Obviously, John McCain reads Palin-Drone

And takes Doc Paul's advice very seriously! From Hotline:

John McCain today in Cedar Rapids, IA, said Barack Obama has done nothing to help the nation avert fiscal crisis:

"Senator Obama talks a tough game on the financial markets but the facts tell a different story. He took more money from Fannie and Freddie than any Senator but the Democratic chairman of the committee that regulates them. He put Fannie Mae's CEO who helped create this disaster in charge of finding his Vice President. Fannie's former General Counsel is a senior advisor to his campaign. Whose side do you think he is on? When I pushed legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Senator Obama was silent. He didn't lift a hand to avert this crisis."

McCain and Sarah Palin also raised the specter of Obama's one-time patriotism problem by criticizing Joe Biden for saying paying taxes is patriotic.

Palin:
“To the rest of America that’s not patriotism. Raising taxes is about killing jobs and hurting small businesses and making things worse.”

McCain:
"While Senator Obama and Congressional leaders don't know what to think about the current crisis, we know what their plans are for the economy. Today Senator Obama's running mate said that raising taxes is patriotic. Raising taxes in a tough economy isn't patriotic. It's not a badge of honor. It's just dumb policy."

Finally!

I for one, hope (pray) they will stay on this message from now to November. As Monica Crowley stated on FOX about a month ago, presidential politics isn't tiddly-winks; you can't play nice with your opponent and expect to win. In the case of Obama, there's a nearly an unlimited supply of far-left positions to take aim at. And there's nothing wrong with going "negative" provided you are attacking your opponent's horrid positions and deplorable track record (such as it is). If Senator McCain hasn't learned from President Bush's experiences, I'm not sure anyone can teach him. I truly believe a huge contributing factor in our current President's unjustified villification -- aside from the pure derangement of his critics on the Left -- is his own misplaced trust in the kindness of Democrats as human beings with a conscience (i.e. Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi). Time and time again he reached out, only to be demonized by fellow members of Congress and their dutiful minions in the mainstream media.

And if you don't point out your opponent's weaknesses while touting your own accomplishments and plans to solve current problems, how is the electorate supposed understand why they should vote for you instead of the other guy? People are paying attention now -- so keep it up Senator McCain!

While we're at it, could we tone down the "Wall Street is greedy" mantra just a bit? It seems to me there's plenty of blame to go around, but until today, you'd never know it judging by McCain-Palin's rhetoric. Let's not overdo the populism theme; not only is it getting old, it's starting to wreak of class warfare politics. Leave that nonsense to the hypocritical Democrats who need to promote victimhood in order to maintain their power. This is America, after all. We should be celebrating success even as we reform/punish wrongdoing for all parties involved. Capitalism is still the best system in the world, and the most effective solution to poverty; to quote a great country song, in the USA "we all have a chance, everybody gets to dance." That'll continue to be true as long as our leaders understand that limited government is the best form of government. And all any of us can ask for is a chance to succeed in freedom. It's a winning formula. Just look at Sarah Palin.