The Republicans are responding in a totally reasonable way — they are wildly overreacting and hoping the facts catch up with their hyperbole. There isn’t a reasonable person around who thinks this scandal will taint Obama in any meaningful way, but at the very least, it reminds people of the political world from whence he came. This story could be a useful preamble to something bigger down the road. I’m not saying it will turn out that way, but you have to push. The same way the Dems are pushing on Coleman in Minnesota right now.
Except, of course, the FBI is investigating Norm Coleman, and there are suspicious transfers both of money and items to him and his wife, and nothing about Coleman makes it past page A11.
As versus a statement from the US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in which he categorically states that no one from the Obama campaign is involved, most likely because it was someone from the Obama campaign who dropped a dime on Governor Impossible Hair.
She was alleged to have teared up at Ted Stevens’ valedictory speech to the Senate (though the never reliable Dana Milbank now puts it off to allergies, which Murray says she never had), so she’s gone native, as have far too many of the WaPo staff.
When all is said and done, Washington, DC is a small, one industry town, and everyone goes to the same parties (except, of course for the black majority of the population), and we get crony journalism.