BOTH Prez campaigns feed cable TV pseudo-ads

Over at Washington Monthly, Steve Benen cites Aaron Rutkoff’s Wall Street Journal blog as to how the McCain campaign is feeding what are basically video press releases to cable news networks and actually getting to run them as part of their news analysis, before the ads actually run, and regardless of whether or not they will actually run.

Sounds dastardly, right?

Well Benen and Kevin Drum, now ensconsed (or fallen? Nobody’s ever explained WHY Kevin moved while I was on vacation) at Wall Street Journal blog ignore this line from Rutkoff:

(T)he Obama campaign has also embraced the TV ad as press release tactic. Those recent commercials raking McCain over the coals for his troubles enumerating the houses he owns? They’ve received abundant attention on the news channels, but there’s no sign yet that they are on the air otherwise.

There’s the full story. Don’t be fooled.

Let’s be honest about this process in general. Per an old basketball analogy, both sides “work the refs.” Don’t buy the Saint Obama myths; the reality of Just.Another.Politican.™ is the same as that of Schmuck Talk Express™.