A McCain "Doh" Moment

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 | 8:49 AM

By William Rabbe

Lightning rod Chief Strategist, Charlie Black, made a political faux-pas yesterday: he talked about the political gains of a terrorist attack on America, saying that such attack would "be a big advantage to [Presidential Candidate McCain]."

This is nothing new for pundits to debate on FOX, CNN or MSNBC -- but since it came from the Senior Advisor of the McCain campaign it sent a shock-wave through the blogosphere and raised alarm-bells for candidate McCain, who promptly disavowed the comment, saying " I can't imagine why he would say it."

So, while impolitic, are these comments that bad? Many know that the hypothetical case Black described is true -- so, is this the classic Washington Gaffe, which Howard Dean would repetitively describe in 2004 as, "saying the truth when you shouldn't have"?

Probably. But if the McCain camp keeps it up, it will cost him dearly -- the perception that a candidate is insensitive to a potential terror attack would raise just the sort of doubt about McCain in the eyes of the voting public that would effectively undermine his strong-suit.