Despite a massive financial crisis rocking Wall Street and several days of lashing from media fact-checkers, the McCain campaign is still hammering away at "issues" that could charitably be described as frivolous.
On Monday evening, McCain's press crew blasted out an email to reporters titled "John McCain On Barack Obama And The Financial Markets." Sounds substantive enough. But when reporters opened it, they found the bolded, highlighted line was McCain's criticism of Barack Obama for holding a fundraiser in Hollywood with Barbara Streisand:
"[Obama] talked about siding with the people, siding with the people, just before he flew off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbara Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends, there's no place I'd rather be than here, with the working men and women of Ohio." - John McCain.
Never mind that McCain held a top-dollar fundraiser of his own, in Hollywood, with celebrities, less than a month earlier.
Fast forward to today, and McCain aides are now decrying Obama for not being inclusive enough in his treatment of celebrities, actually calling out the Democratic nominee for reportedly turning down a fundraising event with Lindsay Lohan. Per TMZ.com:
"So let me get this straight," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the McCain campaign. "They turned away Lindsay Lohan, but Barack Obama has friends like unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers and convicted felon Tony Rezko? Maybe LiLo is just too upstanding for Barack Obama."
Certainly, the Obama campaign has engaged in its share of trivialities. But the Democratic nominee's press shop has done, at least this week, yeoman-like work in striking a serious tone on the economy. Just look at the somber two-minute long commercial Obama released this morning. As Tommy Veitor, Obama's spokesperson, responded (undoubted, gleefully): "Glad to see they're focused on the important issues over in McCain HQ."