Having already added a touch of “class” to his campaign by encouraging his wife to take her top off, McCain decides to undermine a weeks worth of willful Rovian ignorance by forgetting what they’ve spent all that money for:

Last week in St. Louis, Obama told an audience that steps such as inflating tires to the correct levels could make a difference when it comes to conserving fuel.

Cue gleeful mockery from McCain. Obama was naive, inexperienced and not talking straight to the American people about energy, he said.

His campaign went further, distributing to reporters tire gauges engraved with the words “Obama’s energy plan.”

Predictably, Obama hit back calling McCain’s mockery “ignorant,” arguing his plans were being misrepresented and saying that experts backed his call over tire pressure. Equally predictably, McCain’s camp hit back.

The surprise came during a telephone town hall meeting McCain held on Tuesday with voters in Pennsylvania.

“Obama said a couple of days ago says we all should inflate our tires. I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it,” McCain said.

Leading me quote that portion of a Maureen Dowd column which was worthwhile (sadly you have to read the typical crap in the first half):

McCain could dismiss W. as a lightweight, but he knows Obama’s smart. Obama wrote his own books, while McCain’s were written by Salter. McCain knows he’s the affirmative action scion of admirals who might not have gotten through Annapolis without being a legacy. Obama didn’t even tell Harvard Law School that he was black on his application.

McCain upbraids Obama for being a poppet, while he’s becoming a puppet. His mouth is moving but the words coming out belong to his new hard-boiled strategist, Steve Schmidt, a Rove protégé, nicknamed “The Bullet” for his bald pate.

Schmidt has turned Mr. Straight Talk into Mr. Desperate Straits. It’s not a good trade.

But not all of the hacks have abandoned “the Maverick” brand yet — Mark Halperin is determined to ride the GOP gravy-train right off the collapsed bridge. After McCain made the statement admitting Obama was right about proper tire inflation this went up:


You’ll look in vain for that now it has been scrubbed — Matt Drudge may rule his world, but toadying up to the GOP also keeps Time, Inc.’s paychecks to Halperin coming.

(tire gauge picture from justinmatson, screen capture Jefferson Dem at DU)