McCain's attacks reaching the bursting point

Now we're starting to see the backside of the Obama campaign's "Say it to my face"/response to Ayers strategy.

The Obama camp has shifted the Ayers attacks into a commentary on how the GOP ticket is inciting its crowds to violence.

They've promulgated this crowd story to the media where it's now generating a substantial backlash against McCain. (McCain is now assigned responsibility for the very worst actors in his crowds.)

And, they have Obama looking Presidential and rational next to this caricature of McCain. They have Obama being the one talking about issues and caring about people while painting McCain as only caring about himself and his campaign. (Read this Obama excerpt for a taste.)

They've managed to take this Ayers attack and crush McCain with all the associated effects. The Ayers attack now has so many negatives attached to it that McCain is losing on this issue, the issue he thought would be his nuclear bomb.

Think about that for a minute.

They're attacking McCain for putting his campaign and/or ambition instead of "Country First." They're scoring points against McCain's "honor." They've turned this guy's "identity" inside out, and the media is now trashing the "honorable" POW on character issues all on their own.

From a coldly political perspective, you gotta respect that as beautiful.

(Also, I think it was a wise move to jettison the Keating attack. That bought some "balance" and time in that first round of articles, but it wasn't going to win.)