It's open season on Obama, and despite its vile amateurism, the TNGOP Muslim smear was just the first salvo fired. In the last week alone:

• Karl Rove steps up and repeats the lie.
• Limbaugh likens Obama to wanted terrorist.
• Fox News lies about Obama's religious orientation.
• Chris Wallace keeps insisting on Obama's ties to Nation Of Islam, despite outright repudiation by Obama.
• Michael Savage "accidentally" refers to Obama as Saddam Hussein.

And Michael Halperin issues a short list of dirty tricks on the same day that Hobbs press release oozed into public view, albeit initially beneath the radar (and this is a condensed list)...

1. Play the national security card without hesitation.
2. Talk about the Iraq War without apologies or perceived contradiction.
3. Go at Obama unambiguously from the right.
4. Encourage interest groups, bloggers, and right-leaning media to explore Obama's past.
5. Make an issue of Obama's acknowledged drug use.
6. Allow some supporters to risk being accused of using the race card when criticizing Obama.
7. Exploit Michelle Obama's mistakes and address her controversial remarks with unrestricted censure.
8. Play dirty without alienating his party.
9. Dismiss Obama's brief national tenure from his own lofty platform of decades in the Senate -- there will be no ambiguity about who has more experience as conventionally defined.
10. Use his sterling war record to reinforce his image of patriotism and valor -- and contrast it with his opponent's.
11. Emphasize Barack Hussein Obama's unusual name and exotic background through a Manchurian Candidate prism.

This doesn't even scratch the surface of the incredibly ugly trashing of Clinton - for one example, as far as I know, the FEC hasn't made an issue out of the execrable 527 registered under the name of "Citizens United Not Timid." (I've seen some people who should know better who reflexively grunt and groan and dismiss the idea that there's some ugly misogyny at work here, but the garbage is indisputably out there in plain view, just as racist sentiment has been hyped in 2008 - not only against Barack Obama but also in the single-issue (xenophobia) platform of Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, not to mention the well-documented and dubious political past of Ron Paul.)

But as Clinton's campaign founders, our Usual Idiots in The Village are quickly finding time to start honing their gutterball game on Barack Obama's name, heritage, race, bonafides, integrity, capacity, ability, you name it. Movement conservatives are flocking to McCain despite their early protestations, looking for the flimsiest excuses to jump aboard. Race is as flimsy as anything, but for certain folks (e.g. Coulter, Limbaugh), it'll have to do.

The game, for worse or for even worse, is on. More after the jump...

What got me going on this, although it's been bothering me since the start of the primaries, have been a few articles that hit the weblogs today.

This primary season, there's been a missed opportunity, and it's been grinding on me ever since the first caucus results were being reported. This sort of clowning and rank irresponsibility has been commonplace and rather than hold anyone in the press to account, it's been a cudgel that the campaigns have been using against one another. And it's only getting worse over time. Once Clinton or Obama doesn't have their Democratic Party opponent to kick around anymore, the field is going to be badly tilted against them in a big way. This is getting well underway at this point.

Digby writes:

I would warn that if unfair and biased press coverage and right wing smears are now a disqualification for elected office, then I think we'd better think long and hard about whether the Democrats are going to be viable as a political party. Smears and bad press for Democrats is part of the package. I would also add that I thought it was understood to be part of the Netroots job to fight back media bias against all Democratic candidates, even if, as individuals, we were pulling for a particular one over the other. That did not happen and I think the Netroots failed miserably in one of its primary missions this time out.

So what happens now? Well, as I and many others predicted months ago, the media is beginning to feel pressure from Republicans (and perhaps their own professional embarrassment) and are starting to go negative on Senator Obama. Rather than examining their biases and adjusting their coverage to be more fair and dispassionate across the board, they will now "even things out" by being equally derisive, shallow and trivial toward his campaign.

Tough fights are certainly expected - but I should hope we haven't lost our window to fight for fairness.