I don’t get it. Some outside group runs a weird, false ad linking Barack Obama to Bill Ayers. And Obama responds. But maybe they are so afraid of becoming John Kerry that they overdid it. And not just a little.
First, the substance of the ad is a problem. It attacks John McCain, seemingly in response to the original ad. But John McCain didn’t run the original ad. These guys are rebutting some clown and linking the clown to McCain.
Second, the fact that Obama is running a false attack ad requires McCain to respond. And the central points of that ad will be about that falsehood.
Third, in all likelihood, the buy that Obama is responding to is small. So Obama’s ad ends up elevating Ayers as an issue.
Fourth, they are doing this in Virginia. So in the media market of the Pentagon and the Captiol, the Obama campaign is, in essence, running a false attack ad against McCain about someone attacking buildings that nearly everyone knows someone who works in.
Are you kidding me? The Obama campaign is lying about a situation involving bombing landmarks in people’s lives?
This is just inexplicable. They are jumping at shadows. That doesn’t make smart politics.