A reader writes:
Can we not equate negative ads on issues (energy) with negative ads on character (celebrity)? Obama comes out an hits McCain on energy, sure it's negative, but it's above the belt. McCain is just peddling trash.
Frankly, I think the voters will see through it, just as they did in the primary. Every response from the Clinton campaign to a negative Obama statement was "what happened to the politics of hope?" and it just didn't do anything, because they went personal. And it's not as if Obama can't get dirty, the health care mailers in the primary seemed particularly low (in a Dem on Dem race that is). However, it was almost always about policy.