After reading a few different points of view on why a national political campaign feels safe disparaging gamers, I stumbled across one idea that rings true.

It’s not an accident. It’s not Goldfarb being flip. He did it once and gave a clever apology, then did it again a month later. I’m going to assume he’s a smart guy who knows what he’s doing.

So what’s he doing?

In the minds of some people (notably the Religious Right), “Dungeons & Dragons player” is a codeword for “Satanist.” This works much in the way that “no litmus test for judges” actually means “picking pro-life judges.”

In this case, Goldfarb uses this misconception about gamers as a wide brush with which he can tar anyone he likes. Pro-Obama bloggers? Satanists. Editors of the New York Times? Satanists.

The mad brilliance of this, of course, is that if the people against McCain are with Satan, then just who is with McCain?