The John McCain campaign catches Barack Obama in a somewhat ridiculous claim to be a tax-cutter at heart. The result? Another opportunity to emphasize his record on tax hikes:

ANNCR: Who is Barack Obama?

BARACK OBAMA: “I’m a tax cutter.”

ANNCR: Really? Senator Obama voted ninety-four times for higher taxes. Ninety-four times.

He’s not truthful on taxes. At least Congressional liberals admit they want to raise your taxes. Add billions in new spending. And oppose offshore drilling.

Congressional liberals. The truth hurts you.

This ad works harder to tie Obama to Congressional allies in order to emphasize their definition of Obama as a tax-and-spend liberal. It gets closer to making an argument that may hold some value for McCain — that a Democratic Congress would go wild on tax increases and expanded spending with an Obama administration. People have suggested that McCain make an explicit argument for divided government, while others believe that sounds too defeatist for Republicans who hold some limited hope for recapturing the House in November.

“Tax Cutter” comes to the edge of that argument.  Will Team McCain explicitly go past the edge?  I’m betting … no.