You Can Tell It's Late October By The Mud

Yes, it's late October in an election year, and in addition to mud in your yard, you'll see it splattered about TV and radio as well. The subjects are being telegraphed to us right now...

...Obama's ties to Rev. Wright
...Obama's ties to Bill Ayers

Not that Democrats have been immune from the temptation themselves, as I saw more than a few adds that paint John McCain as somehow being in danger of an imminent physical collapse. In my mind, that's nearly as bad as the Bush/Rove 2000 anti-McCain smear involving his adoption of a Bangladeshi child (the infamous "John McCain fathered a black child whisper campaign).

However, with Obama ahead in the polls, I'm thinking that the Democrats have little to gain by going negative, so the mud will be slung mainly in one direction. Personally I think it harms the Republicans more than it helps them by creating an air of desperation to the McCain campaign. That's something they don't need with a week to go before election day. Why not instead of going negative defend the McCain policies on healthcare? You won't see that, mainly because what the Senator from Arizona proposes for healthcare is, in my opinion, ill-conceived and practically speaking too complex to explain in a 30 second ad spot.

Anyway, since I brought up the Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers, I might as well close this with my thoughts on those two associations:

Rev Wright -- Sure, I've seen the clips of his preaching that seemed pretty extreme. I also saw the clips of Gov Palin being blessed against attacks of witchcraft by her Pastor. I'm sure if we looked hard enough, more extreme views would come out of the Palin religious experience camp. But that's ok. We aren't electing Rev Wright nor are we electing the Witchdoctor Pastor. Both of these individuals can listen to sermons on things I find strange/wierd, etc. and that's fine with me. All of us are exposed to things like that all the time. What matters is how they...and we...conduct ourselves.

Bill Ayers -- I'm wondering why, if Bill Ayers is the American equivalent of Bin Laden, he isn't in jail? I don't know all of the circumstances surrounding the Ayers case, but if he was that much of a terrorist, why didn't he serve a day in jail? I do know that he's a well credentialed professor. And if shady associations are to be taken into consideration for Obama, shouldn't they also be taken into consideration for Senator McCain (Charlie Keating, G. Gordon Liddy, Rove associates in his campaign) and Gov. Palin (Alaska separatists)?

A pristen candidate with no hair is a non-existant candidate. Let's judge these individuals on where they stand relative to the issues, thank you very much.