For anyone who still doesn't see the race baiting and dog-whistle politics John McCain is engaging in, read this.
McCain used to call the press his "base," because he was nice to them and had fooled them into believing he wasn't a typical politician. Furthermore, his POW history made them reluctant to criticize him (in our militaristic culture former POWs are saints, regardless of what they do with the rest of their lives) and so they gave him a pass. At the start of this campaign they continued to give him a pass, whenever his memory failed, whenever he lied, whenever he flip-flopped on an issue, all of which he did often.
Now that he has signed on to and is directing his campaign to engage in Rovian smear politics, let's see what the press does. His willingness to fight dirty, his shape shifting from a "straight talker" to an angry, condescending, smarmy politician may make them feel safer going after him. I hope so. I have a feeling they might look a little more deeply into who John McCain is. And what they will find isn't pretty.
