News Roundup, 4/22/08: Republicans Bashing Republicans, Take 43

I like nothing better than seeing Republicans in a feeding frenzy. So the more Ron Paul invests in taking down John McCain, the better.

Paul may have announced earlier that he was focusing on his congressional race, but he clearly doesn't mind spending some time and money on the presidential race he's still in. And he wants America to know that the Republican Party needs a "good conservative." Ring any bells from a few months ago? I guess since everyone else has dropped out, Paul feels he's the only one that can claim the mantle and hit McCain from the right. Which is fine by me. Hit the Republican frontrunner, and I don't care what direction it comes from.

And if Republicans happen to be unable to slime us at the same time, that's even better. Apparently they're having a little trouble getting together their swiftboating machine this campaign cycle. They've been out-fundraised, out-organized, and are far enough behind where they don't seem to know how they would mount the sort of smear campaigns we saw in the last presidential cycle. Or at least they don't seem to know how yet. When it comes to Republicans and slander, I'm not about to count anything out.

Ever been wary of all the retired military officers that seem to come out of the woodwork to make television appearances as military analysts? I don't know about you, but I had the general impression that they could exercise at least a bit of third-party distance in their analysis from being retired. The New York Times tells me I am wrong. They illustrate what basically constitutes a group of "lobbyists" operating specifically to sway the opinion of those generals making TV appearances, which spans from business interests with significant military contracts from the government to the Bush administration itself.

Speaking of the military, it's not every day that you see the defense secretary pointing fingers at an entire branch of the armed forces for doing a poor job. I don't know what you think, but I was left after reading this feeling less like the Air Force is not engaged enough, as Secretary Gates would have us believe, and more like the executive branch is looking for as many scapegoats as they can to blame Iraq on.

Trouble continues between General Motors and the United Auto Workers, as threats of strikes keep springing up in response to the continuing strike of parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.

And finally today, no Monday news cycle is complete without a little of the surreal, and that manifested itself yesterday in the three presidential candidates making video addresses to the crowd of WWE Monday Night Raw. As yesterday, offered without comment.

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