This is what desperation looks like. If reports are correct and Hillary’s campaign circulated the picture of Barack Obama in a turban over the weekend, then this tasteless hail-Mary was executed while she simultaneously scolded Obama for fighting dirty and using “tactics right out of Karl Rove’s playbook.” (As someone pointed out to me, her Karl Rove analogy is correct insofar as Karl Rove’s tactics (if not his strategies) tend to be effective.) Hillary’s moves have been, at best, temporary band-aids and at worst, catastrophic set-backs. But whether it’s tears, scolding, or race-baiting, it all seems desperate and defensive.

One wonders how long she’s sat on this picture. And what will her continued descent into ever-more-shameless territory look like? As Allahpundit points out: “At this point I half-expect her to accuse [Obama] of being a Muslim at the debate tomorrow night.” I suppose she’ll interject such accusations between charges of being unscrupulous. There’s a genuine flailing quality at work. Having just challenged Obama to “have a debate about your tactics and your behavior in this campaign,” Hillary has lapped him in the race to the bottom and forfeited any pretense of moral superiority. Switching campaign managers was more like pulling the goalie. Team Hillary is now trying to score at any cost in the ugliest last minute of her career.