my sense of the Keating 5 analysis on the MSM is that....

...it's just neutralizing the Ayers stuff. They all keep saying they've both gone negative, it's tit for tat, etc. Surrogates trying to point out how the Keating 5 stuff is more relevant because it relates to the economic crisis but basically the pundits are acting like it's a wash. I wonder if this was the intention of the Obama campaign.

... it was the real deal back in the day.

Neither will play with the electorate.

They don't show up, he's history.

Keating is about something McCain actually DID. Ayers is about something Ayers did, when Obama was a child.

How they can see any equivalence is beyond me.

They're only interested in new stuff. The old news bores them.

"The last ditch effort of a losing campaign."

...and had nothing to do with it.

McCain, on the other hand, was in his 50s during the Keating stuff, and had his dirty little hands right in the middle of it.

John McCain's actions in the past and the present are to today's financial melt-down. Along for the ride the whole way, even helping steer the bus. Perhaps that is the 'straight-talk-express' he goes on about. Sure does seem to be a straight line from then to now.

I think the MSM finally decided to stop playing the patsy and start calling these trivial attacks for what they are.

The bad guys have to resort to Ayers because he's the closest thing they've got to an October surprise. They're trying to hit him with the worst and baddest they've got. They held off, possibly the same way the Obama camp did with Charles Keating, saving it for now when they're (mcsame, that is) in trouble and things are starting to get desperate and they're running out of time and money. Maybe they knew they might need the ammo, or they figured they'd go in for the kill at the end with a coup de grace. If that, now, is to be defanged by the Keating offensive, then so much the better. There are many ways to disadvantage the enemy. Actively AND passively. You need not take aim at one front or with one set of tactics. Offense AND defense. You not only strike directly but you also disable one of the ways they can strike directly at you - keep them from striking.

Hit 'em on every side, from every vantage point, every direction. Make them defend all over the place. That is precisely what they've done to us over the last 30 years or so, since they got muscular and aggressive with reagan and rode in on his charisma the way people may well do with Obama this time. They attacked us on funding. They attacked us on some of our people. they attacked us on some of the friends and friends-of-friends of some of our people. They attacked our ideas. They attacked our legislation. they attacked our philosophy. They attacked our right to speak out. They attacked our priorities and those who'd benefit (like the homeless, hungry, disadvantaged, those truly left behind). Don't you remember how many times we've groused here through the last seven-and-some years about how many different ways kkkarl rove was at work - either through political operatives or nullifying elections - or outright stealing them, sabotaging our guys both in office and running for office, sabotaging bills we tried to move through Congress, growing and nurturing nurseries breeding new generations of these schmucks - madame sarah and Florida's crist and perry of Texas and a slew of other big-and-getting-bigger republi-CON names were on the list of enrollees in GOPAC's ongoing educational offensives. These people attack wherever and however they can. Whether there's merit to it, or any truth, or any sense in it. They've attacked where we got our money and what we tried to do with it. They attacked us for being good and doing good (look the way rudi giuliani and the Tundra Tart ripped community organizers apart during the convention). If Barack Obama is seen walking a dog in the park, they'll attack him for exploiting dogs or having the wrong leash or something. It's just attack. Like flicking a switch on a robot. Wind him up and set him loose and watch him go. Almost doesn't even matter what's said or done, it's merely Just. Another. Attack.

I suspect, writing this just after 1pm pacific time when the markets have now closed and they're rawther bloodied, that the attacks on either side will be blunted by the economy, which appears positioned to continue bigfooting EVERYTHING. It's all people are really talking about. There was a thread elsewhere here talking about a conversation overheard at the gas pump. It started with man 1 saying "didja hear about that guy and Obama when he was eight?" And man 2 starts down a road whose theme basically is - "what the hell does that have to do with the price of gas? Will you look at this here? This is obscene!" And then man 1 returns with "well, yeah, that was kinda my point - look at what they're talking about when my kid may not be able to stay in college after his first year - we can't afford it." You're harping on this guy from 30-40 years ago when my 401K just lost 5 percent of its value? Fuck you!!!

Just found the thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7334488

What's also delicious is that Obama is saying he's going to stick to the economy. That's the 15,000-pound gorilla in the room. Also makes mcsame look small and pissy. He's not talking about what's happened to your job and your neighborhood with all the foreclosures, he's making cracks against Obama. What? Does he really want to try to help, or is he just being an asshole?

It may well wind up being a wash on the attack stuff - Ayers versus Keating, but that's a net gain for us (keeps the enemy from striking us, defangs them so they can't do damage). People tend sometimes to say "Fi on both your houses." Then the next step is the default back to their earlier position - in the end, siding again with whomever they came in with.

I'm just DAMNED GLAD we've got Keating in the mix now. I've heard it coming up, here and there, in anchor/pundit conversation all day long. It's about time!

Game. Set. Match.