Senator McCain and Governor Palin have had a bad week. He finally released an ad today that he should have released on Monday and he lost a valuable week in the news cycle, with Obama gaining 3.5 – 4 points on McCain in the RCP national average. Worse than that, several polls in Colorado show McCain behind (the RCP average is Obama + 2.5), and this state is looking increasingly tough for us, meaning that to win we will most likely have to pluck Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, (or much less likely, Minnesota or Iowa) to get us to 270. (With all states staying the same as 2004 but with NM and CO going to Obama).
As conservatives we have seen McCain wobble on all issues economic (and sometimes non-economic) for years, and many Romney supporters can correctly crow that he would have handled this situation much better than Senator McCain has this week. (Disclosure: I was a FredHead) (Mr. Romney would have had other problems in the general election, which I will not get into here.)
One thing that this long, intense primary and campaign have shown us about Obama, however, is that he cannot handle a punch. After Senator Clinton eviscerated him in the primary debates and had her media people “release the [Wright] tapes,” Obama’s poll numbers plummeted, and he lost almost all of the important primaries, particularly in blue-collar states. During and after the Republican convention, Obama was taken to the woodshed by Thompson, Romney, Giuliani, and Palin, and us conservatives watched in glee as McCain charged 9 points in the RCP average, from down six to up three.
This brings me to the nuclear option: if the race remains close and particularly if the race remains advantage Obama, as it has turned this week due to Senator McCain’s alarmingly slow response and initial reluctance to take offense against Obama, (and not the President.) This option is: McCain should endorse an ad brining up Obama’s associations.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”…”but what do we know about Barack Obama?…”I wish we would have done more” -William Ayers, Obama Supporter, Terrorist….”not God Bless America, God DAMN America” -Jeremiah Wright, Pastor & Mentor…”…”he would use anyone to advance his political career…”
And the most important part: “I’m John McCain and I approved this message.”
Why is this important? If it comes from a 527 it will not be big news. The clips will not get the necessary airtime through the talking heads recycling it. The media would be OUTRAGED if it came from the McCain campaign itself. The story would take up all of the available political oxygen and there would be absolutely no room to get any other message out, including the “McCain is Bush’s 3rd Term,” which although is absolutely outrageous, seems to be resonating, especially in the economic realm. If I were the McCain campaign I would give the nuclear option a good hard thought, especially if McCain is behind after the debates. McCain has been riding high whenever we have been on the attack. Unleashing the wolves may just be the WRIGHT move.
