The inertia of lying part II

Sometime last week (pre-hurricane) I wrote a post indicating that the McCain campaign was gambling that the long held media and public image of McCain ("honor," reputation, and biography) would hold through a series of lies and slimy attacks. That slowly doesn't seem to be the case.

It's not just the left howling. "Elite media" opinion does now seem to be turning against McCain.

Add David Brooks questioning Sarah Palin's readiness.

Add Richard Cohen who outright calls McCain a liar.

And these are just two examples I came across this morning. There's an inertia developing against McCain, an inertia of lying. It's beginning to permeate the narrative and show up as shading in the coverage.

(The real dangerous part of this gamble to me is that if McCain does wobble in the polls, this may well be cited as the reason, reinforcing the storyline and potentially creating a cycle.)

The McCain campaign's bet is that the majority of voters don't pay close enough attention for this image/action dissonance to pass through. We'll see if that's true.