From today’s news briefing, White House press secretary Tony Snow:

Q: There’s 65 active duty troops that are coming out with a letter today, saying they think the occupation should end, and they’re saying that — this is part of the military whistle blower. Any reaction to that?

MR. SNOW: Well, number one, it’s a Fenton Communications job, which means clearly it’s got a political edge to it. But number two it’s not unusual for soldiers in a time of war to have some misgivings.

– and –

Q: A question on Republican warnings about a potential takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives in an accusation of race baiting. In warning about what a Democratic takeover would mean, several Republicans - Republicans have repeatedly been pointing to two Democrats in line to chair committees: Charles Rangel of New York who would chair Ways and Means, and John Conyers who would chair Judiciary. And both of those are African American. And today — James Clyburn of South Carolina, who is also African American, makes this statement: “It’s a euphemistic way to say black people will be chairing committees. It’s a way of bringing race into the equation.” I’m curious what the White House has to say about that, particularly considering how many outreach efforts the President has made –

MR. SNOW: That’s counter race baiting. That is an attempt to race bait. The fact is that there’s a Democratic — if Democrats hold the House of Representatives, Charlie Rangel will be the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and John Conyers will be the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. I believe also, Republicans have talked about other people who are going to be chairmen of other committees — Henry Waxman, for instance. So the idea that that’s race baiting is absurd. It’s simply a recognition of who is chairing the committees.

A few weeks back Keith Olbermann did a segment on his MSNBC show about the famous 1987 on-air battle between George H.W. Bush and Dan Rather over Iran Contra.  Olbermann was rather breathless in reporting that Roger Ailes played a big role in prodding Bush to go after Rather  (the Olbermann segment was right after Chris Wallace interviewed Bill Clinton).   Nearly 20 years after the incident, Olbermann gleefully looked like Indiana Jones discovering an antiquity no one knew existed. The folks at olbermannwatch recount the Sept. 29 segement quite nicely here.

I was reminded of that segment while reading the Washington Post story on Doro Bush Koch’s new book on her father, “My father, My President.”  The Post:

While Bush’s live shouting match with Dan Rather on the “CBS Evening News” has not gone underreported, Koch offers a new, colorful version of the story as told by Roger Ailes, then Bush’s media adviser, who was in the room for the interview.

Sure enough, on page 244 of the book, we see a lengthy interview Koch conducts with Roger Ailes — about that incident. The key sentences:

“I grabbed the clipboard out of the bureau chief’s hand and I wrote WALKED OFF THE AIR.  I showed it to him, made a fist, and said, “Go!  Go!  Just kick his ass!”

Hardly a scoop — when Ailes himself talks about it.

Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri star in the Republican National Committee’s ad called “The Stakes“:

These Are The Stakes. Vote November 7th.

Terrifying images and political stakes — a toxic, familiar combination?

Indeed.  It was the nuclear mixture behind the most powerful spot ever, the “Daisy” ad LBJ used to demolish Barry Goldwater in 1964:

These are the stakes - to make a world in which all God’s children can live, or to go into the darkness. … Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.

 And what do Democrats think of the Republican ad appropriating LBJ’s terrifying tactic?

They called it a “scaremongering”, and “a desperate ploy to once again try to scare voters and distract from their failures,” said a statement on the Democratic National Committee website.

You can find that quote at Al Jazeera.

I was having a great morning until I saw CNN’s big ad in the Washington Post, and now I’m thoroughly depressed.

The ad pushes a weeklong series devoted to ”America’s broken government.”  That’s right, the triumphant return of malaise days.  Check out the words of despair CNN uses:

• “paralyzed”
• “do nothing”
• “forgotten”
• “wrong”
• “angry”
• “infecting”
• “Lou Dobbs”

Sen. Barack Obama’s reason for considering a 2008 presidential run — “Given the responses that I’ve been getting over the last several months, I have thought about the possibility” — hardly seems compelling.  Yes, great press and publicity have landed him on the cover of magazines, commanded long-form newspaper profiles, and got him on the top talk shows.  But the history of presidential campaigns is full of folks who got great press — but failed as candidates.  Consider this other media-fave Illionois Democratic Senator:

Glenn Reynolds has been on this great and prescient kick at Instapundit regarding a political sleeper issue which just might change the course of America’s history. That’s right, hand sanitizing.

Well, the timing could not have been more perfect for Washington’s Metro transit system to issue this press release:

Metro officials, alongside local public health department volunteers, will be distributing free bottles of waterless hand sanitizer to Metrorail and Metrobus riders next week to raise awareness of easy ways to reduce the chances of passing germs as the fall flu season begins.

The release says Metro officials will provide free hand sanitizer to riders at a handful (a sanitized handful, hopefully) of Metrorail stations, including Rosslyn, Huntington, Federal Triangle, and the Smithsonian.

Now before you start thinking that one flu over the cuckoo’s nest, consider: these stations are among the most popular for subway-riding government officials and America’s top political strategists. Anti-virus viral marketing at its best — let the politicians know we mean hand sanitizing business!

Clearly, hand sanitizer will be for this century what fluoridation of water was for the last. And Dr. Strangelove fans surely should see the similarity between purity of essence and Purell.

Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine profile of “Doonesbury” cartoonist Garry Trudeau provides this interesting nugget about John McCain:

“SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT I HOLD HIM IN UTTER CONTEMPT.”

This is John McCain, the former prisoner of war, speaking about Trudeau on the floor of the U.S. Senate in 1995. He was angered by a “Doonesbury” strip suggesting that presidential candidate Bob Dole was exploiting his war injury for political gain. That was then. This past year, it was McCain who wrote the introduction to Trudeau’s The Long Road Home , a for-charity book compiling the strips about B.D.’s injury and recovery.

White House press secretary Tony Snow at today’s news briefing:

In a midterm election, races are local, quite often governed by local issues. There are going to be some places where it’s really tough for Republicans, where they’re going to be toast. There are also going to be places where Democrats are toasted.

With much of Republican Washington caught up in David Kuo’s book — how could he so disloyal? How could he betray so many people?  Is this hypocrisy re-defined?– it’s refreshing to see it’s still possible to work for famous politicos, write a book based on your experience that’s not entirely flattering, and still come out smelling like a rose scholar.

The New Republic profiles someone who’s done that — Eron Shosteck and his stumbling, bumbling Rep. Charles Lattan, a Congressman who’s wholly fictional based somewhat on the not-nearly fictional career Shosteck had on the Hill working as Dennis Hastert’s press secretary (more recently, Shosteck was Extreme Mortman’s best man, and and I was his.  Of course, calling Shosteck a best man is like calling a wall in China great.)

Noam Scheiber writes:

Shosteck is understandably coy when discussing his muse. “Some of the scenes are based on actual events,” he says. “Others are completely products of my imagination. It’s up to the reader to decide which is which.” Given what we know of Hastert’s performance during the Foley scandal, that shouldn’t be too challenging. These days, it’s hard to read up on Shosteck’s protagonist without inferring a thing or two about the man who runs the House.

Judge for yourself by ordering on Amazon.  And here’s the best news you’ll hear all day – It’s eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.

Mediabistro’s TV Newser quotes an NBC insider about the looming MSNBC layoffs:

“This will be a bloodbath, and it will be very messy.”

Reminds me of this great exchange in “Broadcast News”: 

MARTIN KLEIN: You know I’m just old enough to be flattered by the term, ‘early retirement.’
NEWS DIVISION PRESIDENT PAUL MOORE: That’s wonderful … what a lovely line.  If there’s anything I can do.
MARTIN KLEIN: I certainly hope you die soon.