As the McCain campaign renews attacks from the primary season regarding Barack Obama’s associations with William Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, it is worth pointing out that this is coming from a man who promised to run a clean campaign. McCain even went so far as to call Rev. Wright a moot issue (see above interview clip with Sean Hannity).

Granted, it is Sarah Palin’s role to be the attack dog, but the diversionary tactic is all the same.

With the Dems winning the two debates thus far (according to polls), a Republican-led economic crisis, and a widening gap in crucial battleground states—capped by the Republicans’ stunning pullout from Michigan, the GOP has little recourse but to desperately shift the conversation to the least substantive of topics.

Steve Schmidt may have gotten Ahnuld, Alito, John Roberts, and G-Dub (part deux) through the grinder unscathed, but when the economy is being dragged through the gutter by excessive deregulation that has defined Republican platforms for at least two decades, the guilt-by-association smear tactics may prove too superficial to distract voters from their financial woes.