John McCain's campaign is reeling, but you'd never know it from dominant M$M narrative. Not only was the NY Times somewhat muddled, but still significant story about McCain's Iseman/Paxon/Etc. connections a damning reminder that McCain is really not that removed from the Washington norm, it brought forth a response from McCain that was--quickly and easily--proven false, by way of further illustrating the underlying point--McCain's coziness with his own circle of lobbyists and special interests. The story of McCain's corruption--and even the Iseman romantic rumors--is nothing new, but it's never gotten this much play.
At the same time, the Democratic Party is filling a complaint about McCain's attempt to withdraw from public financing--which is about a good deal more than the loan he secured--it's also about securing a ballot slot in Ohio. And--oh yes--McCain's Arizona co-chair, Rick Renzi, has just be indicted for wire fraud, money laundering and extortion. Howard Dean has shown how this should be handled, but he's just one man, not a multi-billion dollar infrastructure of media, think-tank and "independent" ideological front groups. Similarly, Glenn Greenwald notes how easily Barack Obama swats down the attempted rightwing smear of his patriotism (the M$M's preferred fantasy obsession in place of reality-based coverage of John McCain)--but again, just one person doing it.
The point is simply that if we had even half the coordinated infrastructure the conservatives have in place--along with the mindset, and internal organization behind it--John McCain would be finished as of this weekend.
Just think about that. Long-term counter-hegemonic organizing matters, folks. This weekend proves it.
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