More McBullshit:
The Republican National Committee has tapped a GOP media consultant to run an independent expenditure campaign set up to target Barack Obama, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Brad Todd will run the new arm of the RNC, broadcasting ads and sending mailers with committee money.
The new entity is barred by law from any coordination with either McCain’s campaign or the RNC, but some of the cash they use to air the spots will have been raised by the GOP nominee.
Yeah. Independent. Just funded by John McCain and the RNC, but don’t worry- they aren’t coordinating at all (wink wink).
A reminder of John McCain a few weeks ago:
GOP presidential contender John McCain says he can’t control every attack ad aimed at Democrat Barack Obama and fully expects he’ll face a similar barrage, sounding the bell for a raucous general election brawl.
“I can’t be a referee of every spot run on television,” McCain told the Herald in an exclusive interview. “I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments, but we all know there are groups who want to attack me.”
Referee. An interesting word choice, which also shows up in this Marc Ambinder story today about the McCain campaign shake-up:
Steve Schmidt takes control of John McCain’s scheduling and messaging operations.
Was this a shake-up? A natural evolution? A scaling up?
Try a combination of the three.
In the year and a half since McCain and Schmidt first got to know each other, the two have grown close, almost like father and son; each very deferential to the other. Schmidt has taught McCain how to be John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate — a different creature from just plain ol’ John McCain. Schmidt is a partisan pugilist. He speaks in pre-fabricated, consumable, sharp morsels. McCain has learned from Schmidt that it’s OK not to be a referre,, that it’s OK not to play the judge, that it’s OK to draw contrasts with your opponents. And McCain, for a variety of reasons, has come to trust Schmidt’s judgment.
In other words, the transfer of authority to Rove hack Steve Schmidt is a clear sign of where Mr. Straight Talk intends to go with his campaign. It is right there in front of you, mainstream media. Right underneath your nose. When the hit pieces come down from all the “independent” groups, will you make the connection? Or will you just lament that poor John McCain can’t control everyone and everything.
Or will you even notice?