"Governer Palin Is Not A Pig Barack"

The title of this post also the title of the Townhall.com email I got this morning. Here it is, a whole 5 days after "Barack" (note the less respectful use of the first name, and yes I don't think it's a big deal, just worth noting) said this on the Letterman show: "Keep in mind, technically, had I meant it this way, she [Palin] would be the lipstick … The failed policies of John McCain would be the pig." Regardless of how you read the man's mind during the speech, this would certainly count as an apology, or at least a definitive denial that he thinks she is a pig NOW.

But of course, you can't raise money on the strength of an apology.

The actual content of the Townhall.com letter also includes this:

Michael Reagan even said that Governor Palin is the next Reagan. The Left has a different response. Barack Obama and his allies have unleashed a barrage of despicable smears and attacks on Governor Palin's record, her background, and even her family. Obama has even implied that Governor Palin is a "pig." There is debate if that is what he meant but as the video of his comments demonstrates, his liberal audience clearly took it as a reference to Governor Palin. The hateful speech from Obama must stop.

"This hateful speech from Obama" is, of course, non-existant. Neither candidate is throwing out hateful speech because neither one is nuts. To find hateful speech you have to drill down here to blogger level. Even campaign spokespeople are being careful and parsing enough that you have to tease out your insults from their remarks.

That's why building your whole campaign strategy on Obama's hateful remarks, as McCain is doing, is crazy. Not only is it easily fact-checked and disproved, but it casts McCain and Palin as victims of those mean Democrats. "They're hurting our feelings!" I'm not sure this is the image they're intending to portray. I mean, Palin is a little press shy, kind of a hothouse flower who is probably hoping to run the Vice-Presidency from Wasilla, where she can keep an eye on Russia; but I do recall during one of her rare public appearances at the convention that she is claiming to be tough. I think she made some slanderous allusion to herself as a pitbull with lipstick.

A few weeks ago I compared Republicans to schoolyard bullies. Now they're hellbent on characterizing themselves as the victims of bullies. And since they believe in the Bush Doctrine whether they know what the phrase means or not, they're going to hit first. Problem is, Democrats with their "nuance" and their "arugula" and their "science" are the chess club. The guy who walks into the chess club and starts swinging is either the bully or the troubled teen who needs to be taken out and moved to a special school across town, where he can be watched.