Politico’s trying to make it sound like McCain feels his masculinity’s been impugned and now he has no choice but to go after The One to defend his honor. Judge for yourself; the part about Ayers comes a little more than halfway through. To me, it sounds like he’s simply saying he expects the subject to come up now that it’s a topic of national discussion (sort of) and that, if it does, he’ll happily follow through. But he’s still repeating the line about Ayers being a “washed-up old terrorist,” which suggests that if he does attack, it won’t be in the context of a larger point about Obama’s radical associations but a narrow point about his truthfulness on this subject. If he’s not willing to paint a picture — Ayers, Wright, Rezko, ACORN, etc. — then all he’s arguing, really, is that Obama’s embarrassed about the fact that he used to work with Ayers and trying to downplay it now. Are a million votes going to flip because of that?
He does sound mighty chipper in the clip, though, as if he’s raring to go. Tomorrow’s debate might just be watchable. Exit question: If Bob Schieffer doesn’t bring up Ayers, will McCain force the issue?
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