Fight Fire With Fire

by Steve Soto

If the McCain/Palin ticket feel so desperate that they need to spread lies and smears about Obama and Bill Ayers, then may I suggest the Obama folks and their surrogates respond in kind?

If Palin wants to make a new issue of Reverend Wright, surrogates should start questioning Palin's membership in a break-away sect of the Assemblies of God that wants to install leaders that will help bring about the End Times.

If McCain and Palin want to go after Obama's character, then surrogates and the campaign are on the right track by raising the Keating Five scandal, and no amount of pushback from the McCain folks will absolve Straight Talk here. The web page and video from the Obama campaign are a good way to start. But as the economic news gets worse the rest of this week, Obama needs to hit McCain in two areas beyond his ties to Keating.

First, Obama can destroy McCain with seniors by pointing out what McCain has in store for Medicare. Second, Obama needs to make a direct connection between this crisis and Phil Gramm, and tie the whole thing to McCain and his judgment. Several weeks of hammering Phil Gramm and his ties to McCain and the crisis will only make things worse than they already are for McCain in places like Virginia and Ohio. We may find a situation by this time next week where Obama has strong leads in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, and even Florida. Add to that possible strength in red states like Nebraska, as well as Obama's months of hard work to establish a voter registration advantage nationally, and this race could be headed for a one-sided outcome.

I would even argue that the leads in some national polls right now may even be larger than we know. The Gallup tracking poll out today showing an 8-point lead for Obama may actually be on the small side, because the sample used by Gallup was comprised of 38% independents, 33% Democrats, and 27% Republicans. Another couple of days where McCain keeps acting like an erratic, angry old racist in front of a lynch mob will only make that worse.