Jack be nimble, jack be quick

The second presidential debate just wrapped up a few hours ago, but I'm gonna need a day or two to probably digest it, and take a look at some good ol' fashioned spin-alley punditry before I even touch that.  Instead I'd like to take a look at the McCain campaign's increased attack on Obama's character (something they have admitted they will be doing in the next three weeks.)  More specifically I want to look at the way this is being covered in the media.  The last 72 hours have seen the McCain camp launch an all-out offensive on Obama's character and his past relations.  They have brought William Ayers back into the picture.  Interestingly, Gov. Palin is the one really leading this charge.  Nevertheless, McCain's self-admitted character assassination strategy is getting very different coverage in many different outlets.

Let's begin with Talking Points Memo.  I realize I've been focusing too much on the ineptitude of the mainstream press and failing to recognize a lot of the good work at TPM.  Like much of the progressive blogoshpere, TPM has been up in arms over the McCain smear campaign for the past three days.  This uproar culminated in this video (see below), titled "How Low Can You Go?" being released on TPMtv earlier Tuesday (or at least thats when I first saw it).  The video is a comical montage of clips, some from the McCain camp in the early days of the contest, claiming a clean campaign, mixed with other recent clips of attack ads and smear rallies orchestrated the Republican nominee's campaign.  (Quick side bar: The Obama side hasn't exactly lived up to similar lofty promises either...but Obama is way out of McCain's league in terms of sleaziness in this election...there I said it.)  The point is, this is a hilarious look at the depths to which the Arizona senator has sunk to as polls continue to widen in favor of Obama.  This is the beauty of independent media.  The only place you could see this in the mainstream is on the Daily Show.  

Granted, I don't exactly expect the New York Times to post this sort of video on its web site.  Is it too much for me to ask, however, that they come up with something a little better than this?   Once again the piece, by Adam Nagourney, prescribes to the typical imposed balance we've talked about.  The headline would lead the reader to believe that both sides are gearing up for major smear campaigns.  This is completely false.  At least 80% of the article is dedicated to the McCain camp's strategies to discredit Obama in these final 27 days.  The only mention of a negative tactic being employed by the Obama campaign is that of a 13-minute video released over the internet highlighting John McCain's role in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s.  This can hardly be seen as a smear, considering McCain's actions as part of the Keating Five is incredibly pertinent to the current economic situation.  In fact, this is exactly the type of thing the media should be examining more closely, it shouldn't be left to an ad by the Obama campaign.  So to answer Josh Marshall's question: while the McCain camp can certainly get pretty low ... it appears the mainstream press can get even lower.