For one, they give Obama the opening to do what he does best; counterpunch. This is the key reason why I don’t think McCain was paying as close attention to the Democratic primaries as he should have. Obama is terrible at initiating an attack, but it’s quite possible that he is one of the best counterpunchers of our time. He just has a great rhythm and ability to redirect an attack at an opponent.

Second, the media is really getting hot on debunking McCain’s lies, and the more this stuff occurs, the more McCain will likely suffer an Al Gore-ish labeling as liar. Right now McCain is proving to be his own worst enemy in this campaign, and I see no reason to stop it.

Finally, McCain is unwittingly inoculating the public against negative news for Obama. At the rate he’s going, even if an October Surprise were to broadside the Obama campaign, there’s a likelihood that the public simply wouldn’t buy it.

Kate: Thank you very much, I really appreciate it, and I’ve fixed the typo. I have to admit, in the book that I’m writing I’m coming to learn that that exact error you found is a pretty common one from me. Rather embarassing, actually.

A typo in your article that you might want to fix — you write:

As it turns out, it was slowly gaining grown in Wingnuttia …

“grown” should be “ground”

(Sorry — I’m a copyeditor; I can’t help but notice these things.) But keep up the good work! You’re a good writer, and helping to bring out much-needed truths.

This story should be all over the papers, front and center, and all over tv news stations from coast to coast. It cannot be allowed for even one American to believe this lie, and it DEFINATELY cannot be allowed for any non-American to believe this lie.