How surprising is it that John McCain, war hero, maverick, man of principle, is taking the low road in this election? Not surprising at all. He has no other choice. This is from Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University and author of The Political Brain.

With all that stacked against him, the only road that could take McCain to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the low road, one of the few pieces of infrastructure left in good repair by President Bush. His father paved it against Michael Dukakis, George W. Bush repaved it running against John Kerry, and the GOP repainted the dotted line in now-Senator Bob Corker’s 2006 contest with Harold Ford. The path to success for McCain is to make the election a referendum on his opponent, by working in silent concert with 527 groups and media outlets such as Fox News to pursue character assassination, guilt by association, and, most of all, the effort to paint Obama as different, foreign, unlike “us,” and dangerous (and did I mention that he’s black?).

That’s from a piece Dr. Westen published in The New Republic over two months ago, but it stuck with me ever since. Westen also maintains a semi-regular blog at the Huffington Post.

It saddens me that McCain has been reduced to taking the low road. The only thing sadder will be if it works.