McCain Pals Around With Convicted Felons and Palin Shares a Bed With a Radical

by Chris Edelson :: Filed Under Elections 2008 :: October 6th, 2008 @ 1:59 pm EST

The McCain campaign is formally acknowledging what we all know — that they are in deep trouble and have no substantive ideas to offer the electorate. How do I know this? Well, for one thing,a “top McCain strategist” bluntly admitted that “If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we lose.” Conceding that they have nothing to offer the American people except fear itself, the McCain campaign has decided to pretend it’s South Carolina in 2000–only this time they are the Bush campaign. It’s time to bring on the slime, and the chosen messenger of said slime is a certain governor from a state that sits at the heart of American foreign policy.

Palin is trying to take a folksy tone as she suggests Obama may want to slaughter Americans, cheerily mentioning that Obama is “palling around with terrorists“. This is, no doubt, a high minded attempt to reach out to that vital part of the American electorate that believes Obama is a Muslim fundamentalist, schooled in a madrassa, who plans to enact a variation on the plot of the Manchurian Candidate if elected.

There are interesting signs that the media may recognize this garbage for what it is–a last ditch, dishonorable attempt by a desperate campaign to smear its opponent with filthy lies. Even AP calls Palin’s gutless attacks “unsubstantiated” and “racially tinged”. If McCain has lost AP, he may very well have lost everything.

It’s also interesting to see that the Obama campaign is not taking this slander lying down: it is hitting McCain on his role in the Keating 5 scandal.

The Obama campaign’s response to Palin’s mindless smear has the advantage of being factually substantiated. There are more factually substantiated points that can be raised in response to the McCain campaign’s suggestion that Obama is linked to terrorists:

McCain should be asked to explain why convicted Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy calls McCain a “close, personal friend”. As I have previously written, Liddy, a McCain donor for the past decade, has talked about the best way to kill federal agents and once plotted to murder a journalist. McCain has appeared on Liddy’s radio show and has said he is “proud” of Liddy. The question is: when will the traditional media ask McCain why he has said that he is “proud” of a convicted felon who has casually discussed killing federal agents?

Of course, Palin herself has radical ties she should explain. She has a rather close radical association–her husband was a member of the Alaska Independence Party for 7 years. The AIP has advocated secession from the United States. Unless this is South Carolina in 1860 or Todd Palin is actually Rhett Butler, seceding from the union is pretty radical stuff. (Palin herself spoke at an AIP convention and reportedly courted the group).

So, now that the McCain campaign has dishonored itself, perhaps the traditional media will take a look at the record of the people slinging mud. McCain and Palin have plenty of radical associations they should be asked to explain.