Lap dog media works to ruin Sen. McCain

There is a well regarded thought that no opinion is any better than the facts upon which it is based. Such factless opinions frequent these pages, and I was particularly amused by one that appeared here on Dec. 5, bearing the caption, "GOP turns nasty with smears of McCain." I searched the page for supporting facts, and of course there were none. The letter quite clearly was written by someone other than one who supports Republican views, but let me indulge in a little speculation of my own.

First, and this is not speculative, Republicans hope to take over and fumigate the White House, so what could they possibly gain by damaging one of their own? No, I think there is another source.

Senator McCain has become the "poster boy" of the liberal press and given the obvious evidence that in Al Gore and Bill Bradley, they have a party that is running on near empty. Senator McCain on the other hand, is a maverick with a built-in emotional appeal, and they like that. They do not like the attention that he and other Republicans are getting, so what better way to help their own party than to tarnish all Republican candidates with a manufactured agenda to slur the unelectable John McCain? One can just see the fine hand of Hillary, Carville and the other Clinton attack dogs at work, to create an aura of meanness about the Republicans, and thereby help the veep, who is in need of all kinds of help.

Syndicated columnist Richard Brookhiser referred to Gore as a "head case," and went on with factual support for the characterization. The Democrats (tax and spend-o-crats) need help, so what better route to take, than to color Republicans dirty.

No, Republicans do not need to smear Sen. McCain because he is vulnerable to criticism for some of the off-the-wall positions he has taken, and the Democrats and the lap dog media have them all memorized.