Yesterday McCain called politics a “dirty business.” But today McCain’s new ad hits Obama for not being appropriately “respectful” to Sarah Palin, as though pointing out inconsistencies in her record was out of bounds. Someone should remind McCain that Obama is running for president, he’s not interviewing to be a servant at one of McCain’s nine homes.
The ad, with echoes of Harold Ford, accuses the Obama campaign of dismissing Palin as “attractive.” McCain described Obama the same way during one of his many celebrity appearances on David Letterman. Was that racist?
The sexism card is getting dog eared from overuse. The McCain campaign’s deployment of outrage anytime someone raises an eyebrow in Sarah Palin’s direction makes a mockery of real barriers facing women, which may actually be the point. Who’s going to want to talk about sexism by the time this campaign is over?
–A. Serwer
