Something I've Noticed

Mike Allen on Politico has an article up today where he talks about yet another factor which continues to fuel an internal divide within McCain's camp; (sound familiar?) The use of Reverend Wright in the last few weeks.

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"John McCain is at odds with many of his top advisers over launching a renewed attack on Barack Obama's ties to his long-time pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to campaign sources.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and several top campaign officials see a sharp attack on Wright as the best — and perhaps last — chance to rattle Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill. ) and force voters to rethink their support of him. But McCain continues to overrule them, fearing a Wright attack would smack of desperation and racism, the officials said.

With McCain unlikely to budge, GOP officials are hoping groups outside of the campaign will finance an ad attack on Obama-Wright ties. It is unclear if any conservative group has the cash to bankroll a serious effort, however."


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The reluctance of McCain to push Rev. Wright onto uncommitted voters doesn't just show the division between what his campaign is telling him and what he believes, it also shows that it's quite possible that McCain doesn't even believe what his own campaign is saying -- that his words: "Who is the REAL Barack Obama?" didn't come from him, but rather Steve Schmidt, the Karl Rove protege. That perhaps this is his only chance for victory.

The problem with using Rev. Wright is that when the scandal came out, McCain was the only GOP hopeful besides Paul to denounce all the vicious attacks that stemmed from it -- probably because McCain is not truly a part of the Evangelical wing of the party. It doesn't take a genius to see that McCain would not honestly believe what he's saying if Rev. Wright comes to the forefront.

However, considering how many principles McCain has already sacrificed during this election, it wouldn't be a stretch to see him break on this issue, and end up giving the green light.

I've previously written on why, disregarding McCain's own hesitance, attacking on Wright would probably not work anyway. But even setting that aside, we are left watching two mindsets: One which belongs to the Arizona Senator himself, and one to his advisers. And it's not pretty.

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UPDATE: McCain has said in a radio interview the other day that he "expects" to bring up Ayers in the debate tonight. If he does, that will be a serious indicator of the direction McCain intends to take his campaign. If he doesn't, he either doesn't have the guts to do it to Obama's face, or he wants to start "focusing on the issues."