like wives make their abusive husbands beat them

[realthog]

From Matthew Yglesias's blog:

McCain: Barack Made Me Lie!

Speaking last night at the national service forum, John McCain got asked a question about why his campaign keeps making false accusations. /;”First of all this is a tough business,” the Arizona senator said. “Second of all, I think the tone of this whole campaign would’ve been very different if Sen. Obama had accepted my request for us to appear at town hall meetings all over America.”

In other words — it’s Barack Obama’s fault, Obama is forcing him to lie by refusing to engage in a series of town hall debates.

As I've noted before, while it's possible this kind of dishonorable nonsense and dishonesty may get McCain elected, at the same time it's making it completely impossible for him to be a functional President. Foreign leaders are I'm absolutely certain watching this stuff with increasing incredulity, realizing McCain is someone they cannot trust one single iota.

Comments

[realthog.livejournal.com]

I think Obama has the big advantage that he can go into the debates knowing he can start calling McCain on all the current lies. Even if he had nothing else to say, he could wipe McCain all over the floor on this issue alone.

Which I hope he does. It would be good for US politics (and indeed for the US) if this were the last election to be poisoned thus.

[louismaistros.livejournal.com]

I think you may be right, and I certainly hope so.

The coming debates will certainly be very mismatched. In the past, the debates hardly seem to have made a difference, but I have a good feeling that this time will be different. If they are widely enough watched, Obama will have a great opportunity to put to rest all of the sloppy misconceptions about him that are being thrown around. It may do the trick.

One thing seems fairly certain: the end result of this election will be a big fat report card on just how racist this country really is.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"One thing seems fairly certain: the end result of this election will be a big fat report card on just how racist this country really is."

Too true.

Or, as the McCain campaign might say, "You're being a sexist!"

[louismaistros.livejournal.com]

Yes, I had forgotten the newest GOP rule: If you bring up racism, it means you're sexist. Good one :)

[louismaistros.livejournal.com]

BTW, did you happen to see this recent gem from Keith Olberman?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odb09esH8z4

Now, if only we can get Obama to make similar observations about the 9-11 exploitation fiasco during the debates. It will take brass balls, but I think he has to do this to win.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Yes, I saw that. Olberman's become something of a national treasure, I feel.

[louismaistros.livejournal.com]

Ditto. He was also the only guy from the major cable networks who actually questioned the veracity of the 2004 election. No one else had the balls.