Weird and Wild

Just when it seemed this election could not get any stranger, unusual and unbelievable - it does. I'm sure by now everyone has heard about this Ashley Todd hoax business. Now I've been thinking about whether I should comment on this. On the one hand, it is just so incredible to ignore - the ridiculous story followed by the revelation that the whole thing was a lie. On the other hand it seemed a bit soap operaish ... after all it wasn't as if the McCain campaign put Ashley Todd up to this, she was a just a crazed volunteer working for the campaign who took things into her own hands. I didn't catch much cable news coverage of this, but the New York Times didn't give it a lot of play, and I thought to myself - sure, this is a crazy story, something Drudge would love (he broke the original story before it was deemed phony) but didn't think it was a reflection on either candidate. TPM by comparison seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the story from the outset. I thought perhaps they were paying too much attention to it, and then they broke this story Friday evening, revealing that McCain communications director Peter Feldman had given reporters "incendiary details" of the case before the facts were known. For example, he told the reporters the "B" that was "carved" into Todd's face stood for Barack. I deem this story not only relevant, but important. It illuminates something that has become more and more clear in recent weeks - the McCain camp has resorted to a campaign of fear-mongering laced with racial undertones. While the McCain campaign may not have put Todd up to this hoax, the fact that they seized the opportunity to play up the fact that a black man attacked a white woman, in the name of Barack Obama, says alot about how low the Arizona Senator has sunk. I wonder if it is even him anymore. From the robo-calls to Gov. Palin's rallies filled with lies and smears, it feels as if this entire campaign has spun out of Sen. McCain's hands. But who knows, maybe these tactics are having an unseen benefit. I wouldn't be shocked. Although the mainstream media has all-but sworn in Barack Obama, I'll wait for the returns to come in on Election Day to deliver my final verdict. Until then, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the show... or should I say ... circus. (9 days and counting)