Milbank Duped

Dana Milbank is excited again.

Remember how much pleasure he took from Vice President Cheney's hunting accident? He was so ecstatic that he donned blaze orange gear on MSNBC. In Milbank's world, a 78-year-old man being shot accidentally is just so much fun!

Today in The Washington Post, Milbank can't contain his enthusiasm. An undisclosed Republican running for Senate let loose on Bush, on condition of anonymity, of course.

Milbank writes:

The candidate, immersed in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, sat down to lunch yesterday with reporters at a Capitol Hill steakhouse and shared his views about this year's political currents.

On the Iraq war: "It didn't work. . . . We didn't prepare for the peace."

On the response to Hurricane Katrina: "A monumental failure of government."

On the national mood: "There's a palpable frustration right now in the country."

It's all fairly standard Democratic boilerplate -- except the candidate is a Republican . And he's getting all kinds of cooperation from the White House, the Republican National Committee and GOP congressional leaders.

Not that he necessarily wants it. "Well, you know, I don't know," the candidate said when asked if he wanted President Bush to campaign for him. Noting Bush's low standing in his home state, he finally added: "To be honest with you, probably not."

The candidate gave the luncheon briefing to nine reporters from newspapers, magazines and networks under the condition that he be identified only as a GOP Senate candidate. When he was pressed to go on the record, his campaign toyed with the idea but got cold feet. He was anxious enough to air his gripes but cautious enough to avoid a public brawl with the White House.

Still, his willingness to speak so critically, if anonymously, about the party he will represent on Election Day points to a growing sense among Republicans that if they are to retain their majorities in Congress, they may have to throw the president under the train in all but the safest, reddest states.

Oooooh!

Milbank has a secret! Sure he does, along with nine other reporters.

Who will be the first to leak?

How lame!

Milbank is taking the words of one disgruntled "anonymous" Republican senate candidate and finding "a growing sense among Republicans" that it's necessary to abandon Bush to be victorious in November.

It takes quite a leap to land at that conclusion.

Republican candidates in Wisconsin, a blue state (technically, purple), are eager for the President to campaign for them.

They haven't thrown Bush "under the train," and Wisconsin is anything but one of the "safest, reddest states."

I guess Milbank was just so thrilled with what he heard at the Republican candidate's little luncheon, staged to serve up some red meat to salivating reporters, that he's incapable of making sense.

...The candidate looked the part of the contender, wearing a monogrammed shirt, his French cuffs sprouting cuff links coordinated with his necktie. He ate carefully, removing the gelatinous yolk from the four-minute egg in his salad. But he spoke with little caution as he ladled a heaping portion of criticism on his own party.

What a goofy description! I know Milbank is a fashion hound (note picture above), but was the wardrobe analysis really necessary?

Or, is he giving the reader clues?

Who removes the "gelatinous yolk from the four-minute egg in his salad"? Someone on Capitol Hill must know!

...He spoke of his party affiliation as though it were a congenital defect rather than a choice. "It's an impediment. It's a hurdle I have to overcome," he said. "I've got an 'R' here, a scarlet letter."

That left the candidate in a difficult spot. "For me to pretend I'm not a Republican would be a lie," he reasoned. But to run as a proud Republican? "That's going to be tough, it's going to be tough to do," he said. "If this race is about Republicans and Democrats, I lose."

Apparently, the anonymous Republican with the French Cuffs is Michael Steele, according to White House sources.

I guess Steele needs to do what he needs to do to get elected.

Assuming that Steele is the one that removed the "gelatinous yolk," I think it's a bit weird for him to hit Bush so hard, especially in this non-secretive secretive manner.

I don't rule out the possibility that the White House gave Steele the green light on this one.

If Steele needs to distance himself from Bush to win the Maryland seat, then that's what he should do.

It's actually an interesting plan. Get the lib media to take the bait, and have some dopey reporter get your message to the people without saying a word.

This candidate's supposedly sudden case of cold feet is just a smokescreen. Of course, his campaign knows that these leaker reporters can't keep a secret.

I think it was a calculated move.

Was Milbank duped?

I think so, and I love it.