The Republicans fight dirtyathey take every opportunity to shift the political conversation from substance to frivolity. They don’t want the public to see the huge differences between the two parties.  Less than two weeks ago, John McCain mocked Senator Obama’s appearance at a Hollywood fundraiser.

And where do you think John McCain was supposed to be tonight? On Monday it was announced that he himself was coming to Hollywood for a fundraiser charging up to $40,800 a plate. The hypocrisy…

McCain accuses Senator Obama of being a “celebrity” (as if he himself is not one). It’s a bad word only if you’re a Democrat, of course. If you’re a Republican it helps you become… President Reagan, Governor Schwarzenegger, Senator Thompson.

He also calls Senator Obama an “elitist.” How silly is that? Senator Obama is a self-made man from a working class family, while McCain came from a highly respected military family. Barack Obama owns one house and one car while John McCain owns seven houses and thirteen cars. Perhaps the elitism tag comes from the notion that Barack Obama is smart, eloquent and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School, while John McCain graduated 894 out of 899 in his class at the US Naval Academy. Isn’t it about time America had a leader that started out as an ordinary man and became an extraordinary one?

The Bush/McCain doctrine of deregulation has brought the nation to its knees. And now John McCain has failed to deliver the Republican votes needed to assist the Democrats’ efforts to keep the economy from crumbling. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Senator McCain’s Economic advisor (now that Phil Graham has to phone in his advice from the back room) has taken on the role of McCain’s alibi-maker for his failure of leadership. The bill failed to pass in Congress because only 65 Republicans voted for it versus 140 Democrats. McCain was dining with Joe Lieberman when he should have been swinging GOP votes in a desperate last chance to save America from a financial disaster brought on by McCain’s, Graham’s and George Bush’s deregulatory orgy. But what does McCain doahe blames Obama.

Nancy Pelosi told the painful truth about the Bush administration’s failures. President Bush inherited a surplus from the Clinton administration and squandered every penny of itaand more. Do people really want four more years of the same? I hope Americans don’t fall prey to the politics of distraction, hypocrisy and blame.