Too-of-a-kind Coincidental

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Ever notice how sometimes things happen like a duet and it just doesn’t seem possible that it’s a coincidence? I had one of those experiences today, see what you think.

Driving to the tall timber this morning, once the Fargo stations faded away, we switched to the Park Rapids radio station―notable because its owner makes the astronaut radio station owner in Northern Exposure seem like a leftwing hippie.

So owner Ed Delahunt is in control of the microphone for his daily coffeetime call-in show which virtually never gets any calls. And with the patented reichwing tactic of prefacing his reading with “I don’t know this to be true, I don’t know if I believe this, but….” Delahunt launches into reading selected quotes from Michelle Obama’s Princeton paper and right-from-the-Rove- playbook-style editorial comments attacking Michelle Obama.

The whole litany read to me like the booga-booga scare tactic of Michelle Obama in the White House is gonna get you, white woodtick northern neighbors of mine.

Guess Ed decided not to heed the “lay off my wife” memo.

Now Ed’s not exactly known for his intellectual curiosity around these parts, and word around here is Clear Channel has a hand in his operation these days, so my red-flag radar went off. Just where did Ed get this stuff? The McCain campaign? A surrogate McCain group?

Hmmmmm.

And then this evening, since it was still dripping from the thunderstorm outside, we were watching Countdown, and Keith Olbermann’s top story #3 was all about Grover Norquist and his “John Kerry with a tan” comment to the L.A. Times. Keith and his guest talked about whether Norquist was the designated hitter to launch the race card―was this a “trial balloon”?

Forget race card. I think today signaled the McCain campaign and the Usual Republican Suspects have decided to drop the whole damned deck. Little fluttery race cards spilling out all over the country, in environments large―like Los Angeles. And small―like Park Rapids, Minnesota.

So what’s the candidate who pledges to run a campaign of honor because he’s a man of integrity have to say about the conduct of his surrogates?

And did the Rethuglicans decide to shift their attack against Michelle Obama to the same kind of under-the-radar tactics used against McCain in South Carolina about his adopted daughter?

Like I say, it could all be coincidence, happening on this same day. Yep. Coincidence. That’s what it must be. Or not.

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