McCain slings mud up from the low road
But efforts to attack Obama on Lewis remark bounce off
You've got to give John McCain credit. He was in full attack mode Wednesday night when he faced off with Barack Obama for the last time before the Nov. 4 election.
McCain's supporters had become boisterous in their demands that he get tougher with Obama, and McCain tried his best to deliver during the final debate.
Apparently, the conventional wisdom among Republicans is that if you throw enough mud on a person, something is bound to stick.
McCain showed up at the debate with a bucket of it.
I wasn't surprised that he again tried to link Obama with William Ayers, the '60s anti-war activist who was accused of setting bombs in government buildings.
But I was surprised that McCain took a line of attack that was used against Obama during the primary and failed.
Similar to the tactic Hillary Clinton used when her back was against the wall, McCain called on Obama to repudiate U.S. Rep. John Lewis for remarks McCain found offensive.
With Clinton, it was the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's angry sermons and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan's kind words about Obama.
Then, Obama not only had to repudiate. He repudiated and rejected.
When asked by the moderator, Bob Schieffer, about the ugly tone of both campaigns, McCain sidestepped his own campaign and launched into a blistering attack on Lewis, who was formerly a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton.
"The fact is when a man I admire and respect, Congressman John Lewis, made allegations that Sarah Palin and I were associated with the worst chapter of American history . . . with George Wallace. You didn't repudiate that remark," he said.
"Those remarks were very unfair and totally inappropriate," McCain said.
Obama said he "regretted" some of the negative aspects of both campaigns, but defended Lewis.
"[He] was troubled by what he was hearing," Obama said. "When my name came up, people were shouting 'terrorist' and 'kill him.' You didn't say, 'Hold on a second, that is out of line,'" Obama said.
The closest Obama came to repudiation Wednesday night was saying he believed Lewis inappropriately drew a comparison between what was happening at McCain's campaign rallies and what was happening in the civil rights era.
Obama then took it back to McCain.
"The American people have become so cynical about our politics, and the tit-for-tat and back and forth," Obama said.
I find it hard to believe that McCain, who knows of the Vietnam War protests and the civil rights battles, is sincerely troubled by Ayers, whom he referred to as a "washed-up terrorist," or was offended by Lewis' remarks.
Even the people who don't necessarily agree with Obama would probably agree that he doesn't like the low road in politics.
But the low road has been the main road for the McCain campaign. The only reason for raising the Ayers issue was to scare skittish voters away from Obama.
Indeed, to be fair, maybe Obama should have asked McCain to repudiate and reject Sarah Palin, his running mate.
Throughout his campaign, Obama has been loathe to talk about race. And frankly, that apparently was a winning strategy since most people can't talk about race without getting angry.
And while black people used to be accused of whining when they talk about race, we're now called racist for daring to believe anyone can be racist.
But white people can apparently talk about race and get away with it.
Sun-Times columnist Andrew Greeley called out Palin in a way only a white writer can.
"Palin is the Ensign Nellie Forbush -- an all-American girl as racist, this time a racist with her eye on the White House," Greeley wrote.
"She can stir up crowds to shout 'Kill him!' at the mention of the presidential candidate of the other party a couple of weeks before the national election."
McCain has yet to apologize for the ugly and racist tones that have crept into his campaign rallies.
Instead of apologizing, McCain made excuses and claimed to have repudiated "every time somebody has been out of line."
Not true. Not even close.