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I have to say I don't always get John McCain. Criticism of Barack Obama's long-standing personal and spiritual relationship with anti-American pastor Jeremiah Wright is unnaceptable, and yet he calls on Obama to apologize for having anything to do with Bill Ayers, whose connections to Obama are much more tenuous. I suppose he could just be harder on the Ayers link because Ayers is an even more contemptible figure than Wright for having actually acted on his hatred for America. But I think there's something more to it. I think McCain just has certain pressure points that prompt reactions if certain conditions are met. In the case of Ayers, what really seems to have set McCain off is when Obama compared Ayers to Tom Coburn, who McCain is close with and has profound respect for. In the case of Wright, the North Carolina ad drew McCain's criticism because he's out to demonstrate (as in the case of Bill Cunningham) that he is going to run a "respectful" campaign. It appears that he'll be especially sensitive to any charges that he's running a racial campaign against Obama. The war between McCain and the NC GOP is just a harbinger.

topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama