I don't want to spoil all the "happy talk" you're hearing from so many people about how the polls must be wrong because they're telling us something we don't want to hear, but unless the momentum shifts, John McCain is going to lose what may literally turn out to be the most important election of our lifetime.
The polls have definitely tightened in the swing states over the last week or so, but not quite enough for McCain to pull it out -- given that Obama is outspending him, has more enthusiastic voters, and may even have a better field operation.
That means McCain isn't going to win the election merely by pointing out that Obama hung around with Bill Ayers, by condemning ACORN's massive voter fraud, or by meekly intoning that Obama is a socialist.
If McCain wants to come out on top in this election he is going to have to draw much stronger distinctions between himself and Barack Obama and he's going to have to significantly ramp up the intensity of his negative attacks.
Normally, that's something that would be done by 527 groups -- but since they're not fond of McCain because of McCain-Feingold, because they're probably having trouble raising money from depressed conservatives, and because, perhaps not unreasonably, they're worried McCain might publicly denounce them if they take tough shots at Obama -- we can't count on the 527 groups to carpet bomb Barry into hamburger.
Furthermore, since the mainstream media is acting like little more than an arm of the Obama campaign these days, they're certainly not going to start telling the truth about Obama in the waning days of the campaign either.
So, here's what McCain should do: take advantage of the way the news cycle works to saturate the coverage from now until election day through a series of explosive attack ads.
If McCain puts out a genuinely controversial ad, the media will give it millions of dollars worth of free coverage during the 24-48 hours that it dominates the news cycle. But what kind of controversial ads should McCain do? He should talk -- honestly, I might add -- about the very same issues that have been widely discussed in the blogosphere and on talk radio that have been purposefully ignored by the mainstream media.
For example, McCain should do ads on...
Reverend Wright: Play his "God D*mn America" remarks, his "chickens are coming home to roost" comments about 9/11, and his claim that America created the AIDS virus and suggest that Barack Obama agrees with him, which makes him unfit to be President.
Obama's refusal to wear a flag pin and hold his hand over his heart during the National Anthem: Do we really want a President of the United States who doesn't love his country? This issue alone would cost Obama millions of votes if McCain has enough political courage to push it.
The Deficit: McCain has promised to balance the budget and has said there will be no more bailouts. On the other hand, some people have said Obama may run trillion dollar deficits and cause a depression with his tax increases. McCain should run ads showing a grim depression-style America featuring a weeping man apologizing to his dirty faced, overly thin son for ruining the country by voting for Barack Obama.
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