It seems as if the John McCain detractors out there were feeling envious of all the attention the desperate Obama detractors were getting.  From questions about birth certificates, to whether he is or isn't a Muslim... the Republican Party was showing their desperation early.  But, they were getting some attention, so the Democrats went out and tried to find their own desperate straw to grasp at... by attacking a story McCain has told about his time as a POW.  According to those who like to dabble in conspiracies, McCain's story about his captor drawing a cross in the dirt at Christmas was actually out of a book.  This is quickly being debunked.  The reality of course is that short of an affidavit from the prison guard stipulating to the truth of the story... it really can't be proven or disproven... which of course makes it perfect fodder for a conspiracy.  Throw enough mud and some of it will stick, and what does stick will likely cause at least a little bit of a stain.

When I started seeing the conspiracies about Obama pop up, my first thought was that McCain lost the election.  If Republicans were grasping at straws like that... this early... then you knew he didn't have a chance.  But now that the other side is beginning to do the same... it makes we wonder how scared the Democrats are.

Of course for the most part all these stories are being confined to the blogosphere, which at least shows some maturity in the mainstream media, and shows that bloggers (I among them sometimes) love to throw about rumor as soon as we hear it... even if it has no real bearing on the issues presented in the campaign.