Of Course They Will

John McCain and his campaign can repudiate and disassociate themselves from the likes of Bill Cunningham all they like, but if you think that's going to put an end to it, Josh Marshall has some news for you.

Don't insult your intelligence or mine by pretending that John McCain's plan for this race doesn't rely on hundreds of Cunninghams -- large and small -- across the country, and the RNC and all the GOP third party groups, to be peddling this stuff nonstop for the next eight months because it's the only way John McCain have [sic] a real shot at contesting this race.

The last thing the Republicans want to talk about are the real issues facing the country, like the economy, education, health care, equality for all citizens, because they lose on every one of them. So they will resort to stuff that people like Bill Cunningham and Rush Limbaugh will use; hustler, hack, Muslim, funny name, oh, and of course they'll remind you that he's black without actually saying it, but they have a pocket full of dog-whistles to do that. Oh, and he has an uppity wife, too.

One of the other tactics they will use is to find some outrageous comment by some radical that Barack Obama once shook hands with and demand, as Tim Russert did in the debate on Tuesday night, that he denounce and repudiate the statements, and stomp on his birthday cake for good measure. Any failure to do so is a tacit endorsement of the radical. Well, it works both ways; as Will Bunch notes at Attytood, when will Tim Russert denounce and repudiate Don Imus?

This kind of crap can go on forever, and if the Republicans have any hope of winning in November, it will. Just remember; you have been warned.

Update: John McCain has been endorsed by Pastor John Hagee who believes, among other things, that there is no such thing as a good Muslim, that Hurricane Katrina was God's retribution for a gay pride parade in New Orleans, and that it is the duty of the President to hasten Armageddon in order to further the Second Coming. As Glenn Greenwald notes, not only does Sen. McCain not "denounce" and "reject" this support from this hate-monger, he is "very proud to have Pastor John Hagee's support."

I'll have a double standard with a twist, please.

(Cross-posted.)