Can it get any worse? Even in the midst of what sounds like a very bad situation for Congressman Massa, there is some irony in the reporting out of Roll Call and POLITICO. Both have chosen divergent paths in their editorial of the Massa retirement, as is evident in these headline screenshots.

Roll Call:

POLITICO:

UPDATE post-Massa press conference:

The right wing and the cable talking heads are in a tizzy this morning over Dana Milbank’s second hand reporting of a quote from Barack Obama said to a meeting of House Democrats. While the campaign isn’t denying that Obama did say the words, “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions,” as almost always happens in these cases the context is missing. And no, not that kind of context. Politico reports:

BUT A DEMOCRATIC SOURCE SAYS: “His entire point of that riff was that the campaign IS NOT about him. [The Post] left out the important first half of the sentence, which was along the lines of: ‘It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have just become a symbol … .”

It sometimes seem as if this election is a test of whether or not America can still understand nuance.

As you may of heard by now, conservative columnist and DoubleSpeak avoider Robert Novak was involved in a hit-and-almost-run this morning in downtown Washington, DC. Novak, who was driving a black Corvette convertible at the time apparently “didn’t know he hit” the pedestrian and according to media accounts was pretty “shaken.”

“I didn’t know I hit him. I feel terrible,” a shaken Novak told reporters from Politico and WJLA as he was returning to his car. “He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.” Novak said he was a block away from 18th and K streets Northwest, where the accident occurred, when a bicyclist stopped him and said, “You hit someone.” He said he was cited for failing to yield the right of way.

The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K St. N.W. when he witnessed the accident.

DoubleSpeak readers should be very familiar with Robert Novak. Remember back in January when he refused to answer Matthew’s question about the GOP primary campaign? In case you missed it, here is that video again:

I work nearby, so I just went downstairs to the scene of the accident and snapped this photo on my blackberry:

Lastly, here is some news footage from the scene:

“He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.” –Robert Novak

UPDATE: More pictures

If you’re like me then you probably recently received an email that calls into question Senator Barack Obama’s past and religious affiliations. Here’s an excerpt in case you haven’t seen it:

When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia.

Obama attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, he was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.

Obama’s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama’s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son’s education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Osama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.

Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.

Let us all remain alert concerning Obama’s expected presidential candidacy.

This email has saturated inboxes across America and was even mentioned during last night’s Democratic debate in Nevada.

This morning a group of Jewish community leaders published an open letter in The Politico defending Senator Obama and debunking the insinuations which are made in this email.

From the Politico:

January 15, 2008

An Open Letter to the Jewish Community:

As leaders of the Jewish community, none of whose organizations will endorse or oppose any candidate for President, we feel compelled to speak out against certain rhetoric and tactics in the current campaign that we find particularly abhorrent. Of particular concern, over the past several weeks, many in our community have received hateful emails that use falsehood and innuendo to mischaracterize Senator Barack Obama’s religious beliefs and who he is as a person.

These tactics attempt to drive a wedge between our community and a presidential candidate based on despicable and false attacks and innuendo based on religion. We reject these efforts to manipulate members of our community into supporting or opposing candidates.

Attempts of this sort to mislead and inflame voters should not be part of our political discourse and should be rebuffed by all who believe in our democracy. Jewish voters, like all voters, should support whichever candidate they believe would make the best president. We urge everyone to make that decision based on the factual records of these candidates, and nothing less.

Sincerely,

William Daroff, Vice President, United Jewish Communities
Nathan J. Diament, Director, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Abraham Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League
Richard S. Gordon, President, American Jewish Congress
David Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee
Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Phyllis Snyder, President, National Council of Jewish Women
Hadar Susskind, Washington Director, Jewish Council for Public Affairs

This smear campaign is dishonest and disgusting. If you receive this email please respond and debunk the lies.

newspaper in Washington, D.C. is reporting that “Republican officials operating at the behest of the White House have begun seeking a possible successor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.”