mccain / obama

* josh:

"But the key here to note is what's behind this (mccain/obama) dust-up. Obama is a rising star among the Democrats. Republicans want to lay a backstory for feature criticisms and character attacks against him. So, for instance, if Obama is the vice presidential candidate in 2008, they want to have a history of attacks on him banked, ones that allege he's a liar, or too partisan, or untrustworthy, whatever. It doesn't even really matter. What matters is that there already be an established history of them. Point being, that in early 2008, they want to be able to simply refer back to Obama's 'character issue', the questions about his honesty, etc. rather than have to make the case on its merits... Don't miss why he's doing this. It's the roll-out of the slime Obama campaign. And he's leading the charge."

jane has more


*

"The Bush Administration has declared a budget war on Elmo (via Brandoland). Bush is proposing a budget cut of around $157 million to the public broadcasting system. Again." (link)

let's not forget that BKSH has the CPB/PBS account, and an ex-gingrich (& Bush-Cheney 04) flack was leading the account. she is married to Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa (and gubernatorial candidate) (link)

* Time reporter john dickerson has a 2-part traitorgator article in Slate - apparently most damning. I haven't got to it yet, but if you are in a hurry to get there before i do, you can start at FDL's first-pass synopsis.