"Embarracuda"

"... what a desperate empty embarrassment the McCain campaign has become."

Time Magazine's Joe Klein echoed the sentiments of much of the news media on October 6, 2008, about one month before the election.

As had many, Klein referenced the 'palling around with terrorists' and ever-handy Rev. Jeremiah Wright 'God damn America' memes. He related stories about Sarah Palin and Jews for Jesus, and Todd Palin's Alaskan Independence Party.

He also mentioned Fox News show host Hannity's complicity with a lesser known "Jew-hater" who'd been publicly "exposing" Sen. Obama as a Muslim. Klein cited this piece from the Washington Times:

In 1986, when Mr. Martin ran as a Democrat for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional
District seat under the name "Anthony R. Martin-Trigona," his campaign
committee filed papers saying its purpose was to "exterminate Jew power in
America and impeach U.S. District Court of Appeals judges in New York City."

 In January 2011, Pew Research listed these religious affiliations in the 112th U.S. Congress:

304 Protestant
156 Catholic
39 Jew
16 Other or No Declaration
15 Mormon
3 Buddhist
2 Muslim

Throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks doesn't seem to have subsided in the 2012 presidential race. Conservative meme topics describing President Obama include foreign born, Muslim, felonious, lazy, welfare President, to name a few.

Debating Expectations

In 2008, TIME columnist Mark Halperin graded the first Barack Obama / John McCain presidential debate, giving Obama an "A-" and McCain a "B-." Halperin said Obama was solid and consistent and that he "avoided mistakes from his weak debate performances during nomination season."

The first debate of 2012 comes this Wednesday, October 3. Both candidates are furiously lowering expectations. The Obama campaign notes that Mitt Romney has been sharpening his skills through 20 recent GOP primary debates. The Romney campaign cites Gallup polling showing that Obama was the clear winner of all the 2008 presidential debates.

The debate will be held in Denver, Colorado. Jim Lehrer of PBS will moderate.