The McCain campaign did something yesterday that I don't approve. It answered Obama on his level.
By now we're all familiar with the lipstick nonsense. A non-policy distraction for the idiot media. But now that we're in the mud it always makes sense to fight there. After all, the mud is territory, and elections of this sort are zero-sum. For every voter who was willing to take Obama at his shallow words that in every policy nuance, that John McCain is a clone of Bush-think is a voter McCain cannot capture. So laughing at the shallow dig involving a pig is a noticable identifyer. How significant? Significant enough to battle over. And between now and every town hall and serious debate, that's what we should expect.
So Obama starts off with soundbite and McCain answers as if that soundbite were frought with sexist meaning. Crass move, but understandable. Since the Democrats are truly stunned by the Palin appointment, McCain is somewhat justified in assuming everything coming out of their mouths is about her. Well, they aren't justified but they're crafty enough to make it so. And in so doing, McCain has stolen a page from the multicultural playbook. As old as Bakke, as recent as Obama himself.
As sneaky as this rhetorical battle is, McCain has the upper hand, so long as he wants to play it this way. Anything that it is possible to interpret as a politically incorrect soundbite, McCain can exploit. It will work simply because there are more 'code words' in the language against women than there are against blacks. So in the short run, it pays for McCain to play this childish game. When neither campaign can stand it any longer, all will be forced to use the stultifying language of.. well, boring old white men. Until then, McCain can play sauce for the goose and let the chips fall where they may. The more he can trip up Obama for speaking in generalities and make him defensive, the more a call to experience will work in McCain's favor. So far it's working. Why? Because Obama is falling for it. This morning's idiot rumor is that the term 'community organizer' is now supposed to be a slight against Blacks. And guess what, there is even more idiocy - something about stinky fish that is now being floated as a sexist remark uttered by Obama. I say, at this level, McCain wins, because in the popular mind, Democrats will always have much more to explain for using what could be considered offensive language.
Note the politically correct standard is self-defeating, and now it comes down hard on the Dems. The standard has been, not what you meant, but what could reasonably be interpreted as offensive by some party. Republicans have always said, to hell with that. The irony is that standing by principles makes it easy for Republicans and hard for Dems, who have two Senators running against two non-lawyers. Guess which side is going to be tripped up by straight-talk?
If I were Barack Obama, I would show up smoking a cigarette and showing some hair on my chest instead of in a tailored suit quibbling about English diction and the interpretation of certain idiomatic phrases. He cannot win the language battle.
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