More politics talk.

[cyrano]

So I confess that, despite being a PoliSci major in college, there are trappings to the American Electoral System that I don't understand.

Barack Obama declined to participate in the federal public financing system during the primaries.
John McCain declined to participate in the federal public financing system during the primaries.
Barack Obama is declining to participate in the federal public financing system during the general election.
John McCain says that anybody who's not participating in public financing is obviously not fit for the office.

Are there any grounds to McCain's statements here? Is there a difference between primary campaigns and general election campaigns? Or is this just a politics thing where anything your opponent does just shows that he's an incompetent puppet of special interests?

Comments

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

As to that last, I think what McCain is betting on (and what is sadly true) is that the majority of folk don't think about politics; they listen to rumours, email forwards, and Rush Limbaugh for their information. So if he can manufacture a scandal of some sort, and enough people listen just to what he says (or what the news media parrots him saying) and don't think critically, it'd be an advantage over a candidate to whom quite literally nothing has stuck.

That said, I'd like nothing more to be proven wrong and see this whole thing blow up in his face. But my faith in the collective intelligence of the American voting public has taken hit after hit, these past several months...