NO SHAME – AT 9:26 A.M. ET:  The Obama campaign is descending into levels we rarely see in presidential politics. 

The most controversial ad I've seen in a campaign at that level before this year's Obaminations is the famous ad run by the Democrats in 1964, against Barry Goldwater.  It featured a little girl pulling petals out of a daisy while counting down to zero.  At the end of the countdown, a nuclear bomb went off.  The implication was that Goldwater would start a nuclear war.

Now we have a pro-Obama ad claiming that Romney, in effect, caused the death of a woman.  And we have the Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid, charging on the floor of the Senate that Romney paid no taxes for the past ten years.  Reid claims he has a source for his charge.  And an aide added to the sleaze.  Get this:

After days of silence on Harry Reid's disputed claim that Mitt Romney hasn't paid taxes for a decade, a top aide finally spilled details on the supposed source of the allegation -- only to issue a wholesale retraction of those details by Thursday evening.

Reid aide Jose Parra first made the claims in an interview on Los Angeles' KTLK radio, defending his boss' decision to trumpet the tax charge last week on the Senate floor and explaining a bit about the source.

"This person is an investor in Bain Capital, a Republican also, and somebody ... who has been dealing with Romney's company for a long, long time and he has direct knowledge on this," Parra said.

Parra's statement comes after Romney, in an interview with Fox News, challenged Reid to identify his source.
However, after some media attention on Parra's radio interview, Parra issued a statement to The Huffington Post taking those remarks back.

"I do not know the party affiliation of the source, how long he invested with Bain, or his relationship to Romney beyond the fact that he was an investor with Bain Capital, as Senator Reid has previously stated," he said.

Romney has denied any suggestion that he hasn't paid taxes for 10 years. He also has rebuffed Democratic calls for him to disprove that suggestion by releasing more than the two years' worth of returns he's provided.

Romney, speaking with Fox News earlier this week, said he doesn't believe Reid has a "credible source. "

Parra said in the radio interview that while Reid is "comfortable" with the source, it's "up to the source" whether to come forward.

The White House has distanced itself from Reid's comment. Still, the Obama campaign is launching an ad that raises those questions about Romney.

"Did Romney pay 10 percent in taxes? Five percent? Zero?" the narrator in the ad asks.

COMMENT:  Great stuff, huh?  We're talking about the presidency.  First the White House distances itself from Reid's unsubstantiated charge, then runs an ad making the same charge.

This is hope 'n' change.  Chicago style.

August 10, 2012