At a campaign rally in Minnesota yesterday, John McCain came face to face with the monster that he and his power-abusing running mate have created. Watch it:

Should Senator McCain be surprised at this? He and Gov. Palin have spent the last week prying the manhole covers off of sewers all across the country and this is what has crawled out and followed him home.

Has he not heard the screams of “terrorist”, “treason”, and “kill him” at other campaign rallies where the crowd has adopted a lynch mob, yes I said lynch mob, mentality? What did he think would happen when Palin accused Obama of “pallin’ around with terrorists?” Terrorist, Senator. In a post 9/11 world, that is the equivalent of Joe McCarthy accusing someone of being a communist in the 1950’s.

Senator McCain has sown the wind and he is reaping the whirlwind.

But I must admit, as I watch the video I am conflicted. Is this the decent John McCain trying to get out? The man who existed prior to being taken over by the Lee Atwater/Karl Rove acolytes who convinced him to sell his soul and sacrifice his dignity and self-respect in exchange for achieving the presidency?

Or is this shift in rhetoric a response to polling numbers that show him falling further and further behind Barack Obama? Does he now realize that in these troubled economic times nobody but the ignorant few who yell out at his rallies care about some alleged association from the past.

But then I read statements like these by people associated with the McCain campaign.

From the RNC:

“How many times has the Obama campaign met with groups tied to or connected with terrorist organizations?”

Then the McCain campaign sent out this statement in defense of their supporters and their remarks:

“Barack Obama’s attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn’t understand regular people and the issues they care about.”

On a McCain campaign conference call yesterday, Michelle Obama was attacked for her convoluted association with the wife of William Ayers. From Talking Points Memo:

“Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers’ wife and fellow former Weatherman, went to work in 1984 for the major Chicago-based national law firm of Sidley & Austin, and three years later, Michelle joined the mega-firm as well.”

So wives are no longer off limits, Senator McCain? What’s next, do Barack Obama’s daughters have ties to terrorists as well? How low will you go?

Until I see evidence of a change in rhetoric from everyone in the McCain campaign, yes even Gov. Pitbull, I have to conclude that this new tone he has adopted is not a sudden attack of conscience, but a result of poll-watching.

Can McCain put the genie back in the bottle, or more appropriately, the rats back in the sewer? Does he even want to? Time will tell.