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I don't know if anyone else on this thread has already made this point, but if so, it's worth making again: this is a classic Karl Rove trap. It's one thing if Kossacks speculate on this--much as I love Daily Kos, I keep my "partisan" filter firmly in place when reading most of the postings. Conservatives have their own blogs, and the more skeptical among them (there must be some, somewhere) probably do the same.
The McCain campaign has already done something like this once, back when the New York Times broke a story about McCain getting too cozy with lobbyists, including one that was young, attractive, and female. Because there was much less substantiation for the hanky-panky stuff, the Republicans were able to scream bloody murder about how they were being slandered, and the New York Times quickly backed off *all* allegations, including those that had real substance. No one will touch it now.
Oh, and remember the Bush Texas Air Guard brouhaha? Also cooked up to discredit stories about our C-in-C's less-than-honorable military career. I wouldn't be surprised if the National Enquirer were similarly being set up. Consider this scenario:
1. They start investigating based on a rumor. The McCain campaign angrily calls it out and denies it, although nearly every week there's some speculation on the front cover that Dubya's off the wagon and Laura's going to divorce him on January 21, and as far as I know no one bats an eyelash.
2. The business partner hurriedly moves to have his divorce records sealed. There *must* be something there!
3. Suddenly, the story fades away, and poor wittle Sarah gets all kinds of sympathy for the way those mean, bad librul eleet jurnalists have attacked her and the Holy Family.
4. No one wants to touch the real stories--her petty vindictiveness, her willingness to tangle family matters with government business, the fact that she's an earmark queen, that wackadoodle video of her talking in church about the End Times, the dreadful way she managed things in Wasilla while mayor--oh, and the polar bears! She won't protect the polar bears! Now, why have I heard nothing about the polar bears? Anyways, total silence suddenly drops over the whole tawdry mess like a blue velvet drape in the DOJ, and the McCain campaign gets complete control over her image.
Don't fan the flames, folks. The mainstream media are gullible sheep in search of the next succulent, green patch of scandal, and to lure them in. the Republicans will plant this stuff from the pasture right up to the slaughterhouse door. If it's true, we'll hear about it. Meanwhile, there's plenty of substantiated dirt on Sarah Palin's career to demonstrate why she's so unfit.
