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September 5, 2008 12:36:39 PM CDT

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Look Who's Running for a Third Term— for Karl Rove

Posted Jul 4, 08 12:20 PM CDT in Politics,  Opinion 

(Newser) – This week's firefight over what Wesley Clark did or didn't say about John McCain's war record doesn't just remind us that most campaign brouhahas these days are about things that didn't even happen, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. It also reveals the long arm of Karl Rove. "The latest fake scandal fit the usual pattern as an awkwardly phrased remark, lifted out of context and willfully misinterpreted, exploded across the airwaves," he writes.

The McCain campaign didn't just condemn Clark’s remarks, "it went out of its way to distort them," Krugman writes, noting the irony that the designated surrogate was a retired colonel who appeared in the Swift boat ad attacking John Kerry's service. The press took the bait, reporting "as fact the false assertion that Gen. Clark criticized Mr. McCain’s military service," though some outlets seemed to have recovered their balance by week's end.

Source New York Times

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Barack Obama talks with former Gen. Wesley Clark, and other generals and flag officers during a military and foreign affairs round table discussion in Washington Wednesday, June 18, 2008.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Wesley Clark, whose comments about John McCain's military service set off a political firestorm.   (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
John McCain holds a rose as he stands in front of an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe during his visit to the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City, Thursday, July 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
John McCain speaks during a press conference at the federal police command control in Mexico City, Thursday, July 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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Barack Obama  • John McCain  • election 2008  • Karl Rove  • Wesley Clark


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