McCain's sputtering campaign running on fumes venom

Shorter McCain: "Fuck this guy, he knows icky people."

With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain's team has decided that its emphasis on the senator's biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan's campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.

"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity."

Even shorter McCain:

"We."

"Have."

"Nothing."

The deep-seated nastiness that pervades the ersatz maverick will be on full display for the next 30 days. Get ready for a month-long barrage of Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, and anti-American slime. Bereft of ideas, losing on the issues, "fear and smear" is the only club left in Johnny Mac's bag.

McCain hinted Thursday that a change is imminent, perhaps as soon as next week's debate. Asked at a Colorado town hall, "When are you going to take the gloves off?" the candidate grinned and replied, "How about Tuesday night?"

The angry old man of the first debate was nothing but prelude. He's going to come, loaded for bear, with every bit of fact-free innuendo he can muster, so Obama better be ready.

And there's simply no excuse not to be.

McCain has essentially declared, days in advance, that he has no interest in legitimate debate, just character assassination. We've already seen what happens when you try to "high road" your way around gutter politics by refusing to engage them. You lose.

If there was any lesson from the 2004 ride on the executive merry-go-round, it's that this garbage is too dangerous to fret about "dignifying it with a response;" it must be destroyed with a response, and the dirt merchant peddling it decried for the legitimate issues he (or she) is ignoring.

Fingers crossed...