I didn’t just show up out of nowhere, after all — America knows me. You know my strengths and my faults. You know my story and my convictions.. . . And the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent. Even at this late hour in the campaign, there are essential things we don’t know about Senator Obama or the record that he brings to this campaign. We have all heard what he has said, but it is less clear what he has done or what he will do. What Senator Obama says today and what he has done in the past are often two different things. He has often changed his positions in this campaign, and the best way to determine where he would really take this country is to examine where he has tried to take it in the past. . . . For a guy who’s already authored two memoirs, he’s not exactly an open book. . . . Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there’s always a back story with Senator Obama.

Barack Obama wants to focus on the issues, McCain does not.

I think the other comments have clearly covered some of my concerns with the article, but I just want to point out the way you omit TONS of information. Like the new strategy of McCain making personal attacks on Obama’s character. His rally in New Mexico yesterday was a perfect example. “Who is the real Barack Obama?” “What does he plan for America?” I mean, he seriously can’t be asking those questions can he? Because I’m sure that people have looked through Obama’s platform, watched him in 20+ debates in two years, watched him in hundreds of interviews, looked at his record in Senate, heard or read some excerpts from his two books, read newspaper articles (not just from NYT), and asked him questions on the campaign trail, etc.

This has been the longest presidential campaign in history, and McCain (only one month out from the election), wants to ask,”Who is the real Barack Obama?” I’m sure he knows who the real Barack Obama is, and that is why he is resorting to these attacks that call McCain’s own integrity and character into question. This may not be a race thing Jonathan, but it could be something far worse. McCain and Palin are trying to paint Obama as a foreigner, someone who is out-of-touch with the American people. McCain is basically saying, “I’m am one of you, he is not one of us.” And even more scary, they are trying to paint him as someone who “pals around with terrorists”.

First, this has been tried before and it didn’t work, so obviously we see that this is the last resort for the McCain campaign (the issue with Wright is dead as well).

I have a lot of conservative friends, and they would be embarrassed to read this article from you Jonathan. You should know better.

Obama is attacking McCain’s competence as a politician; McCain is attacking Obama’s competence as a person. One of these impossible to make a logical argument about. Guess which one it is?

Shouldn’t she have known better? Ah, but tsk, tsk, the McCain campaign would seek to dismiss all allegations of improper conduct with the same repeated accusations of the “liberal media” and “intellectual elites” and blah blah blah.

Disappointing, Jonathan; you could have been a Kathleen Parker instead of a Michelle Malkin, but all you seem to do is spout the same flawed campaign rhetoric McCain has trotted out to no effect time and time again. Would it kill you to take both sides into account? Given how all you’ve done in your blessedly short time as a writer is sip the Kool-Aid, maybe not.

*cough*