We're here! We smear! Get used to it!

In 2000, the press was extremely tough on Al Gore, and often completely unfair. They generally gave Bush a pass. McCain was endlessly fawned over. In 2004, Bush was still getting a free ride and it was Kerry's turn to take a beating at the hands of the press. It's only January of '07, but it looks like the knives are already being sharpened for the Dems. Never too early to get your chops back.

John Edwards takes a hit on the WaPo's front page because a company that bought his house has had some "legal complaints" filed against it.

The Post says that Edwards "finally succeeded last month in selling his imposing Georgetown mansion for $5.2 million after it had languished on the market" and that Edwards' spokeswoman said at the time that the house had been sold to an unidentified corporation. "In reality," the paper says, "the buyers were Paul and Terry Klaassen."

Reality check No. 1: As the Post acknowledges later in its own story, the Klaassens bought the house through something called "P Street LLC," a limited-liability corporation they seem to have created for the purpose of buying the house. So when Edwards' spokeswoman said that the house was purchased by a corporation, she was right.

And Barack Hussein Obama? Well, I'm sure he knew he wouldn't have an easy time of things before he decided to look into this whole run for the White House scene, but he's already the target of breathless right-wingers. He had his own "suspect" land deal, which involved buying a small parcel of land adjacent to his home from the owner-- who apparently has some character flaws. But, you know, he happened to own that particular strip of land. For obvious reasons, that story never gained ground (although it will undoubtedly rise again). No, the obvious angle for today's reactionary is to go with that whole dark skin issue.

Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?

The alleged source of this information? "Researchers connected to Senator [Hillary] Clinton." Talk about a double whammy-- one prominent Dem is a terrorist, and a second is a fear-mongering spy!

For a little more fun with the whole 'Obama is definitely a sneaky liar, and probably a terrorist to boot'-- not that you won't be seeing reams of it in the coming years-- check out this bit of hilarity which compares Obama unfavorably to Tom Tancredo, the Colorado politician who makes the news most frequently for his flirtation with racist sentiments.