JUST AS JONATHAN CHAIT WARNED US, THE GOP

will resort to character assassination because they lose on almost all policy issues.

McCain takes aim at Obama’s character
By BEN SMITH & JONATHAN MARTIN 7/28/08 4:31 AM EST
The Politico

As Barack Obama traveled overseas, the campaign against him appeared to take a decisive new turn when John McCain zeroed in on his Democratic opponent’s character.

On Saturday, though, McCain released a new television advertisement in which the announcer says that on his trip, Obama “made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras.”

"John McCain is always there for our troops," adds the announcer, before concluding with the campaign’s new slogan: “McCain, country first.”

The slogan’s inverse implication for his opponent was made clear earlier in the week, when McCain accused Obama of placing the his political ambitions before the national interest.

"It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign," McCain said Tuesday in New Hampshire, a line he’s been using regularly since.