Dirty Politics

The right side of the internet is erupting with disbelief and condemnation of the Obama ad that pitches John McCain as out of touch because he “can’t use e-mail.” Of course he can’t use e-mail, he can’t type. He can’t type because he spent five years in a Viet Cong box being tortured as a POW. Much different life experience than a guy who travels to Bali to write one of his two autobiographies by the time he’s 44.

Did Obama’s campaign think about this ad and air it anyway, knowing that John McCain is not capable of typing? Or are we supposed to believe that once again he made a mistake but really didn’t mean to insult anyone? Just like the lipstick on a pig thing, either we are supposed to believe Obama is making stupid mistakes (and thus not ready to lead?) or he is making calculated and under-handed attacks at his opponents?

I’m starting to wonder if the later is true. Just like the lipstick thing, there is enough plausible deniability to say that he didn’t mean it that way. Obama can say that with this ad, he was just trying to point out that McCain is out of touch. But what he’s really trying to say might be something entirely different.

If Obama is the great genius that the media wants to portray him as, and if he runs his campaign well… the campaign he claims as his executive experience qualifying him for President… then you must believe he knew or should have known that John McCain can’t type. Not knowing shows poor judgment and poor management of his campaign and message.

So if he knew… then why release the ad?

Dirty Politics.

Why not remind everyone of John McCain’s age… and oh yeah he’s kinda-sorta disabled. And how can a semi-disabled senior citizen lead the country? Isn’t it too much on his plate? Just like a mother with five children can’t possibly have the time or energy to lead our government, how can some old guy who can’t lift his arms?

The ad gets people talking. The media can defend Obama and dismiss this as a mistake and not an attack, meanwhile it gives them carte blanche to question whether McCain is too old or too injured to do his job. Of course he is plenty capable, just like a mother is capable of working and still being a mom… but that isn’t how it will likely be spun or talked about around the water cooler. And that may have been the point all along.

Disgusting. Despicable. Certainly not the “politics of change”. But I bet you a dollar someone, somewhere, in some secret meeting in the Obama camp thought that. And if so, it is further proof that the last place that man deserves to be is the White House. This isn’t new politics… this is personal, dirty, attack politics. And its the worse kind. You really want to attack a guy who can’t type BECAUSE HE WAS IN A POW CAMP FOR FIVE YEARS DUE HIS SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY?

Mr. Obama, if your campaign is proof of your ability and judgment to lead, you just lost.

Mr. Obama, if your character is what we are supposed to judge you on, you fail.

Mr. Obama, if this is the brand of change you offer, then we are not interested.

And if anyone who has ever talked to a veteran or lent a hand to someone disabled still votes for Barack Obama after this… they have lost their mind.

There is a pattern here. Incompetence. Arrogance. Mean Spirited and Petty Attacks.

Judgment to lead? Hardly.