If you find yourself fighting someone you can’t lay of glove
on (say a legitimate war hero or a cute, plucky, hokey Mom) you could get down
in the mud and scuff up their heroic image, but you’ll end smelling like dirt.
What you should do is attack not the people, but their point of view. That is what makes them Heroes in the first
place.

This means that Dems shouldn’t run against McCain (or Palin)
– but should run against the Repub
point of view- aka Neocon dogma. And at least at first they should stick to the number one issue
on voter minds – the economy.

McCain’s statement that “the economy is fundamentally sound”
could be the gift that keeps on giving. But it isn’t enough to show McCain is
out of touch – no duh, right? That would be attacking the man. Attack the ideas
behind him.

Dems need to get voters to ask, “What caused the market to
crash?”

Experts agree it was the lack of adequate market oversight.
And most of the oversight protections put in place by the New Deal Dems after the Great
Depression in 1932 were scaled back after the Neocon Revolution swept through Congress after 1992. Who was leading
the charge to turn your money and mine over to “the invisible hand” of the
hedge fund hustlers? Republican Senator Phil Gramm of Texas.

Gramm is no longer a Senator (he is too busy as a lobbyist)
but until he was caught on tape calling American investors “whinners” he was
McCain’s main financial adviser! Off the record it seems he still is. He,
and the ideas he champions, are the Dem sweet spot. If you are looking for a place to put a stake in the heart of the neocon market
monster – Phil Gramm’s chest is ground zero.

So Dems should drive one simple point home – "Markets go up under Dems
and down under Repubs". That is a fact. Has been for the last 75 years. If you are a
Dem, say it loud, say it proud, say it often.If you are a Repub – do you best to change the subject.

The best thing about Dems running against the neocon economic
brand rather than against a person is that Obama and Biden can stay out of a negative
tit or tat game of gottcha. Instead of coming across slightly rabid they can
come across as having a calm hand on the tiller. That is going to be key.
Because when the seas get rough I don’t want a guy at the wheel who “will fight
for me,” (McCain’s favorite phrase) I want a guy who knows how to find a safe
harbor and keep things calm on deck until we get there.