Losing your mom to the slime

This piece by Joe Klein represents some of the best work of his since his eye opening moment with John McCain. But I still have to wonder at this opening paragraph:

I heard about Jerome Corsi's book a few weeks ago from my mother, who said that her great fear--that Barack Obama has covert Islamic associations--had been confirmed by a new book. I told her not to worry, that many reputable people had looked into the matter and Obama was more likely to be spotted in Whole Foods than praying in a mosque. (Since my mother has never been to Whole Foods, so she didn't quite get my wry allusion.) "I hope so," she said, dubiously.

Now, I'm not a journalist. But if I were a journalist of national reputation, like Joe Klein, and my own mother were to say that she had bought into the whole "Obama is a Muslim" crap than I wouldn't be anywhere near as calm as Klein suggests. I would be deeply ashamed at my personal failure as a journalist.

Barack-Rolled

Brilliant!

(courtesy Strategy `08)

women problems

If the Obama campaign is really being as sly in the use of the term "woman problem" as this suggests than it really is impressive how much the Democrats have advanced in the field of messaging.

It's a doubly impressive hit because the McCain campaign can't call them on it without risking making McCain's "woman problem" a bigger issue.

Believing two conflicting ideas is SOP

I agree with Sean of 538 that the McCain campaigns two anti-Obama themes (He's a vapid celebrity AND he's a risky other with nefarious ideas that will destroy America) may conflict with each other. But I think Sean puts to much weight in the idea that such conflicting themes will just confuse the electorate. Humans are quite capable of accepting two mutually contradictory ideas.

Besides, the celebrity theme is designed to appeal to one crowd while the risk other theme is designed to appeal to a different crowd. The bet is that neither crowd will think to much about the other theme (at least not enough to recognize the contradictions). And its not that dangerous a bet.