McCain's declares war against the NYT, Obama's wife compounds misstatement

The New York Times prints a scathing, sordid, and unverifiable story seeking to link Sen. McCain romantically to telecom lobbyist Vicki Iseman and McCain fires back as his campaign declares war on the Times. This is just the catalyst McCain needs to rally and gain support of the conservative grassroots--there's no medium they loathe more than the Times and many conservative leaders have already come to McCain's defense and are ready to cheer him on in his crusade against one of the most ideological and agenda-driven papers in the country.

Obama's wife says "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." She said this twice, and while the Obama campaign is trying to spin it to sound like she was talking about politics, she clearly said what she said. She only compounded her problems today in her attempt at clarification, saying she is proud of her country and the phenomenon that is occuring (a.k.a her husband). Her pride in America via her husband wasn't disputed--what was shocking was that a 40-something year old woman was proud of her country for the first time in her life--despite the the progress of equal rights during the Civil Rights movement, the defeat of the Soviet Union, the push for freedom in the former Soviet satellite states of Eastern Europe, responding to the plight of Albanians in Serbia, freeing millions of Iraqis from Saddam's reign of terror, the space missions undertaken by NASA astronauts, and the ingenuity and innovative spirit of Americans which gave birth to pharmaceutical drug breakthroughs, the internet, and hybrid cars. Michelle Obama's vain, self-absorbed, and egocentric line of thinking will not help her husband's campaign as the focus eventually turns to ideas and the cult of celebrity begins to wear off.

I predict that the conservative base will now coalesce and rally behind McCain's candidacy, especially after Michelle Obama's offensive remarks and she and her husband's inadequate defense and clarification of them and now the NYT assault on McCain. This is only the beginning...8 months to go!