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      I heard an interesting argument today. There was some general discussion about the ethical implications of the recent slew of aggressive advertising by both candidates. Particular emphasis was placed on an ad run by the Obama campaign that attacked John McCain’s inability to use a computer. Apparently the ad can be interpreted as low, as shameful. My question is why?

      Why shouldn’t it give the population pause that a man vying to be their leader can’t by his own admission send an email? The complaint is that the technological ineptitude is due largely in part to McCain’s injuries sustained as a POW. The argument is of course complete bullshit, and is frankly shameful itself as McCain or at least his surrogates are using his status as a POW to shield him from criticism, in much the same way Rudy Giuliani deflected questions by touting September 11^th.

      And if in the off chance McCain is really so physically impaired that he can’t move his fingers up and down a keypad, he has no business running for high office.

And yet the McCain campaign has seemed to drop all notions of caution in the last few days following the announcement of Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate. Obama is hitting the GOP nominees hard on what can only be described as lies from the mouths of McCain, Palin, and their surrogates.

Check it out:

“Do you really want to have a guy as commander in chief of this country when you can question whether or not he really loves his country?”

Of course, you really can’t question Obama’s patriotism. If he didn’t love his country, he wouldn’t be running for the highest office in the United States to protect it from shameless ignoramuses like Jim Inhofe.

What you can question is the patriotism of Jim Inhofe, an elected official who still refuses to acknowledge the existence of global warming and who turns to the bible for cues on policy.

The evidence that Inhofe used to degrade Obama is one we’ve heard before:

“…you have to question why at times he seems so obviously opposed to public displays of patriotism and national pride, like wearing an American flag lapel pin.”

As this blog noted before, it would seem Inhofe has very few options if he is looking to vote for a candidate with patriotic accessories, as John McCain accepted the nomination of Inhofe’s party sans American flag lapel pin.

Fortunately, John McCain has refrained from joining Inhofe on the patriot-or-not front, instead opting to appear with Sen. Obama at Ground Zero in New York for this year’s 9/11 memorial service this Thursday.

Who's lapel is this?

Looks like McCain is a bad American.

Remember the hullabaloo from almost a full year ago surrounding Obama’s lack of an American flag lapel pin? Remember how Fox News and the Republican nominees questioned Obama’s patriotism? John McCain doesn’t.

Well, the always important fundraising numbers are in, and the money indicates that Palin did in fact rally the party to action. Problem is, she rallied the wrong party.

Bloomberg News reports that Obama raised at least $10 million in the 24 hours after Palin’s Wednesday night speech. That’s compared to just $1 million raised by the McCain campaign. The $10 million mark also equals the take by the McCain campaign from the 24-hour period following the announcement of Palin’s selection as McCain’s running mate. 

Bill Burton, an Obama campaign spokesman, was optimistic about McCain’s speech tonight as well.

“Sarah Palin’s attacks have rallied our supporters in ways we never expected…And we fully expect John McCain’s attacks tonight to help us make our grassroots organization even stronger.”

Keep it up, McCain/Palin!

As expected, Obama received a post-convention bounce after his spectacular speech that was viewed by about 40 million people, the largest TV audience outside of playoff football this year. 

From USA Today/Gallup Polling: Obama 50%, McCain 43%

From CBS News: Obama 48%, McCain 40%

Even better news for the Obama camp is that these polls were conducted after the surprise announcement by McCain that Sarah Palin would be his choice for VP, meaning that despite the hype and perceived enthusiasm, McCain fell behind Obama and Biden. 

Gallup may hold clues as to why. More on that later today.