Empty Bluster
Ross Douthat, on the vacuity of the McCain campaign’s attacks, compared to right-wing attacks of yore:
But when I listen to Republicans talk about “taking the gloves off” where Barack Obama’s relationship to William Ayers is concerned, I hear the sound of conservative failure – the sound, say, of the 1992 campaign, when George H.W. Bush went to the culture-war well in the midst of a recession and ended up losing to a philandering draft-dodger even so. The Ayers connection is completely fair game for the McCain campaign …
But Bill Ayers can’t win you an election – he can’t come anywhere close, in fact – because unlike Willie Horton, Bill Ayers isn’t tied to any of the issues that are uppermost in voters’ minds. He tells you something about Obama’s judgment, maybe, and his ideological biases, maybe – and yes, yes, with enough innuendo and doomy music, you can imply that he tells you something about Obama’s softness on Islamist terrorism as well. But think about the directness of the Willie Horton ad. America has a crime problem. You don’t feel safe in your own home. And Michael Dukakis want to make it worse. Think about the directness of the “white hands” ad. The economy is tanking, and the Democrats want companies to hire underqualified minorities, instead of hiring you. And then think about the implications of any Ayers ad the McCain team could cut. The stock market is tanking. The global economy is in peril. And we think the most important subject on your mind should be whether Barack Obama was too chummy with a Sixties terrorist you’ve probably never heard of.
I concur. I’d be stunned if this Bill Ayres thing strikes home with anybody besides FreeRepublic and Lucianne.com types.
On the other hand, media attempts to cast criticism of Obama’s ties to Ayers as a racist attack are simply insane.
UPDATE: Byron York posts a different idea for a McCain attack.
Perusing NRO’s The Corner, it seems that they are in full saturation coverage of the Ayers-Obama Connection. What’s the deal here? Did I miss something, or did the entire Official Conservative Movement get a secret memo to focus obsessively on this issue?
