That’s clearly the message McCain is putting forth. If Obama mentions lipstick, he’s hurting Sarah because, Sarah is representative of lipstick. There’s nothing else there. And he better stop hurting the Lipstick Lady.

Which is odd. I thought she was supposed to be ready to be president. But her speeches get torn up and Team McCain writes the scripts for her. And her feelings get hurt even when she’s not being attacked. She must be as tender as a petunia, boo-hoo-hooing her way through wads of Kleenex.

Damn that Obama. He must know that girls are soft and must be treated real gentle. They have hormones yanno.

Puh-leaze.

I haven’t heard Sarah attacked at all by Obama. It’s McCain that makes her sound like a fair flower unable to thinks, speak or demonstrate leadership. Senator McCain has a long record of shitting on women, be they Senate aides, wives or citizens.

And what happens to this country, and our families, has nothing to do with lipstick or McCain’s stupid politician games.

Next he’ll say Obama has an unfair advantage because he’s picking on an old man.

When did Republicans turn into the party led by Whining Victims?

I’ll tell you: when they decided to make Obama seem like a Scary Black Man too mean for polite company. It’s a strange strategy. Do we really want leaders who cry in their hankies when nobody’s attacking their sex, age, or anything but their deeds?

Apparently, McCain thinks so. He’s running against stereotypes he’s creating, running scared from his record, trying to make Obama the issue du jour.

Not the economy. Not the price of gas and food and heating. Not soaring unemployment and inflation. Not Al Qaida leaders still free and threatening. Not troops exposed to more combat tours than any human being should have to endure. Not the sweetheart crony deals handed out to Republican war profiteers. Not the shabby treatment of poor people during Hurricane Katrina.

For eight years, I’ve watched Bush flipping the bird, heard Cheney telling a Senator to go fuck himself and read the reports of McCain going ballistic, screaming at Senate staffers, trying to get them fired for disagreeing with him, getting verbally abusive with other Senators and his own wife. And now he claims it’s Obama whose character and demeanor is suspect?

Yeah, right.

McCain is about to be shown a smarter campaigner, a better fighter, and a better character than anything he’s ever possessed. After spending his life with a massive inferiority complex, resentful and surly, and eager to throw the low blow, operating on the premise that he can be the Better Bully (as if that’s not an oxymoron), John McCain is about to be dismantled and shown to be what he really is. Not a reformer, but just a nasty rotten dumbfuck bastard without a clue.

This election’s about what America and its citizens need to overcome adversity, to advance, to achieve, to build, to grow. And McCain wants to stand in a puddle of poo and make it all about him.

It’s really a pitiful sight to see McCain choosing the path of the pathetic and weak politician afraid to stand on his own merits and ready to debate real issues. But it’s understandable. If my record was so weak and capacity to lead was so thin, I’d drop out of the race and apologize to voters for wasting their time and money. McCain won’t do that - it takes too much honesty - so that only leaves the course he’s chosen: to be a pitiful asshole on the path to a blowout loss.

I guess the race, to a degree, is about McCain. And about the embarrassment Republicans must feel to think this is the best they have. THe bullshit of the past two weeks will fade from memories pretty quick as the real campaign kicks off tomorrow. It’s a shame McCain frittered away his last real chance to make a difference in his political career. And when the race is over and done, it won’t be Obama that does him in. It will be John McCain who will bear the responsibility. He could have chosen the path of courageous leadership. Instead, he chose the common and overworn path of a pig.