Hell to the Chief

No doubt about it ... the Swift Boat Veterans' crap is working to hurt Kerry. But it's also working to hurt Bush, too, as in "the smearer gets covered by the same crap he flings." How do we know it's hurting Bush? By the fact that he's now scrambling to sound self-righteous about "527" advertizing. El Presidente is all over today's news calling on the Federal Elections Commission to impose controls on groups like "Swift Boat Cranks Against Kerry."

One of our favorite bloggers, Josh Marshall, of "Talking Points Memo," has the best suggestion we've seen about how to deal with this new incarnation of Bush-the-campaign-advertizing-reformer:

"A simple strategy note to the Kerry campaign: If President Bush is going to try to pose as an advocate of campaign finance reform to dodge the Swift Boat issue, there's a really, really, really easy rejoinder to this one: mockery. Don't get bogged down on the details. Just mockery. Full out. "George W. Bush, Mr. Campaign Finance Reform? Please" ... A laugh and a smile. Simple as that. His credibility on the issue is zero. Voters know it. Let's try being smart on this one, okay? Just once?"

Couldn't agree more.