Is This Attack Fair?

This has been an ugly few days here at the Daily Kos.  People from the Edwards side accuse Obama of going negative.  People from Obama's camp accuse Clinton of going negative. People from Clinton's camp accuse everyone else of going negative on her.

Oprah gets slagged, Maya Angelou gets slagged, Bill Clinton gets slagged.

Guess what - it's primary season.  People are going to go negative.  It's a political fact that after everyone has established themselves as the best most positive, way-forward candidate, that the most effective way to gain a late advantage in the polls is to point out how awful your opponent is.

Is it a cheap tactic?  Only if it's false.  Pointing out Giuliani's financial peccadilloes and his lack of judgment in placing the Emergency Response Center in the building most likely to be attacked might be going negative, but it's also a fair point.  Each of our candidates has his or her own negatives as well that are worth examining.

So I'd like to make an appeal - before you believe any campaign or any reporter's characterization about what one campaign has said about another, examine these three things to determine if an attack is fair or not.

1.) Who is saying it?  Is this an impartial witness to events (unlikely)?  Or is it someone who has an axe to grind or another candidate to promote?

2.) Why are they saying it now?  Is this a point that had been addressed in the past satisfactorily and its being brought up now just to muddy the waters?  Or is this a new revelation relevant to the candidate's ability to lead?

3.) Are the characterizations of the attack in the press correct?  Reporters are a great proponent of "Let's you and him fight".  It makes for a quick cheap story and makes their day easier and their chance of getting facetime or column inches much greater.  When you can, do NOT rely on reporters' accounts of the attack or commercial or flier - GO TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL and read it yourself.

The ugly is just going to grow here over the next few weeks, right up until your thumbsucking candidate tanks in Iowa and goes on to get buried in New Hampshire by my candidate's shining avatar of virtue, good, and light.