Spin Cycle

One of the puzzling aspects of modern political campaigns is the willingness of insiders to preview their upcoming strategy with reporters -- tipping off the other side and admitting from the start that their behavior is tactical rather than genuine, thus giving the public less reason to take it seriously.

Hillary Clinton's advisers were occasionally fond of doing it (with results that are now a matter of history), and today we see the McCain campaign and "Republican operatives" doing it in the Washington Post -- explaining that they're about to get tough, and aggressive, and negative about Obama's readiness, associations etc. They say they "have to change the subject here."

The kicker is a particularly idiotic quote from McCain campaign senior adviser Greg Strimple: "We are looking for a very aggressive last 30 days. We are looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama's aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans."

How in the world does it help your campaign to declare that you're going to try to distract voters from the issues by launching personal attacks on your opponent? It may be obvious when it happens, but still -- what do you gain by admitting it?

The Obama campaign weighs in with a statement:

“On a day after we learned that America lost three-quarters of a million jobs this year and a week after our financial system teetered on the brink of collapse, John McCain and his campaign have announced that they want to ‘turn the page’ on the economic crisis facing working families and spend the last month of this election launching dishonest, dishonorable character attacks against Barack Obama.

"We understand that it’s not easy for John McCain to defend the worst economic record of our lifetime, but he will have to explain to the people struggling to pay their bills and stay in their homes why he would rather spend his time tearing down Barack Obama than laying out a plan to build up our economy.”