I swear the McCain campaign has made the conscious decision to play the POW card at every turn, practically begging the Democrats to call him out on it. There's no other way to explain their strategy. McCain didn't cheat at Saddleback because he was a POW thirty years ago. Alan Keyes couldn't call out his inconsistency on abortion because he was a POW. You can't call him out of touch on economic issues when he forgets how many houses he owns because he was a POW. You can't mock his taste in music, because he was a POW.  What are they going to use it on next?

Download | play   Download | play   (h/t Heather)

LENO: "For a million dollars, how many houses do you have?"

SEN. McCAIN: "Could I just mention to you, Jay, that, at a moment of seriousness. I spent five-and-a-half years in a prison cell," McCain said. "I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair. And I didn't spend those five-and-a-half years because, not because I wanted to get a house when I got out."

Responding to the news last night while covering the convention, Rachel Maddow schooled Pat Buchanan on why McCain is running the risk of degrading his very salient and personal past into a "punch line."

Even Maureen Dowd gets it:

"It's hard to believe that John McCain is now in danger of exceeding his credit limit on the equivalent of an American Express black card. His campaign is cheapening his greatest strength - and making a mockery of his already dubious claim that he's reticent to talk about his P.O.W. experience - by flashing the P.O.W. card to rebut any criticism, no matter how unrelated. The captivity is already amply displayed in posters and TV advertisements."

  John McCain should realize he's in serious trouble when even the dupes at "Fox & Friends" are willing to admit that he messed up big time with his housing gaffe. Although Gretchen Carlson and the rest of the crew do their best to cover for McCain by saying, "You need to have gazillions to become president" and "You have to be an elitist to some extent to become president of our country," the overall consensus is that this will come back to haunt McCain.

Download | play   Download | play (h/t David Edwards)

The Obama campaign could not have played this better. By injecting into the mainstream dialogue the idea that McCain is really the one out of touch with average Americans, he not only deflects that false characterization off of him, but he also gives the media a reason to make the connection and push the meme every time McCain acts "elitist" (e.g. $520 Ferragamo loafers, Cindy's private planes). The fact that the McCain campaign responded with the Ayers/Rezko/Wright/POW kitchen sink says a lot about how damaging they perceive this attack to be. Brilliant.