Here's what's really happening with McCain's ads and the comments of his campaign people the last few days: They're distracting voters from the issues, where Obama shines, and forcing him to play defense instead of offense. That is to McCain's advantage. If they can make the whole campaign about personalities and who said what, then McCain doesn't have to actually talk about the real issues of this campaign, where he has nothing that is particularly new or worthwhile to say. So has the McCain campaign succeeded this week? Oh yeah!

Manifesto for Young Republicans...refers to so-called "Sam's club voters"

here's where I heard them interviewed:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92561906

unline = unlike, typo.

Unlike Kerry, Gore or Edwards, Obama is quick to acknowledge and respond to attacks made in his direction.

I think that somehow this may be where the arrogance attack derives: instead of sitting back and taking it, Obama puts his neck out. The Roveian construction of arrogance is in this sense very much a veiled racist attack -- Obama is "uppity."

Remember, Karl Rove is a psychology major, and his "political skills" are nothing more than advanced PR manipulation. A quick review of the last 8 years paints a rosey picture of Rove's "political" (eg, "public relations") successes in stark contrast to the glaring "political" or policy failings of the Bush administration.

Granted, you and I disagree on the extent to which sexism played a role in Hillary Clinton's failed bid for the nomination; yet we can both agree that media narratives about sex and gender roles played *some* part. Surely, you agree that this "arrogance" line of attack has a whiff of racism taken in context?

WHEN WILL THE MEDIA TREAT OBAMA AS THE PERSON HE IS INSTEAD OF A DARLING THAT CAN DO NOTHING WRONG WAKE UP MEDIA AND STOP SELLING OUR COUNTRY DOWN THE TUBE. WHY DIDN'T YOU REPORT THAT THERE WAS A HUGE CONCERT BEFORE OBAMA SPOKE IN GERMANY AND WHY DON'T YOU INVESTIGATE HIS TIES TO THE OUTRAGEUOS MINISTER THAT ADVOCATES THE OVER THROW OF THE USA. PERSONALLY I PRAY TO GOD THAT HE DOES NOT GET ELECTED. I AGREE WITH THE LASTEST EMAIL GOING AROUND THAT SAYS WE SHOULD BE VOTING FOR OPRAH INSTEAD OF OBAMA. THIS COUNTRY CAN NOT AFFORD THE CHANGES HE WANTS TO MAKE.

TYRONE 13

Tyrone, nothing says lovin' like ALL CAPS.

KateTex, if your incessant concern trolling for the opposition succeeds in derailing the all-but-inevitable coronation of Barack Obama, can I hire you to brow-beat my bosses into giving me a raise and/or my bank into giving me a low-interest rate loan? How much do you charge for your services?

Inquiring minds want to know.

." Jeez. I don't think you are racist, but the race baiting you are doing here is not helping your case."

You just made my case. You accused me of "claiming" to not be familiar with historic insults (I am, but "shuck and jive" was bit too subtle for me), then you say you don't "think" I'm a racist and accuse me of race-baiting. You can't defend Obama without calling the accuser racist or race-baiting. If he is so all fired awesome, then why can't his supporter's simply rise above race and point out his good points instead of calling anybody who criticizes him (Or even mentions criticisms of him without making any claims that they are true) names?

Obama can attack all he wants. I expect and even desire Presidential candidates to be tough. But lets imagine for a moment that McCain repeatedly claimed that Obama was abusing his disability because he claimed that he was "unfit" to be President, challenging the ability of every person with a disability. Would that be whining? Reasonable? I'm betting the first. You take your licks, like Clinton did, and you fight back hard on fair issues. If McCain actually does something racist, Obama can call him on it - but he was unable to point to any racist attack here - just general nonsense that was going on long before McCain won the race. You don't ask for sympathy votes because you're black and the big, nasty Republicans are out to get you. It's race-baiting, pure and simple, it is accusing McCain of inciting the racism that is going on at the lower levels of the campaign. Obama did it to Clinton, through his campaign, and now he is trying to do it to McCain. He wants McCain to be considered a racist to inspire his supporters. He needs that - because he sure as hell isn't going to win the election on his qualifications.

90% of black people who voted voted for Obama. Sometimes more. That is not quite "all", but I can't think of a single election, ever, where there was that much unity behind one candidate by any group. I suppose it could be a coincidence - perhaps Obama simply had exactly the right views to gain the support of black people. this would be odd, given that Clinton has virtually identical views and a longer history of working for civil rights. It's disingenuous to suggest that black people didn't vote for Obama because they wanted a black candidate to win. Is it racist? If 90% of white people had voted for Clinton, I think that the suggestion would be made that they had voted in a racist way. A much lower percentage of white people voted for her in some states and there was much discussion of how much of a role racism played.

Without all caps, I have to ask you a question. In regards to the huge concert, are you here to just post lies or are you just getting info from suspect sources and are therefore woefully mis-informed?

All you post-racial people claiming that it will cause people to roil up in fear over seeing Obama linked to two blondes...well I guess we know how post-racial you really are. McCain is calling it like it is. The man is vacuous, has nothing on offer, and the media and people who can't read past a headline can't wait to hand this nobody the presidency. How is this any different than Bush? It isn't. Even though the media has done an abysmal job covering this (you too, Miss Walsh, for giving The Precious a pass on invoking racism because someone dared to point out he hasn't got a whole lot going on other than instant celebrity a la Miz Hilton, so he cried out) anyone who reads the blogs and gets Obama's camp's 'advice' on how to sway voters knows full well and good that the tactic starts out as 'let me tell you how great he is' and then when you're not swayed because a quick check in the history books immediately eviscerates the notion the man is anywhere on par with Kennedy, Lincoln, or Reagan, the next tactic is 'well you are obviously a racist'. They did that against Hillary supporters, and now they are doing it against McCain. Give me a break. So much for 'new' politics, and so much for post-racial consciousness. It's Obama that keeps harping on race, seeing it in every question that he might not be the best candidate. How could you even think of electing a candidate as president with such a thin skin????