OH PLEASE – AT 10:10 A.M. ET:   The Obama campaign is hitting the goodness and virtue button.  I remain to be convinced.  From The Hill:

Any member of President Obama's reelection campaign who works to slime former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) as a general election candidate risks being fired, senior campaign adviser David Axelrod said Friday.

Amid reports that the president's campaign was preparing a plan to "kill Romney" as a general election candidate, Axelrod stressed that they had no such plan in waiting.

Of course not.  These guys come from Chicago politics, where all opponents are referred to as "sir" or "madam."

"That doesn't reflect our thinking," Axelrod said Friday. "We have real, legitimate differences with Mitt Romney."

Politico reported, citing unnamed Democratic sources, that the president's reelection would focus on how Romney is "weird," focusing on his personal eccentricities and his record in the private sector rather than on the president's record. Axelrod called the sources in that story "garbage."

Asked if he would fire any staff member who engaged in such a campaign, Axelrod said: "I would. If someone used words like 'weird,' I would certainly do that."

Whoops.  He just used it.  Oh, come on.  This is one of the oldest gimmicks in the business.  If you want to hammer home the idea that someone is weird or strange, just say, "I'm shocked that anyone would refer to Senator Klaghorn as weird or strange.  Anyone on my staff who calls Senator Klaghorn weird or strange will be disciplined.  We don't have to call Senator Klaghorn weird or strange because there are so many other issues."  You've made your point.

Of course the Obama campaign is planning a slime campaign against any GOP nominee.  What is Obama going to run on, his record?  That's a two-minute campaign.

August 12, 2011