I'm curious. Is there any truth at all in those things about John Kerry? Did he marry wealthy women?

...and always will be, since the days of Rome.

I think this is actually the best way to go after his wealth and attack his tax policies. For whatever reasons, the press doesn't want to attack McCain. I suspect a lot of voters are uncomfortable about it as well. And Americans revere wealth.

So the questions should go like this:

How many houses does your wife -- who pays your bills -- own? Which of your wife's houses is your favorite to stay in? How much money will your wife save from your tax policies? How cool is your wife's plane? Was your first, disfigured wife's plane as cool as this one?

But it does. Never underestimate the bitterness that many Americans hold towards those who are perceived to have been more fortunate (read: Elite). If only logic were a consideration. McCain has been largely supported by his wife since the early '80's. Why is that so much worse than the rampant nepotism that marked George W. Bush's early years? As far as I can tell, neither was a remarkable success unless you count McCain's ability to stay out of jail during Keating 5 a skill.

However, it is stunning how easily people can be duped in perceiving an educated and, dare I say, well-spoken black man as an elitist. This despite incontravertible evidence that he earned every single thing he has ever achieved through intelligence and hard work. Heaven forbid a true outsider should ascend to the top of the political power structure instead of Good Ole Boys with family money and connections to support them.

Great piece, Glenn!

Those exact quotes in audio & video should be compiled into an Obama campaign commercial with statistical information at the bottom of the screen on John McCain and his kept status as a 'man sucking at the teat' of his wife’s inheritance – the money 'other men earned'.

Using the exact words of Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh, Malkin, Cheney, and all the other feces-throwing monkeys of the GOP would be poetic justice. I’d love to see them try to refute their own words or accuse to Obama of a smear campaign when it would be their own attack campaign Obama would be using.

The thing I wonder is whether playing the same game as Republican campaigning is really on even ground. The main thing I noticed from your list of quotes is how consistent the talking points are - it's a conscious effort to disseminate misinformation and character assassination (as well as nasty stupidity). And the 'Mainstream Media' picks it up when it hits the critical mass where every GOP pundit is 'independently' wondering about these issues and are 'puzzled' as to why the elitist media refuses to engage the real issues. Where does Obama get that type of amplification for his idiocy and childishness? Is Rush Limbaugh going to press the issue, or Ann Coulter, or the National Review, or WorldNetDaily? The democrats don't have a paid hacks-spin machine to determine the terms of debate, so I'm not sure this strategy plays any better than the high road, but maybe I'm too resigned.

I agree that the Democrats need to respond ferociously to this silliness, and respond in kind. But I'm not sure that I've seen Obama do so.

I'm dismayed by what I've seen so far of the Obama campaign. As best I can tell (by my purely anecdotal experience), Obama is still more or less following in the well-trod path of Dukakis and Kerry and allowing himself to be smeared.

Posting rebuttals on a website just doesn't cut it when the other side is running attack ads. All during the Olympics, I've seen McCain's ad that critiques Obama's "celebrity" status and makes the implication of some sort of cult of personality. Just this morning I heard on NPR about some 527 group that's launching ads drawing connections between Obama and former members of the Weather Underground.

Are there Obama attack ads? Where are the left-leaning 527 groups that are preparing similar commercials concerning McCain's treatment of his first wife, or his apparent cooptation of a Solzhenitsyn quote describing life in a Soviet gulag (and applying it to his experience as a POW)? If these do exist, why do I, living in a contested state, not see or hear them? Obviously this is just one person's experience, but I'm getting that sinking feeling again that we have a candidate who thinks he's above it all.

Given the media we have in this country smacking the bullies with their own words is the only option Obama has. Rising above the bullshit has never worked for the Democrats.

Is Obama attacking?

I'm dismayed by what I've seen so far of the Obama campaign.

No, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise -- only that one this one story, for this one-day news cycle, the Obama campaign, finally, did the right thing. The reason the McCain/house story became as big as it did (it was the lead story on AP wires and elsewhere) is because Obama himself, and the whole team of surrogates, catapulted it to the top of the news cycle by engaging the attack themselves.

Until now, Obama has been reacting to these things by saying things like: "John McCain is a Great American and a great patriot and I honor his love of his country and I wish he would stop the attacks and honor mine." This was the first time the Obama campaign actually engaged and propelled an attack. I hope it's a sign of what is to come - if it isn't, they just won't win.

There needs to be a positive message as well as the attack on the Republicans, promoted with equal vigor.

That was a great post, bringing out an important issue for this campaign. Thanks.

You might add in a future post that McCain loves to play up his history as a POW; but he was not like some poor smuck from NYC (or wherever) because of his family. Look at the naval history of his dad and grandfather.

I also think that he lost several aircraft before he went down. Were in his story is any "heroism"?

Is being a screwup a requirement to be the Republican nominee?