Ron, you asked, "Why don't the Republicans grow a set and just start talking about the issues?"

Why? I'll tell you why. The Republicans are well aware of the fact that they can get more mileage out of petty scandal, crass innuendo, patriotic cliches, and other emotional BS like that...because that's the stuff that makes an impression on the average American voter and sticks in his or her mind long enough to affect his or her decision at the ballot box.

The last thing that is going to reach the mind of the average American voter is "the issues"!!!! Ha! The average American voter doesn't have enough attention span or interest to pay much attention to a patient exposition of "the issues", but they DO have enough attention span to latch onto scandal-mongering, sensationalistic rumor-spreading, character assassination, and other tawdry stuff like that.

So the Republicans are doing exactly what they figure works best.

You are not the average American voter, Ron. Neither is Amos. You guys are intellectuals. You love focusing on the finer points of "the issues"....but you're in a distinct minority in that respect. The general American public doesn't like intellectuals or relate to them. They distrust intellectuals and suspect that they are not patriots.

Karl Rove and his ilk (if I may use that classic Mudcat expression) understand that. They use crude tactics that are geared to the majority of Americans, whose attitude might be satirized by saying:

"Issues??? We don't need no steenkin' issues! Give us some more dirt!"

This is true on the Right, it's true on the Left, and it's true at the center.

Therefore, expect more tawdry and ridiculous campaigning between now and election day, expect a puerile series of personal attacks to be launched on the candidates on both sides over trivial matters, and expect those who talk seriously and intelligently about the issues to go largely unnoticed by your fruit-fly mentality electorate and media who would much rather be entertained by petty sensationalism than bored out of their skulls by a perceptive and thorough explanation of the issues.