The McCain campaign is tearing itself down. They insist on attacking Barack Obama's character instead of selling their questionable ideas. The campaign itself realizes that Barack Obama has better ideas than John McCain, and since the middle of September has acknowledged that they will lose if they focus on the issues.

Character assassination doesn't work. The polls show it. Hell, the reactions at debates show it. Attacking the other person, even on issues, will NOT work for either candidate. Barack Obama is focused on fixing America's problems. John McCain is focused on beating Barack Obama. The McCain campaign realizes that McCain has the same failed policies as George W. Bush, so they spend their time trying to tie Obama to terrorists and making false accusations, attempting to exploit fears that Americans have about Muslims and the word "terrorism".

The people have spoken: bad policy + personal attacks = lost election