Despite all the well-founded and sound arguments telling them that going negative on Obama in the middle of an economic crisis isn’t going to save them (see here, here, and here), despite clear evidence that their rhetoric is appealing to people’s worst instincts, the McCain campaign is out with this ad:
Will it work ? Only time will tell, but this much is clear; McCain is now in on this with both feet and there’s no going back. If it works, it might revive his campaign, though I doubt it. If it doesn’t we may be seeing the beginning of the end.
What is also clear is that all those statements from McCain over the summer about running a positive, issues based campaign are out the window. If he does win, it won’t be because of his ideas, it will because he scared the shit out of people. What kind of mandate is that ?
H/T: Ross Douthat
