Of course the pitbull is still barking. And McCain was still echoing the anonymous smear emails, at least as of yesterday. We'll see whether deterrence worked when he is back on the trail. If his campaign continues its "terrorist" line, then we may have to conclude that McCain was too chicken to say it to Obama's face.

I never understood your squeamishness about Obama going with Keating.  It has the virtue of being true, it has the virtue of being related to a real-life event, and Obama didn't pull it out of the holster until McCain/Palin went ballistic with Ayers.  All very "Untouchables", as in they-come-with-a-knife, you-come-with-a-gun.  

Looks like McCain was too chicken to say it to Obama's face.

"McCain's unwillingness to flush his last ounce of honor down the toilet."

Could we please stop this nonsense?  He has never had any "honour" - none, not one ounce, not even less - he is a charlatan and a knave; he has as much "honour" as he knows "how to get OBL", which is precisely none, nothing, zilch.

Show me one "honourable" thing this cad has done in the past year, just one, and I will take back these words.  Just ask Romney about POWPOW's honour, while you're at it.

I'm a bit more pessimistic about this one. I think the McCain campaign didn't bring out the Ayers bomb last night because they feared that it might have blown up McCain's hands by confirming his growing reputation for nastiness, and/ or Obama might have successfully defused it with grace and charm, whereas at campaign rallies, there's no one to defend Obama from scurrilous charges, which are then free to spread via email and word of mouth until the rumors begin to stick.

it also has the virtue of actually leading to official dsicipline against McCain for his actions, especially that part about not reporting the gifts he received.

Maybe it is just because I'm a Democrat, but I prefer my scandals to actually involve criminal misconduct or some other tangible malfeasance from which the noose may be hung.

Presumably, if they're on their game, the Obama campaign will now take out McCain's other kneecap with more Keating, or who knows what else they have up their sleeve...

cspencef, the other knee's ACL was torn by Obama's "singing bomb, bomb Iran is not /talking softly/" and the LCL was torn by his "McCain voted against green energy initiatives 23 times." The MCL was a victim of McCain's rebuttal: "The bills were full of all sorts of goodies". So, the knee cap is in place, but I'm not so sure the knee is servicable.

The proof is in the pudding; we'll see the results of the debate in the coming days, as the percentage of people responding "undecided" to the pollsters dwindles and the undecideds choose sides. The last time I checked, they were breaking in favor of Obama at a rate of 7:2. We shall see if the trend continues.

GSpinks, fine with me.  Still no reason not to take out the other kneecap.  This is, of course, rhetorically speaking, unlike some of the crowds at la Palin's campaign events...

Intellectually, I know the point is for Obama to win.  A win is a win is a win.  The more visceral part of me wants to see and hear Obama spend the last few weeks of the campaign stepping on McCain's throat (again, rhetorically speaking) and packing him away for good (again, rhetorically speaking).