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CONSERVATIVE INSTA-REACTION….I consider The Corner to be a peek into the conservative id, so I was curious to see what they had to say about Joe Biden before the message machine kicks in. Here it is in a nutshell:

The 3 am text message announcement was a subtle dig at Hillary; Biden’s a blowhard; he thinks he’s smarter than you; it’s “the most self-loving ticket ever”; he’s a plagiarist; he’s a pro-choice Catholic, just like John Kerry; he doesn’t represent change; he’s unpopular in Iraq.

That’s pretty weak brew. I’m sure it’ll get better and nastier over time, though, as they get over the fact that, as near as I can tell, some of them actually have sort of a grudging admiration for the guy. Still, the golden rule in attack politics is that you need something new: the blowhard/plagiarism/he-said-Obama-wasn’t-ready-to-be-president stuff is old news, and the media almost certainly won’t give it more than a little bit of play. The question is, can the wingers take this stuff and somehow roll it up into something that seems fresh, the way the Swift Boaters did with John Kerry’s Vietnam service? If they can, then the media will start to play along.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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