The New York Times has discovered a variant of the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game:
Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry's campaign formally alleged that a group attacking his Vietnam war record had illegal ties to US President George W. Bush's reelection bid.
In a statement released to reporters, Kerry's campaign announced it had "filed a legal complaint against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) before the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign."
The move by the Kerry campaign came shortly after the Swift Boat group released a second ad attacking the Democratic presidential candidate, who was wounded three times while serving on a Swift Boat in Vietnam and decorated twice for valor.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have accused Kerry of lying about one of the wounds he suffered and of embellishing his acts of heroism during his four months in Vietnam, charges strongly rejected by the senator from Massachusetts.
Kerry on Thursday accused the Bush administration of using the Swift Boat veterans as a front group to do the "dirty work" of attacking his Vietnam War record.
The New York Times on Friday reported that there is a "web of connections" between the Swift Boat group and the "Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove."
The "web of connections" sounds so conspiratorial, whereas, here in flyover country we just call them friends and acquaintances. Hmm..., is this how the RNC is going to get McCain-Fiengold declared unconstitutional? I mean, if your friends and people that support you can't help you, then who can? If so, then Karl Rove is a frickin' genius, letting Kerry and his allies in Big Media do all the heavy lifting for him. Poor old Karl's just a howlin', "Don't throw me in that briar patch!" The folks within Big Media better think this one through carefully before they find themselves disinvited to all the A-list parties.
DOWNDATE: Instapundit notes:
Another reader notes that Oliphant's high journalistic standards probably should have led him to disclose that his daughter works for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. Hmm. Maybe -- though in the world of journalism, I think such connections are assumed, and thus aren't regarded as requiring disclosure.
Hmm..., a conspiratorial "web of connections" indeed!