Over-reaching

Just to get an idea of how dishonest McCain's free-media ad on the canceled troop visit was, today the Washington Post is running a story entitled "McCain Charge Against Obama Lacks Evidence." Not "Obama Camp Cries Like a Bunch of Little Girls Over Attack Ad" or "Liberals Insist Obama Doesn't Hate Troops", but basically "McCain Full of Shit."

The McCain campaign doesn't have a lot to work with except their candidate's reputation among the press as a straight-talking maverick who's all about personal integrity and who disdains political attacks. Sure, they have to make attacks anyway, but there are a million ways to do that while staying more or less in bounds. Their opponent is young and inexperienced, after all.

I'm not accustomed to playing Republican concern troll, and there are plenty of actual Republicans who have expressed worry about damaging the McCain brand, but I still would like to know whose idea it was to cut an ad that was so nasty and bogus that even Andrea Mitchell felt compelled to call the foul.