Attack of the Slime People!

And so it begins...

In a delicious paradox, Hillary claims her's is bigger than Barack's. Likewise, after seeing Obama skunk the blustering ex-First Lady, GOP-man John McCain waves his hands, while saying to pay no attention to that guy's words.

The former is desperate and the latter about to become so. We have seen the mid-term and longer sleaze bombs begin to land.

Clinton's is the most absurd. After Obama ground her under his wingtips in Wisconsin and Hawaii yesterday, we heard snatches of the strategies — and character — of the key players. Briefly:

• McCain did a Wizard of Oz behind the curtain trick. "I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change ... that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy that trusts in government more than the people"
• Obama was similarly nasty about McCain, but used substance and issues instead of innuendo. "But when he embraces George Bush's failed economic policies, when he says he's willing to send our troops into another 100 years in Iraq, then he represents the party of yesterday, and we want to be the party of tomorrow."
• Hillary was the saddest and much the college freshman lad with, "One of us is ready to be commander in chief in a dangerous world. . . . One of us has a plan to provide health care for every single American -- no one left out. . . . One of us has faced serious Republican opposition in the past. And one of us is ready to do it again."

It will be fascinating to see how that bellicose theater plays in the delegate-bulging Texas. It is amusing of course that she claims I'm-more-of-a-man-than-Barack. It likely makes Republican functionaries hope she's the nominee. McCain can play that game on a much, much higher level.

On his part, McCain's acting is good only from a distance. In pending debates, position papers and speeches, he can only hope that the majority won't really want a change from the Bush failures, that the new terrifies them even more. Good luck with that, flyboy.

Obama's attack has some heft. He can keep that up and score with it.

Blogger note: I was trying not to post this week. They made me do it with those comments.

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Tags: massmarrier, election, primaries, Obama, McCain, Clinton, Democrats, Republicans