The Hoax in Political Context

On Thursday as the Ashlie Todd Hoax story was breaking, John Moody, the over-caffeinated vice-president of Fox News, wrote the following:

If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.

That's far from being the case. McCain's not dead yet and events could shake up an election that can appear set in concrete. Likewise, there are decent polls like GWU/Battleground which have Obama ahead but also have McCain leads within their margin of error.

But the Ashlie Todd Hoax story does get at a fundamental problem of constant bad news that is dogging McCain.

With Obama off the campaign trail while visiting his sick grandmother in Hawaii, McCain could use the breathing space to focus attention on his message.

But there's been a steady stream of minor distractions that have kept that from happening.

First, it was Sarah Palin and her $150,000 wardrobe

Then, brother Joe McCain made an idiot of himself by calling 911 over stalled traffic.

And finally the Ashlie Todd story.

The report on Todd being mugged and disfigured was originally flagged by Matt Drudge in an effort to help McCain. But the whole incident has focused attention on the McCain campaign in a negative way and distracted from McCain's message.

You can't stick a fork in John McCain just yet, but he certainly is not going to make much progress as long as his campaign keeps shooting itself in the foot.