Packer weighs in on McCain invoking Ayers:
Other than rousing the uglier impulses of the Republican base, I don’t think the Kristol Plan is going to make much difference. It’s the wrong year. Like Palin herself, the use of Ayers is a sign of ill-health in the Republican Party and a symptom of an ideology in an advanced state of decay. The smarter conservatives, like Frum and Douthat, know this.
All I do know is that if McCain wins after these tactics, he will be unable to govern. The GOP base will want Palin as president and retrench to their natural anti-McCain posture, especially on immigration and the environment; and the Democrats in Congress will never forgive this despicable and dishonorable campaign. Nor should they. It's the vilest campaign since Rove smeared McCain in South Carolina in 2000.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2008/10/death-spasms/210569/
