Sarah Palin was on the verge of inciting a race riot in northern Florida yesterday. At her rallies, the Republican faithful hurled a racial epitaph at a black sound man, and screamed "kill him" and "treason!" at Barack Obama.

"Boy, you guys just get it!" Palin responded. This reaction, presumably, was what Palin had in mind when she urged John McCain to "take the gloves off."

The McCain campaign initially took her advice, sending out three emails about Obama and Bill Ayers yesterday and pushing the angle hard on the news media. But by the time McCain got to debating, he made no mention of Ayers or Jeremiah Wright or Tony Rezko. For once, McCain knew better. His campaign looked supremely silly the day before, ranting about domestic terrorists from the 1960s when the Dow was plunging 800 points.

Republican commentators and strategists from across the board panned McCain's Ayers offensive. Said New York Times columnist David Brooks on the NewsHour:


McCain`s tactic over the last couple weeks or especially over the last few days has been, "I`m behind. I`ve got to go after his character." And so he`s been talking about Bill Ayers, the former Weatherman or terrorist, or however you want to put it. He`s been talking about all these other issues. And I sort of understand why he`s doing this, because you`re behind. Obama is still sort of undefined. Redefine him as somebody who`s radical and dangerous and risky.

~snip~

more:http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmat...

Update:
McCain Camp releases statement from John Murtagh: "Barack Obama's friend tried to kill my family."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

So I guess this will be the plan. Next up, will be the response from the Obama campaign.
Stay tuned folks.