associations won't play twice. We all hated Scream 2.

Surrogates Go Where McCain Will Not

As reported by Ben Smith at Politico, The National Republican Trust, a right-wing political action committee, will spend 2.5 million dollars bringing Reverend Wright to the forefront for voters in the crucial battleground states of Pennsylvania (Obama with a big 12 point cushion), Ohio (leaning towards Obama at a 5 point margin) and Florida (practically a dead heat).*

Here's the visual weapon of choice:



As I posted earlier, it was inevitable that the Republicans choose this "nuclear option" even with a desultory John McCain taking it off the table (McCain's ideological impermanence throughout this campaign grants implicit permission for the RNC to run wild and try anything). And rightly so - why would you accept defeat without taking one more shot at the end zone? Why would right wing fear-mongering and demagoguery go out with a whimper when it spent the past decade excoriating America for any temptation to go another way?

However, the demagoguery flows here from the presentation of the message, not from its substance. This is a justified assailment of Barack Obama. He should be taken to task for a person he has consorted with for more than twenty years as a self-described mentor (certainly a much more legitimate line of attack than the William Ayers phooey). Wright is a much more personal figure to Senator Obama and not easily dismissed as a fellow board member or a "person in the neighborhood."

By his own account, Obama gleaned insight and received guidance from Reverend Wright. Wright has made inflammatory, truly anti-American remarks of the same ilk as Ward Churchill's or Cindy Sheehan's lunatic brand of commentary. Obama has attended over 500 firebrand sermons delivered by the incendiary leader of his church. I have no quarrel with someone asking Obama for a bit of elaboration here.

* polliing data from pollster.com.

Is It Time For The Nuclear Option: Reverend Wright

The game is getting away from John McCain as Obama opens up a double-digit margin in some polls. Ayers, Joe the Plumber, Muslim, Socialism, pallin' around with Ayers, wealth redistribution, worked closely with Ayers, ACORN, Barack Hussein Obama, "Arab fear," anti-American, inexperience, some more Ayers, texts with Scarlett Johansson - nothing sticks to the Teflon Democrat, or everything sticks, but the folks are too busy licking their personal financial wounds to give a rat's ass.

13 days until the election, not to mention early voting has begun in many states (with a reportedly strong turnout by the Democrats).

What's an old Navy man to do in desperate times with bilge water rising?

Desperate measures.

"My friends . . . LOOOOOOOK!!!!!!!! BEHOLD!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS LUNATIC!!!!!! LOOOOOOOOOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!:




Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. JESUS CHRIST!!!!! Can I get that ballot back!?!?! Yes, yes, YES - I WANT TO CHANGE MY F**KING VOTE!!!!! YOU HEARD ME - GIMME THE DAMN BALLOT BACK!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH, PLEASE LET ME VOTE FOR MCCAIN!!!!! PLEASE!!!! I WANT MCCAIN!!! OH CHRIST, PLEASE GIVE ME THE BALLOT BACK YOU BASTARD!!!!! And, er, um . . . well . . . Palin . . . I have to vote for Palin too? . . . can't just have McCain . . . really . . . did . . . not . . . know that . . . ummmm . . . aaaaaaaah, oooh boy . . . let me see that clip again . . . hmmmmm . . . this is hard . . . okay, her too. Yes, McCain and Palin. Vote for both. Anyone who doesn't pal around with this nutcup.

Man, Reverend Wright should be an army chaplain on the Event Horizon. Liberate tutame, voters!