Which Is It?

Barack Obama is The Most Liberal Member of the Senate.

Barack Obama is a Blank Slate. How do WE know what he is really thinking?

Surely the mutual exclusivity of these two statements is patently obvious....isn't it? Is the electorate stupid enough to not see that you can't be both of these things? Maybe if you're an outfielder who comes to the majors from Tripe A and goes 6-10 in his first two games of the new season. ("He's batting .600 & leading the majors in hitting, but do we really know what he's got?") Outside of something that ridiculous, both of these statements cannot be true.

No, what we have here is the Republicans using the same tactics they've been using for several cycles: give the people multiple negative soundbites about the opposing candidate and let people pick up on whichever one scares or disgusts them enough to vote against the object d'insult. This is less offensive and more effective if it's coupled with "and here's what our candidate will do for you."

Uh...are you seeing the second half of this? Because I'm not.

McCain has become a weak candidate in the blink of an eye. Not so long ago we all believed we knew where he stood: strong defense, fiscal responsibility, a free trader who supports NAFTA, and a man who makes his decisions based on a strong inner moral compass. While the first points haven't necessarily changed, the last couple certainly have. Add to the fact that he has courted the conservative Christian right, which was NOT part of his M.O., and you have disappointed centrists such as myself -- not because we disagree with his views, mind you. Centrists probably are as divided as the rest of the country on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, violence in video games, etc. Our disappointment stems from the obvious pandering to a segment of the base that it's fairly obvious McCain doesn't belong to.

This might be ok from a political point of view if it were effective. It is, in fact, ineffective for the same reasons: the Christian right sees McCain as disingenuous, perhaps because he is.

So now you have a candidate that isn't going to energize the base (a la, GWB) and isn't going to grab the centrists, which is what the winning candidate must have to win this election. The Republicans, sensing disaster, do what they do better than the Democrats: smear. Only this time, there's no "and here's what our candidate will do that's better" to follow the mudslinging.

So just remember: the next time you hear catch-phrase A or catch-phrase B and it gets you worked up, consider the simple little fact that it might not be wholly accurate.