Brace yourself for a CAT5 Political *#&t Storm

Here it comes. The presidential campaign is about to make landfall. After picking up some hot air in the last week as the Congress dealt with the financial rescue, the fully fury of the spin machines will be released on television, radio and the press between now an the election. The current polls show Barack Obama trending upwards in many of the so called "swing states" and even some traditional Republican "red" states while John McCain is struggling in almost all of these same states. That puts the Republicans in a position where they need to have a game changer to blunt the trend and dial the needle back in their favor. They are the experts in the personal attack and my guess is that either at the debate or shortly thereafter that's what they will do.

You can already hear it in on the stump with Sarah Palin referencing the recent NY Times front page article about 1960's radical bomber, William Ayers, and a link to Barack Obama. Interesting how Sarah Palin now reads the newspaper when she couldn't tell Katie Couric last week about anything she reads. It reminds me of Dick Cheney going on the Sunday talk shows referencing NY Times articles about the "mushroom clouds" after his office leaked the info to the NY Times reporter. The fact is that when William Ayers was planning to bomb the Pentagon and the Capitol, Barack Obama was only eight years old. This article concludes that the Senator has only cross paths a few times with Ayers and that there is no relationship. Unfortunately the Times did not put that in their headline and you had to read the whole article most of which was continued on page A14. The CNN "truth squad" also says Palin's claim is false. Regardless of the truth of the charge, this will not stop the McCain team from using this and other similar charges to personally attack Obama. "Joe Sixpack" doesn't read the Times and even if he did, wouldn't likely turn to page A14 to get the whole story. He is more likely to listen to the "shout out" from Sarah.

I am keeping my fingers crossed however about the ultimate "October" surprise that might be orchestrated so that McCain can come to the rescue. I fervently hope that it will not happen, but do not put it past either the Bush administration or their allies to tacitly give Isreal the green light to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. Both the neocons and the Israelis know that they will not get away with this if Obama is elected, and so with their window of opportunity closing, they might view this as the time to strike. Such a unwarranted attack would have far ranging implications, not the least of which would shift attention away from the economy to an international crisis benefiting McCain. I certainly hope that this would not happen, since it is not in anyone's interest including the US, Israel, or the Middle East region as a whole. However, the prospect of loosing power is frightening to the Republican operatives who have enjoyed insider dealing and self-serving politics for a long time. I don't put this beyond their reach, and the neocons around McCain would actually think they are doing something good for both America and Israel at the same time. If even a faint rumor about this emerges, all Americans should instantly get in the streets, light up the Congressional switch boards, and shout loud and clear that we will not tolerate political brinkmanship in the name of patriotism. This will be a time when we all need to shout LOUD AND CLEAR: "AMERICA FIRST"