"Magic!"

Hey Charles,

I thought I’d start off the week with a few lines from Bruce Springsteen’s Magic, which pretty well sums up the McRove campaign of lies/distortions/attacks/sleaze/and more lies.

I got a shiny saw blade
All I needs' a volunteer
I'll cut you in half
While you're smiling ear to ear
And the freedom that you sought's
Driftin' like a ghost amongst the trees
This is what will be, this is what will be

So now there are 50 days left. How long do you think the Republicans can keep driftin like a ghost amongst the trees? (Your trees analogy a few postings ago was perfect!) Or have they been sufficiently exposed by the flurry of recent news stories citing the massive truth-stretching going on within the Palin-McCain camp? I mean when Karl Rove starts questioning the veracity of your attacks, isn’t that a sign that you’ve gone a little too far?



Another question for you: now that we’re (maybe) starting to get back to the serious issues at stake in this election, and SNL/Tina Fey has weighed in on Sarah Palin (I suspect the image of Tina/Sarah cocking her assault rifle will have a pretty damning impact), what must McCain be thinking? Did he/does he really think he could/can ride the Alaskan pipeline all the way to the White House? If today’s first McCain rally without Sarah is any indication, he might be in for a bit of a shock.

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy

JACKSONVILLE, Fl. -- At his first rally without Palin since selecting her as his running mate, McCain attracted roughly 3,000 people at an arena here with 16,000 seats.

Stick to The View, Johnny. Stick to The View. On second thought, maybe that's not a good idea.



Question 3: Rather than paint McCain as Bush III, a theme that I understand Biden will be pressing over the next few days, might Obama consider painting John McCain as, well, John McCain? Don’t get me wrong. I’m as troubled as the next guy that McCain voted 90% of the time with our current leader. I know Dubya’s approval rating is in the tank right next to Mike Dukakis. And those pictures of Bush and McCain laughing it up while Katrina raged are awfully damning. But at some point, John McCain needs to be held accountable for his own words/actions. I mean, even today he said that despite the “turmoil” on Wall Street, “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

This is why I thought the McCain 1982/rubix cube ad was a good one. It was tough—in a Rovian way—and maybe it skated dangerously close to the ageist argument, but at some point, we’ve got to address the obvious, right? I don’t need a president who is Facebooking all day, but I’d kind of like it if he could read an e-mail once in a while. By the way, here’s the Obama ad.



Final Question: Was the Boss right when he penned the lyrics to “You’ll Be Comin’ Down” or has that sprinkled donut from Dunkin’ made me a little too hopeful?

Like a thief on Sunday mornin'
It all falls apart with no warnin'
Satin sky's gone candy-apple green
The crushed metal of your little flyin' machine

You'll be comin' down now baby
You'll be comin' down
What goes around it comes around and
You'll be comin' down

I leave you with Tina Fey’s spot-on impression of Sarah Palin. Let’s talk again soon!

Ryan