Romney's Campaign is Showing A Lot More Willingness to Fight Than McCain's Ever Did

And that's a good thing.  McCain just wanted to lose as a nice guy - he didn't really seem interested in winning.  Romney wants to win.  Jim Geraghty says this in response to the quick way the Romney people have responded to the whole Prez eats dog story:

In 2008, John McCain's presidential campaign wouldn't have touched this anecdote with a ten-foot pole. Between this and the Romney camp's rapid response to the [Hilary] Rosen comments, we are seeing a Republican presidential campaign that is exponentially faster on its feet and way more nimble than the previous general-election campaign against Obama.

This campaign will be an endless string of attacks, many of them hyperbolic nonsense that the media will be all too happy to pump up, and a Romney campaign that can respond quickly with humor and at times sarcastic ridicule will be able to defuse those attacks.

And we know from multiple examples that Obama and his minions have very thin skin - they react with over-the-top silliness to things they really should leave alone.  Romney can certainly use that to his advantage.  Little  jabs and pokes here and there will have a multiplying effect when the Obama team overreacts.  It's a basic part of Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and the Obama people don't realize it can work for Romney too.

If there was ever a job in a campaign that I would want, it would be the guy in charge of making sarcastic remarks about my opposition.  I'd almost do it for free.