FATS VERSUS McCAIN

Jeffrey Feldman writes on HuffPo that Fats Limbaugh challanged McWAR's manhood and he provided the link. McWAR was in New Orleans and implicitly criticized the way Pres. Fredo handled Katrina. For Fats, that's a terrible thing because it not only resembles the criticism Fredo received from liberals, it also reflects the reality.

Fats then tries to make the point that George Bush not only isn't hated, he's actually liked:

...you're going to find out that George Bush isn't hated. People may disapprove of his job, but they do not dislike him.

The voters on our side are not going to put up with that because he's not disliked, he's not despised, he's not hated. You Republicans that don't have the guts and the courage to separate yourself from what you read in the media and listen to the Democrat candidates say had better realize, this president is not hated, he is not disliked. Big difference in that and being unpopular.

I'm going to tell all of you Republicans, not just Senator McCain, if you think that you can make hay and be reelected by running around trashing your own president, the president of your party, who is far more beloved than Senator McCain is in this party -- he may not be popular nationwide, he may not be popular in these polls, but he is not disliked. He is not considered disloyal. He is not considered somebody who goes against the interests of his own party for his own personal benefit.

The confusion here between personality and performance is part of the GOP campaign style, as Chait pointed out: The GOP can't run on political issues so it has to run on trumped up "character" issues.