Larvatus Prodeo

Names in the quote below have been updated to reflect the personalities engaged in the current election:

Rabbi Smuley Boteach, World Net Daily, May 25, 2004:

Now, having a wife who provides you with a private jet and eight multimillion-dollar vacation homes provides for a comfortable life. But is this the right preparation for becoming president? . . .
[...]
Before they married, Teresa Heinz [Cindy Lou Hensley] made John Kerry [McCain] sign a prenuptial agreement. Which begs the question: If his own wife doesn’t trust him with her money, why should we trust him with ours?

Glenn Greenwald has a long list of partisan Republicans back in 2004 who harped on this theme, referring to John Kerry as “Gigolo John” and “Senator Gigolo”. By contrast, although McCain’s reliance on the wealth of his second wife Cindy is occasionally mentioned, no-one is using those terms regularly to discuss how very very elite and out of touch McCain must be with the normal struggles of Americans when his entire political career since he first ran for Congress in 1982 has relied upon Cindy’s family wealth being McCain’s 24K gold safety net.

Obviously, such remarks are very cheap shots. That’s why not many Democrats are returning fire against McCain by recycling that gigolo slur 4 years later. There’s been some arguments made in Kim’s Sarah Palin thread that refusing to cast as much mud as possible at the McCain campaign with respect to Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy is a a losing strategy given that the Republicans’ skill at raking the muck seems to have helped them win the last two presidential elections.

While I’m on the side of those arguing that the Palin offspring should be off-limits, I wouldn’t say that those hoping to prevent McCain reaching the White House should never engage in some mud-slinging. Just that if you do feel the need to sling the mud, why not sling most of it at Senator Gigolo? Perhaps really get down with the Malkinite dregs, and sling that mud in limerick form?