Campaign Mode at The WaPo

There have been times this campaign season when the Washington Post has veered off its normal course. It has even had the temerity to question THE ONE on both his energy policy and the surge into Iraq. But those brief efforts at miming objectivity have given way and the the Washington Post is now safely back enfolded in the good graces of the Neobama campaign.

We know this by what sort of article they post on page 1. Having received an email from the Obama campaign that accused John McCain from accepting sleazy donations from a bundler; staff writer Matthew Mosk dutifully cranked out an article entitled “Bundler Collects From Unlikely Donors.”. This article reflected the card-stacked and inaccurate view of the world that would emerge from any campaign war room. It detailed the hi-jinx of a campaign fund-raiser extraordinaire Harry Sargeant III.

Sargeant got his start raising dollars for Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani and then chose to back John McCain once the primaries ended. The article highlights Sargeant’s connections with the oil industry and Middle-Eastern donors. Obviously, this was with no guilt by association intended; given that its source was a totally unverified email from the Obama Campaign and these guys are beyond post-racial and never deal in stereotypes.

That would be dealing the race card from the bottom of the deck. A worthy newspaper which denounced former senator George Allen 168 times for his use of the dread-word “Macaca” would never participate in such a foul vituperation. But then again, they had this to say about purported McCain donors Nadia and Shawn Abdalla.

At the Twilight Hookah Lounge, owned by Nadia and Shawn Abdalla, patrons smoke tobacco flavored with honey and fruit from a menu that includes the strawberry-flavored Sex on the Beach and the strong, orange-flavored Fuzzy Navel.

The Abdallas, who are not registered to vote, said in an interview that they recalled writing a check to an organization in Miami, because a person with that organization was a friend of their mother's. They said they could not remember his name.

These evil tobacco-sellers! If they were any more un-American, they’d have Che Guevara posters on the wall, refuse to put their hands over their hearts during the Pledge of Allegiance and have the middle name Hussein.

I described them as purported McCain donors for a good reason. That bright and shining beacon of journalistic integrity and honor had the following correction to run.

"An earlier version of this story about campaign donations that Florida businessman Harry Sargeant III raised for Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton incorrectly identified three individuals as being among the donors Sargeant solicited on behalf of McCain. Those donors -- Rite Aid manager Ibrahim Marabeh, and lounge owners Nadia and Shawn Abdalla -- wrote checks to Giuliani and Clinton, not McCain. Also, the first name of Faisal Abdullah, a McCain donor, was misspelled in some versions of the story."-Instapundit reprints the Wapo correction (6 Aug 08)

Yep, that’s the Washington Post I know, love and used to read for amusement. It’s just another thing I will not miss about Northern Virginia.