Obama has decided to play the race card again, and John McCain will have none of it.

“Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me,” Obama said. “You know, ‘he’s not patriotic enough, he’s got a funny name,’ you know, ‘he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'"

This is despicable. McCain never said anything about Obama's patriotism or his name, and he certainly never said anything about race. Yet the Obots actually have defended this rhetoric. They applaud their candidate for running against a hallucinated line of attack.

Speaking of hallucinations, Josh Marshall's latest displays clear indications that the once-esteemed progressive now suffers from a mental malady:

What's more, as everyone will acknowledge after the campaign, the McCain campaign is now pushing the caricature of Obama as a uppity young black man whose presumptuousness is displayed not only in taking on airs above his station but also in a taste for young white women.

This horseshit comes from the same fellow who said that Bill and Hillary Clinton were sending out "racist dog whistles."

Nobody has called Obama "a [sic] uppity young black man." It is true that many, including myself, consider him arrogant. Skin color does not exempt anyone from the universal human failing of hubris; I happen to think that Obama is guilty of that failing.

I also think that Josh Marshall, like most other major progressive bloggers, is just as guilty of the same fault. Will Marshall now call me anti-white, or anti-Jewish, or anti-New Yorker, or whatever? I don't consider Josh Marshall an "uppity young white man." I do think that he has turned into a power-hungry hypocrite who probably dreams of being the "Josh Liman" of the next administration.

As for the Britney/Paris ad -- everyone understands those young women to be exemplars of vapidity and unearned celebrity. They thus function as apt reference points in any discussion of the Obama cult phenomenon. If Josh Marshall really thinks that John McCain thinks (or wants others to think) that Barack Obama wants to fuck Paris Hilton, then Josh Marshall needs a padded cell. If Heath Ledger were still alive, Marshall could give him crazy lessons.

These nonsensical assertions will repulse most Americans. Give it up, Josh: That shit played in the primary, but it just ain't gonna work in the general.

In The Distinguished Gentleman (which I believe to be the only film ever made about the House of Representatives), Eddie Murphy plays a con artist who bulls his way into Congress. At one point, he "guilt trips" his way into an important committee (even though he lacks the seniority) by calling up the chairman while pretending to be a representative of the NAACP. Doing a spot-on impersonation of Martin Luther King, Murphy thunders: "And how many AFrican AMERicans do you have on your committee?" Long pause. "I see."

Obama and his surrogates hope that similar tactics will gain him entrance to the Oval Office. It ain't gonna work. That strategy is transparent, and it will alienate the very people Obama needs to attract. Wiser heads within the campaign understand this:

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that Obama was not referring to race.

“What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn’t get here after spending decades in Washington,” Gibbs said.

I'm trying to think of a lamer excuse. The phrase "wardrobe malfunction" comes to mind.

Here are the latest words written by (or attributed to) the Lightbringer, as displayed on his website:

A few hours ago John McCain, the same man who just months ago promised to run a “respectful campaign,” said he is “proud” of his latest attack ad.

That’s the one attacking your enthusiasm, comparing me to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, and making false claims about my energy plan.

Now, we’re facing some serious challenges in this country — our economy is struggling, energy costs are skyrocketing, and families don’t have health care.

How dare Barack Obama complain about our current energy problems? He voted for the Cheney-friendly energy bill. Hillary Clinton voted against it.

This is NAFTA-gate all over again: Obama pretends to hold a progressive position, when in fact his stance is indistinguishable from that of the current administration. When caught in a lie, he attempts to bigot-bait his opponents.

I call bullshit.