via MAL Contends

When an American politician in the presidential general election campaign says his/her opponent is out-of-the-mainstream, it's a lie.

The losing opponent will garner at least some 45 percent of the vote, disconfirming out-of-the-mainstream status, though election votes are imprecise indicators of public opinion.

The complex reality of the American political culture sees support for universal health care, social security for our seniors, full employment, as well as a mass base for fascism, racist policies at home, a decided antipathy to civil liberties, and near-genocidal wars of aggression abroad, amid what can most accurately be described as a depoliticized electorate.

But the he's-not-like-us charge is aimed at the person; a personal attack that the opponent is somehow alien, out-of-touch, different, elitist, not-of-this-culture, even malicious and the related charge that he/she is dangerous and unpredictable.

Update: From Larry Eichel of the Philadelphia Inquirer  

(Clinton's) 17-point loss in Wisconsin was a huge development, said Dante Scala, a political scientist from the University of New Hampshire.

Until Wisconsin, he said, Clinton had won primaries wherever her base of working-class women, seniors and Hispanics was inherently stronger than Obama's coalition of young people, blacks and upscale progressives.

"To use a tennis analogy, both candidates had been holding serve," Scala said during a talk at Villanova University last week. "Wisconsin was a breaking of serve." …

There's also the generational factor. "Maybe people don't want another baby boomer, another Clinton or Bush," said Doug Hansmann, a Clinton supporter from Madison, Wis. "The irony is that of the two Clintons and two Bushes, I think she's the best of the bunch."

Facing a rebuke from Wisconsin voters next Tuesday and the unknown from Texas and Ohio on March 4, Hillary Clinton is desperate and seeking inspiration from Karl Rove to rig a Democratic presidential primary.

“Easy answers elude Mich., Fla. Delegates,” reads a headline this morning, referring to the ongoing flap arising because the DNC and Michigan and Florida last year could not agree on the timing of the states' presidential elections.

Ridiculous. The easy answer is: Don't change the rules in the middle of the game.

As AP writer, Nedra Pickler, explains:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton desperately wants meaningless wins in Florida and Michigan to turn into votes she can count on. It won't be easy with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) rules standing in her way.

Assuming the GOP nomination is not settled by Wisconsin's primary on Feb. 19, one might believe that born-again frontrunner Senator John McCain would be a great fit for Wisconsin.

Self-proclaimed straight talker, with a reputation as a maverick, McCain has a lot of appeal.

But today's Wisconsin GOP is not that of 20 years ago, and McCain's appeal to political independents would fail here as his straight-talk express is revealed as another media creation lacking substance and conviciton.

Democrats, and the vast majority of Americans not adherring to rightwing ideology are looking forward to a John McCain GOP nomination for president, because it would come up way short.

McCain faces the impossible task of disentangling himself from George W. Bush and the close-to-impossible task of bringing along the religious right in a general election.