When You Know You Are Losing

There is now a pattern emerging from the McCain campaign and its surrogates. Instead of trying to persuade Americans who aren't in their camp (the sign of a campaign that thinks it can win), they are trying to de-legitimize them (the sign of a campaign that thinks it can't).

That's what you hear in Sarah Palin's disquisition in Greensboro, N.C., on "these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation." (So what does that say about the rest of the country?) That is what you hear in Nancy Pfotenauer's suggestion that there's a difference between Northern Virginia and "real Virginia." It is what you hear in Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's crazypants rant about--well, I really don't know what. And it is what you hear in a robocall strategy that is as ridiculous as it is cowardly. (On that score, Republican Sen. Susan Collins deserves credit for calling for a stop to it in her state.)

On the other hand, here's what you do when you think you are winning, and you are looking at the challenges of governing at the end of a divisive campaign:

UPDATE: I give up. Ambinder said what I said, only way funnier.

UPDATE2: This from Sunday's Minnespolis Star-Tribune:

A spokesman for DFLer Elwyn Tinklenberg's congressional campaign said a "fire" had been lit after his opponent criticized Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

John Wodele said Saturday night that 9,000 people nationwide have donated roughly $450,000 in the 24 hours since Rep. Michele Bachmann told Chris Matthews of MSNBC that Obama "may have anti-American views."